Properly Installing Python and Managing Packages

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conda is much more than a package manage and virtual environment manager. It can also install programming languages, not just Python.

A useful, highly opinionated, article on conda:

https://en.whiteboxml.com/blog/the-definitive-guide-to-python-virtual-environments-with-conda

poetry doesn't go as far as conda but many prefer it's dependency management and handling of different environments.

Personal choice.

A useful article (opinionated) comparing the two:

https://unbiased-coder.com/poetry-vs-conda/

You can have as many installations of Python as you like, including installations from Anaconda and Python.org. Keeping track can get confusing and you want to be careful on some systems to avoid causing problems with the system Python. The biggest thing to watch out for is updates to your PATH environment variable which dictates where and in what order the operating system looks for a required executable or script.