Introduction
Are you tired of using the same old version of Python on your Windows machine? 3 like a boss!
Prerequisites
Before we dive into the details, let’s make sure you have everything you need:
1. A Windows machine (duh)
2. An internet connection (because downloading stuff is cool and all that)
3. Basic computer skills (you don’t want to mess this up, do you?)
4. A desire to learn new things (or at least pretend like you care about Python)
Step 1: Go to the official Python website
To set the stage, head over to https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-360rc1/. This is where all the magic happens!
Step 2: Download the Windows installer
Scroll down until you see a section titled “Windows” and click on the link that says “Python 3.6.0 Release Candidate 1”. A new page will open, displaying various download options. Choose the one labeled as “Windows x86-64 executable (.exe) installer”.
Step 2a: If you have a specific version of Python that you want to use, you can also download it from the official website by clicking on the link for your desired version under the “Downloads” section. This is useful if you need a specific version for compatibility reasons or if you prefer using an older version of Python.
Step 3: Run the installer and follow the instructions
Once you’ve successfully downloaded the file, double-click on it to launch the installation wizard. Follow the prompts carefully and don’t forget to select “Add Python 3.6 to PATH” if you want to be able to run Python scripts from any directory using the command prompt or PowerShell.
Step 4: Verify that Python is installed correctly
To check whether everything went smoothly, open a new terminal window (or Command Prompt) and type “python –version”. If you see something like “Python 3.6.0rc1” displayed on your screen, congratulations! You’ve successfully upgraded to the latest version of Python on Windows!
Step 5: Install pip for Python
Now that we have Python installed, let’s make sure we can easily install new packages and modules using pip (the package manager for Python). To do this, open a terminal window again and type “curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python”. This will download the latest version of get-pip.py from the official website and run it with Python.
Step 5a: If you prefer using a package manager like Chocolatey or Scoop, you can also install pip by running “choco install python” or “scoop bucket add extras/python”. This will automatically download and install both Python and pip for you.
Step 6: Install your favorite packages using pip
Once you’ve installed pip, you can start installing new packages by typing “pip install
Conclusion
You’ve successfully upgraded to Python 3.6 on Windows and installed pip using our simple guide. Now go out there and start coding like a pro!
However, if you are looking for an alternative way of integrating Python with your C++ projects or building systems that do not have a system-wide installation of Python, we recommend exploring the nuget package manager for .NET. Nuget can be used to install Python packages containing build tools and libraries without requiring a full Python installation on Windows machines.
To use this method, download the latest version of nuget from https://aka.ms/nugetclidl using curl or PowerShell. Then, run “nuget.exe install python” (or “nuget.exe install pythonx86”) to install Python on your machine. This will create a tools directory containing the Python executable and libraries that can be used in C++ projects.
Alternatively, you can use the embedded distribution of Python for applications where Python is not directly accessed by end-users. The embedded distribution includes a minimal Python environment that does not require any system-wide installation or dependencies on other packages. However, it should be noted that third-party packages cannot be installed using pip with this method and must instead be treated as part of the application itself.
In general, nuget packages are not upgradeable, so newer versions should be installed side-by-side and referenced using their full path. Many CI systems will automatically delete old package directories between builds to ensure that only the latest version is used in production environments.