Unlike Linux, though, Python offers one, gold-standard, “official” edition you can always fall back on: CPython, the version provided by the Python Software Foundation at. Python also comes in a variety of distributions, in much the same way Linux does. You can always try out the most recent version of Python in a controlled way - e.g., in a VM or a test machine - but going one version back guarantees the best compatibility with common third-party Python packages. The safe bet, then, is to use the latest update of Python 3.7 (in this case, Python 3.7.6). Choose the right Python version and distributionįor the sake of compatibility with third-party modules, it is always safest to choose a Python version that is one major point revision behind the current one.Īt the time of this writing, Python 3.8.1 is the most current version. In this article we’ll walk through how to set up Python the right way: how to pick the appropriate version, how to keep multiple versions from stepping on one another, and how to avoid all of the other sharp edges and potential pitfalls along the way. But it is still a piece of software like any other, meaning it can be complex to set up and manage.
Python is easy to use, friendly to the beginner, and powerful enough to create robust software with for nearly any application.
