The Visual Studio Code Editor

Setup a Basic IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

Unless you already have a preferred IDE, we recommend the free and easy to use VS Studio Code IDE from Microsoft, which is free and highly flexible through an enormous extensions library.

The following VS Code extensions are recommended in order to most effectively work through the remaining coursework (in somewhat priority order):

• Python - Rich support for the Python language.
• Pylance - Fast, feature-rich language support for Python - an enhancement of the Python extension.
• Prettier - An opinionated code formatter for Visual Studio Code. (Code prettifying extensions are also a great way for novice developer to learn correct code formatting and identifying potential issues.)

Other extensions we have found to be very useful include:

• GitHub Copilot - You have very likely read about Copilot as it has taken the developer community by storm, with some estimates of over 30% of code being authored by Copilot as a virtual paired programmer with the human developer. More about Copilot for Individuals (and also Copilot for Business) can be found here. GitHub Copilot is a paid extension but, for many (including us), easily worth it.
• ChatGPT - An IDE-embedded version of ChatGPT that has some visibility into the code resident in windows in your IDE, meaning it can make more relevant recommendations and code completions based on context. This may require that you have a paid account with OpenAI.

<aside> 💡 (Extensions may be searched and installed in VS Code via the View: Extensions menu which opens an integrated panel displaying both installed and recommended extensions, and allows searching for more. Each extension has documentation and installation / usage instructions.)

</aside>

Setup a Basic Jupyter Notebook

If you would prefer to work through the courses in this program using a form of Jupyter Notebook that’s fine. But if your intention is to develop actual applications down the road, then switching to a proper software development environment is advised.

In the meantime, here is a little more information about Jupyter Notebooks that might help.

Jupyter Notebook Variants

• The Classic - The original web application version of Jupyter may be found here, with instructions on how to setup and use. There are also variants like the newer next generation JupyterLab which can run in a browser, or be installed via pip or Homebrew (Mac-specific).
• Google Colaboratory - A popular alternative to the classic Jupyter Notebook is the version hosted by Google. The Google Colaboratory is simple to setup and use, and provides free access to computing resources including GPUs and TPUs. Read more here.

Sharing Notebooks

You may have previously noted the Jupyter Notebook we shared here. This is the actual notebook we created when we took the initial course in this program and include as an option to use instead of building your own notebook from scratch.

Jupyter Notebooks can easily be shared and could serve as a great way for you (as ambassador) to share ideas and code samples within your organization. Jupyter Notebooks are simply flat files with a .ipynb file extension. Follow the instructions relative to the notebook form you choose to export and share notebooks you create with others.

<aside> 💡 Another interesting option that is popular with many novice developers is Replit, which is a real-time multi-user web-based editor which allows you to build, test and deploy applications directly from the browser.

</aside>