Setting up Python on Windows
I’ve been using Python a lot more lately so I just wanted to capture some of the setup I’ve been through as I know I’ll forget in future!
Installing on Windows
| Installation method | Expected path |
|---|---|
| Manual (all users) | C:\Python3x |
| Manual (local user) | C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python3x |
| Microsoft Visual Studio | C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Shared\Python37_64 |
This SO answer has more information about the Microsoft Visual Studio location.
Anaconda
Anaconda is a popular Python and R distribution, particularly suited for data science and machine learning applications. It provides an out-of-the-box environment with a comprehensive set of tools.
Key benefits of using Anaconda:
Anaconda is a python and R distribution. It aims to provide everything you need (Python-wise) for data science “out of the box”. It includes:
- The core Python language
- 100+ Python “packages” (libraries)
- Spyder (IDE/editor - like PyCharm) and Jupyter
- conda, Anaconda’s own package manager, used for updating Anaconda and packages
… It is quite complete and avoids problems in building libraries that you need from source code, that frequently plague one by one installations of those libraries by tools like pip.
Considerations:
- Independent package management can sometimes lag behind official releases.
- It’s a larger size so evaluate if it’s suitable for your project, e.g., in a Docker environment.
Unit testing
- Some thoughts on testing in VSCode
- And some general file structure advice:
- Make your
sourceandtestsdirectories siblings. - Ensure
__init__.pyexists in both (for test discovery).
- Make your
*This was edited in 2025 to make it more post like rather than a standalone notes page.