Recommended resources
The freely available resources this lesson will direct you to.
Hello! We’ll begin with the tools you’ll use throughout the course. Today you’ll install Python and Git on Windows, set VS Code’s integrated terminal to PowerShell, and confirm that both commands work inside VS Code. This is local setup; you won’t need an AWS account for it.
The course will build one AI research-and-decision API, then prepare you to explain and deploy it in an interview sandbox. Python will run the application; Git will track its changes. Allow about 35–45 minutes for this lesson, depending on download speeds.
Install Python
VS Code is where you edit files, but it does not supply Python itself. You need a separate Python interpreter—the program that runs Python code. The VS Code Python extension adds editor features, but it is not a substitute for the interpreter.
Getting Started with Python in VS Code
Read Microsoft’s “Getting Started with Python in VS Code” to distinguish the editor, extension, and interpreter, and to find the Windows installation and verification instructions.
At the beginning, read the tool overview. Under “Install a Python interpreter,” read the “Windows” subsection from the download guidance. Later, below “Other options,” find the note about checking an installation and read from the Windows version command. Also read the following note, from the terminal restart advice.
Use the Download Python button on python.org described in the reading, run the Windows installer, and follow its prompts. If the installer offers an option to add Python to PATH, select it: PATH is how a terminal finds installed commands. Installer screens can differ by version, so don’t worry if yours does not look exactly like an older tutorial.
If Python is already installed, you can keep it. The version check below will tell you whether Windows can find it. Hold off on installing project packages: the next lesson will give this project its own virtual environment first.
Install Git
Git records versions of your project so you can inspect changes and return to an earlier working state. For now, the goal is to install its command-line tool. You’ll start tracking files in a later lesson.
Use the official Git installation page to get the current Git for Windows installer rather than an installer from a search result.
Near the top of the “Install” page, find the main Windows download. Under “Other Git for Windows downloads,” the “Standalone Installer” subsection also lists x64 and ARM64 setup options. Choose the appropriate installer for your Windows PC; use the main download if you are unsure and it matches your machine.
Run the installer. Its standard options are suitable for this course; in particular, keep an option that makes Git available from the command line if the installer asks how Git should be added to PATH. You do not need to choose Git Bash as your VS Code terminal. Git commands can run in PowerShell, which will keep our Windows instructions consistent.
Configure the VS Code terminal
A terminal is a place to type commands. VS Code’s integrated terminal puts one inside the editor; a terminal profile determines which shell interprets what you type. We’ll use PowerShell.
- Open VS Code. In the top menu, choose Terminal → New Terminal.
- In the terminal panel, open the dropdown beside the + button and choose Select Default Profile.
- Select PowerShell. Then create a new terminal so it uses that profile; an already-open terminal may retain its previous shell.
The prompt may begin with PS and show a folder path. That path tells you where the terminal is working; it is not part of a command. Type the commands in the next section after the prompt, pressing Enter after each one.
If you want to prepare a home for the project, create a folder named research-decision-api in File Explorer and open it with File → Open Folder in VS Code. The terminal will then normally start in that workspace folder. No project files are needed yet.
Verify both installations
In a new PowerShell terminal inside VS Code, run:
py -3 --version
git --version
The first command asks the Windows Python launcher for an installed Python 3 version. The second asks Git for its version. Your version numbers will vary; successful output will look roughly like Python 3.x.x and git version x.y.z.windows.n. What matters is that both commands return version text rather than an error.
If a command is not found, close that terminal and open a new one. If necessary, restart VS Code: terminals opened before an installation may not see its updated PATH. If py is still unavailable, try python --version. An actual Python version confirms that Python is reachable by that name; a Microsoft Store prompt or an error does not. Recheck the Python installation in that case. If Git remains unavailable, rerun its installer and check the command-line/PATH option.
Your completion check for this lesson is simple: py -3 --version (or python --version) and git --version both work in VS Code’s PowerShell terminal. Keep that terminal handy; the next lesson will use it to create a project-specific Python virtual environment and install dependencies without mixing them into your system-wide Python installation.