Installing Python and Django - potatoscript/django GitHub Wiki

🧰 What You Need Before Starting

📦 Tool	✅ Required
🐍 Python 3	Yes!
💻 A Terminal (Command Prompt / Terminal app)	Yes!
🧠 Curiosity & patience	Absolutely yes!

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🌐 Step 1: Install Python (for Windows, macOS, Linux)

🔹 For Windows

1. 👉 Go to https://www.python.org/downloads/

2. Click the big yellow button that says Download Python 3.x.x

3. VERY IMPORTANT: ✅ Check the box “Add Python to PATH” before clicking Install Now
   

4. Wait until it finishes. Then open Command Prompt (CMD) and type:

python --version

✅ You should see something like:

Python 3.12.1

🎉 You did it!

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🍎 For macOS

1. macOS often comes with Python installed, but it’s usually Python 2.
2. So, open Terminal and install Homebrew (if you don’t have it):

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

3. Then install Python:

brew install python

4. Check the version:

python3 --version

🎉 Done!

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🐧 For Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Open your Terminal and run:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip

Check:

python3 --version

🎉 Ready to roll!

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🧪 Step 2: Create a Virtual Environment

A virtual environment is like a sandbox just for your project.
It keeps your project clean and tidy 🧼

1. In your Terminal, make a new folder:

mkdir django_app
cd django_app

2. Create the virtual environment:

python -m venv env

3. Activate the virtual environment:

• 🪟 Windows:

env\Scripts\activate

• 🍏 Mac/Linux:

source env/bin/activate

✨ If it works, your terminal prompt will show:

(env) your-folder-name $

💡 Don’t forget to activate your environment every time before coding Django.

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📦 Step 3: Install Django

While inside your virtual environment, run:

pip install django

✅ To confirm Django installed:

django-admin --version

Output:

5.0.3

🎉 You just installed Django!

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🎁 Bonus: Freeze Your Requirements (Optional but Professional)

Let’s record the installed packages so others can copy your setup:

pip freeze > requirements.txt

Later, you (or your team) can run:

pip install -r requirements.txt

🔥 Very pro move!

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