1 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:10,630 In this video, we want to configure IntelliJ IDEA so that we can actually start some Python coding. 2 00:00:10,990 --> 00:00:12,620 If you decided to install PyCharm 3 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:18,070 instead, you can skip this first step. But keep watching, because the steps after installing the Python 4 00:00:18,070 --> 00:00:20,390 plugin are also applicable to PyCharm. 5 00:00:21,070 --> 00:00:22,930 So what we want to do is two things. 6 00:00:23,350 --> 00:00:26,410 Firstly, we need to download and install a plugin for Python. 7 00:00:26,740 --> 00:00:32,500 And secondly, we need to associate the Python install, that we've done previously in the course, to 8 00:00:32,500 --> 00:00:35,680 IntelliJ IDEA, so that they actually work together. 9 00:00:36,310 --> 00:00:39,790 So let's start with the plugin. On the welcome screen of IntelliJ IDEA, 10 00:00:39,940 --> 00:00:41,680 come over here to the left, and click on Plugins. 11 00:00:42,460 --> 00:00:43,660 Now there's two tabs here. 12 00:00:44,050 --> 00:00:47,860 The Installed tab, if I click that, shows which plugins you've got installed. 13 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,240 There are quite a few that are already installed, but Python isn't one of them. 14 00:00:52,790 --> 00:00:54,320 So click the Marketplace tab. 15 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:56,920 This shows us all the plugins that are available. 16 00:00:57,460 --> 00:01:01,090 When you've been programming for a while, you'll more than likely find some useful ones here. 17 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,770 But we're just starting, and all we need is the Python Community Edition plugin. 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:10,240 So rather than scrolling through the list, type python in this search box. 19 00:01:11,860 --> 00:01:14,140 Make sure you spell it correctly, otherwise it won't be found. 20 00:01:14,890 --> 00:01:18,680 The one we want is probably right at the top, the Python Community Edition. 21 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:20,170 And you can see that is the case here. 22 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,220 Come up here and click on Install to install it. 23 00:01:24,270 --> 00:01:27,570 Now, if you get a privacy note, read it if you want, and click Accept. 24 00:01:29,210 --> 00:01:32,920 Now, whenever you install or update a plugin, you have to restart IntelliJ. 25 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:38,000 So I'm going to click on the Restart IDE button, and confirm that by clicking on Restart. 26 00:01:42,220 --> 00:01:47,320 All right, so IntelliJ's restarted. We've now installed the plugin for Python, and we can proceed 27 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:49,320 to setting up the Python SDK. 28 00:01:49,750 --> 00:01:54,240 Basically, that means telling IntelliJ where Python is installed on the computer. 29 00:01:56,350 --> 00:02:02,680 So think of a software Development Kit, or SDK, as the tools you need to write programs. The Python SDK 30 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,550 includes an interpreter, that can understand your Python code and execute it. 31 00:02:07,060 --> 00:02:13,320 It also has a debugger, and we'll be seeing what that is, and how to use it, when we've written a program to debug. 32 00:02:13,330 --> 00:02:18,790 An SDK can also include useful modules, that you can include in your own code. For Python, 33 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,100 These modules are in the Python Standard Library. We'll be using quite a few modules from the standard 34 00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:26,860 library, to let our programs do some cool things. 35 00:02:28,980 --> 00:02:34,170 You can set up SDKs for different versions of Python. That can be very useful, once you've written 36 00:02:34,170 --> 00:02:37,680 your program, to make sure it works with all the versions that you support. 37 00:02:38,130 --> 00:02:42,990 You've probably installed Python 3.9, which was the latest version at the time 38 00:02:42,990 --> 00:02:44,290 I'm rerecording this video. 39 00:02:44,700 --> 00:02:48,120 It's generally not a good idea to use your main Python installation. 40 00:02:48,750 --> 00:02:54,330 If you install an incompatible package into the main Python installation, you can end up with problems. 41 00:02:54,930 --> 00:02:58,180 The only solution, in that case, is to reinstall Python. 42 00:02:58,380 --> 00:03:04,680 A better approach is to create a Python virtual environment, or virtualenv or even venv, if you 43 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:06,690 really like abbreviating things to extremes. 44 00:03:08,780 --> 00:03:12,800 To create our virtual environment, we need to create a new project first. 45 00:03:13,610 --> 00:03:18,230 At the moment, when Projects is selected, to the left, there's three buttons available. 46 00:03:18,740 --> 00:03:22,500 New Project is used to create a new project, which is the one we'll use shortly. 47 00:03:22,500 --> 00:03:28,040 Open will let you open a project that you created earlier, so that you can continue working with it. 48 00:03:28,820 --> 00:03:34,760 If you use a version control system, such as git, the Get from VCS button will fetch a project from 49 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:37,220 your version control system. Hence VCS. 50 00:03:37,700 --> 00:03:42,430 But don't worry, if you don't know what a VCS is, you won't be using one until you've been programming for a little while. 51 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:44,720 For now, though, click on the New Project button. 52 00:03:45,780 --> 00:03:50,400 The New Project dialogue, which has popped up, lets you choose which programming language you want to use. 53 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,660 This is a Python course, so we're going to choose Python on the left hand side. 54 00:03:55,140 --> 00:04:00,180 If you don't see Python there, make sure you've installed the Python plugin, and also make sure you 55 00:04:00,180 --> 00:04:04,470 restarted IntelliJ after you installed the plugin. Alright, so select Python. 56 00:04:05,900 --> 00:04:12,740 And you see that the right hand pane changed. It's now asking us to specify a Project SDK, and shows us 57 00:04:12,740 --> 00:04:18,800 that we don't have one. That's fine because when you click the dropdown box, there's an option to Add Python SDK. 58 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:25,280 And also note that IntelliJ helpfully detected the SDK installation, the Python installation from 59 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:26,020 an earlier video. 60 00:04:26,540 --> 00:04:31,130 But just in case it hasn't selected that, I'm going to click on Python SDK to show you what happens. 61 00:04:32,060 --> 00:04:35,510 We're now on the screen that lets you set up your Python SDK. 62 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,510 Now, don't worry too much about the four options on the left. 63 00:04:38,850 --> 00:04:41,110 We're going to create a Virtual Environment. 64 00:04:41,270 --> 00:04:47,090 So make sure that's selected. If you decided to use Anaconda, instead of the Python version that I installed 65 00:04:47,090 --> 00:04:52,220 earlier, then you should select Conda Environment. But most students should use Virtual Environment. 66 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,850 So over to the right, we want to create a New environment. 67 00:04:56,420 --> 00:05:00,970 This will basically be a copy of your main Python installation, the one we installed earlier. 68 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:07,550 If you mess up this virtual environment, you can delete it and create a new one, without having to reinstall Python. 69 00:05:07,910 --> 00:05:10,300 The location should be in your home directory somewhere. 70 00:05:10,550 --> 00:05:16,700 For me, you can say it's suggesting C:\Users\timbuchalka\venv. 71 00:05:17,150 --> 00:05:20,330 You might want to install Python 3.10, or even a later version, 72 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,930 When it comes out in the future. Or you might want to use an older version. 73 00:05:24,470 --> 00:05:25,340 For that reason, 74 00:05:25,620 --> 00:05:30,920 I like to indicate the Python version in the directory name. I'm using Python 3.9. 75 00:05:31,130 --> 00:05:36,110 So I'm going to add a \ in location, and enter python39. 76 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:38,300 You can see I've added that to the end of the path. 77 00:05:39,020 --> 00:05:42,170 Now don't use spaces in your directory names, because that can cause problems. 78 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:43,970 Next, we choose the Base interpreter. 79 00:05:44,180 --> 00:05:48,110 That's the main Python installation, and IntelliJ should have found it for you. 80 00:05:48,620 --> 00:05:53,690 If you have more than one version of Python installed, you can use a dropdown to select the correct one. 81 00:05:54,020 --> 00:05:56,210 But in my case Python 3.9 is correct. 82 00:05:57,150 --> 00:06:03,530 You can also use these three dots here, the ellipsis button, on the right to browse to your python.exe file, if you didn't accept 83 00:06:03,530 --> 00:06:05,870 the default path when you installed Python. 84 00:06:06,500 --> 00:06:07,430 I don't need to do that, 85 00:06:08,740 --> 00:06:12,200 because obviously the Base interpreter is pointing to the correct location. 86 00:06:12,550 --> 00:06:17,280 Now, most of the time, you'll probably want to check these two boxes down here: Inherit global site 87 00:06:17,350 --> 00:06:22,320 packages, and Make available to all projects. Inherit global site packages 88 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,200 lets your virtual environment use the packages in the main installation. 89 00:06:26,620 --> 00:06:28,360 That's almost always what you want. 90 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,900 Unless you're doing something specialized. Make available to all projects 91 00:06:31,900 --> 00:06:35,350 lets you use this virtual environment in all the projects you create. 92 00:06:35,740 --> 00:06:40,090 If you don't tick that box, you'll need to create a new virtual environment for each project. 93 00:06:40,420 --> 00:06:43,900 That's extra effort, and it's completely unnecessary for most projects. 94 00:06:44,230 --> 00:06:46,920 Right, so I've checked both of those. I'm going to click okay. 95 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:52,240 And IntelliJ's going to set that virtual environment up for us. And this actually can take a short 96 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:57,010 while, as the key Python files are copied to your new virtual environment directory. 97 00:07:01,620 --> 00:07:05,610 All right, so as you can see, that's finished now, and we ended up back at the previous screen. 98 00:07:05,910 --> 00:07:12,570 But this time we now have a Project SDK. In future, whenever you create a new project, make sure the 99 00:07:12,570 --> 00:07:15,930 SDK is selected in that Project SDK box. 100 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:18,020 All right. So that's the configuration complete. 101 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:20,570 We're not going to create a new project just yet. 102 00:07:21,330 --> 00:07:25,860 With the earlier version of IntelliJ, it was possible to set up a virtual environment from the 103 00:07:25,860 --> 00:07:26,580 Welcome screen. 104 00:07:27,030 --> 00:07:31,020 That option has been removed, which is why we've started to create a project. 105 00:07:31,370 --> 00:07:32,700 We want to click on Cancel now. 106 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,850 And we'll actually create our first Python project in the next video. 107 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,530 Notice that those three buttons may have moved to the top of the right hand pane. 108 00:07:40,980 --> 00:07:45,270 The main part of this pane will show you a list of all the projects you've created, which makes it 109 00:07:45,270 --> 00:07:46,790 much easier to open them again. 110 00:07:47,310 --> 00:07:49,560 But don't get hung up on the position of those three buttons. 111 00:07:49,860 --> 00:07:52,410 JetBrains moves things around from time to time. 112 00:07:52,650 --> 00:07:57,060 And you'll see that they're in a slightly different place, in some of the videos, as you proceed through 113 00:07:57,060 --> 00:07:57,630 this course. 114 00:07:58,080 --> 00:07:58,920 But that doesn't matter. 115 00:07:59,010 --> 00:08:02,610 When you see me click the New Project button, you know where to find it on your screen. 116 00:08:02,970 --> 00:08:05,730 As I say, it might be in a different place in the videos. 117 00:08:06,300 --> 00:08:11,130 Okay, so we're all set up and ready to program. We'll make a start on that in the next section.