Setting Up Python Locally

Introduction

Greetings, and welcome to this tutorial on establishing a Python environment on your computer. Throughout this session, we will delve into the process of acquiring a suitable Python installer and subsequently executing the installation on your local machine using said installer.

Set up Python in Windows

To set up Python on your Windows computer, open your web browser and visit www.python.org. Look for the "Downloads" section, where the website will detect your operating system and recommend a suitable Python version. Remember, we're focusing on Python 3. If you're using a different operating system, you can choose the appropriate one from the options available. This simple process ensures you get the right Python installer for your system.

Now, head to your Downloads folder and open the Python installer you downloaded.

This will launch the installation wizard, a user-friendly guide for the setup process. Although there's an option for customization, for now, we'll keep it simple. Just make sure to tick the 'Add Python version to the path' option – this ensures easy access to Python from anywhere on your system. Once done, hit 'Install now.'

The installer will then handle the extraction, copy the necessary files to your system, and wrap up the installation.

If you've made it to this point, well done! You've successfully installed Python on your computer. 

Now that Python is successfully installed let's check its functionality. We'll do this by accessing the Python console.

First, open the Windows command prompt. In the command prompt, if you type 'python' and hit enter, the Python console should appear if the installation was successful. You'll see the Python version displayed, which should be the latest one you installed. While you can issue various Python commands through this console, we won't delve into that here. To exit the Python console, simply type 'exit()' and press enter.

Summary

Our session involved installing the most recent Python version on a Windows operating system. Following the installation, we confirmed its success by accessing the Python console through the Windows command prompt.