PyCharm Community Edition Installation

In this brief tutorial, we will provide step by step instructions on how to install PyCharm. If you do not know what PyCharm is, it is a Python IDE that can be used to execute python scripts. It is very user-friendly in the way that it has the ability to cleanly view Python code libraries and also import modules. PyCharm does have a free trial version and full version, but if you want to fully utilize PyCharm for free, then the best python ide to use is the PyCharm Community Edition. If you prefer the flexibility of SQL, HTML, and other languages, the PyCharm Professional version might be preferable.

You can download the PyCharm Community Edition for free directly from the JetBrains website here.

You will also be required to have a version of Python to service as the python interpreter for PyCharm. Depending on if your computer is 32bit or 64bit supported, download the appropriate version.

https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/

Once you install the python interpreter, you can run the PyCharm installation.

In the middle of the installation process, you should see this prompt. Check the “Update PATH variable box” and the Create associations “.py” box. Doing this now will make running python scripts 100% easier.

After the installation is complete, launch PyCharm. Launching PyCharm for the first time is slow due to it creating the necessary files.

When PyCharm opens, you should see this screen. Go ahead and select “Create New Project”.

It will ask for the location of where to save PyCharm projects that you create. It will make a default folder on the C drive if nothing else is selected. It will also need a python interpreter for it to run. If you installed Python from the link above, it should automatically locate it. If it cannot locate the Python interpreter, manually select the location. Whether Python 3.6 or 3.7 is installed, it is usually located in the App Data folder, under “Local\Programs\Python\Python(Version)\python.exe”

Once you have the interpreter and project location selected, you can finally create your Python project. It will open up a blank script pad, where you can start typing out Python code. This officially starts your journey into the land of Python.