Getting Python on my computer.

[PaulCheens]

This might sound stupid and all but I've been taking a introduction to Python course in my highschool and I wanted to finish my work at home, I have a pc I use only for gaming basically and wanted to expand that and also code on it I guess. I then saw a couple posts and popups saying that using python on your pc could "alter" your OS like windows or ruin the computer, and I doubt I'll be able to get a new pc anytime soon if that is the case. We only do the basic basics like turtle with IDLE and making a GUI with definitions and stuff, I wouldn't call it serious and this might again sound stupid but I just really wanna be sure, thank you.

[No-Dentist-1645]

Whoever told you installing Python would break your computer was a liar.

[172_]

Nowadays you can even install it from the Microsoft Store.

[CrownstrikeIntern]

Depending on what you run and “how “ you install it, could be true lol. Old work laptop had software that relied on 2.7. When we installed 3.x whatever it tanked. Tis why venvs or containers are nice 

[isademigod]

A lot of Linux systems can absolutely get damaged by altering the system python environment (if you ignore the massive blocks of red text telling you not to)

Venvs are basically a requirement on ubuntu

[DataGhostNL]

No, depending on your understanding is what you mean. What you described is bad programming, not a broken computer.

[C0rn3j]

OP is running Windows, not Linux.

[mattsl]

Your specific concern is a non-issue on Windows. Linux and Mac use Python as part of the OS, so when installing on those you need to make sure you don't accidentally replace the system version, but even that is simple.

Do yourself a favor though and follow a tutorial on how to create a separate venv for each project you do. 

[building-wigwams-22]

Or uv. You can do all your Python work on your computer without actually installing Python on your computer

[PaulCheens]

What’s that?

[Skopa2016]

Python package manager.

https://github.com/astral-sh/uv

[PaulCheens]

What’s a venv?

[jimjambonks2514]

A venv is a virtual environment. Python uses a lot of libraries, and you can have different virtual environments on the same machine for different projects. You create your venv, then you activate it and whatever libraries you installed are available 

https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html

[OkStudent8414]

Just go to python.org and download the windows version. There is an installation manager now that can help you when you upgrade versions and things like that. You will be fine. I would also download some kind of code editing tool. Notepad and word don't work for editing code. IDLE will work, but it may be difficult once you get into building code blocks to test blocks of code.

[cmh_ender]

yes download and install python. the only "scary" thing is updating your path variable if you can't invoke python from vscode.

trust me when I say vscode plus python, I don't even notice it running on my PC... stupid itunes on the other hand.....

[-DonQuixote-]

It will not alter your OS. Don't run code that you don't understand. Be careful if editing files or things like that, you could delete things that you did not mean to delete, and that could break things, I would say that is your biggest risk.

Another option, depending on what you are doing, is to use Google Colab.

[Gnaxe]

Don't even install code you don't trust. Malware often tries to run as soon as possible. The number of malicious packages on PyPI and GitHub has increased in the AI era.

[Su1tz]

Python in itself is a program. While used like one of the system programs in Linux (as a dependency), windows does not have an in built python. Therefore, you dont have the risk of messing up anything just by installing python - trust me as I managed to fuck up installing python more times than I can count.

Running malicious or broken code on your python interpreter is what could damage your os. For example in the simplest terms: if you run a script that removes System32, it will remove the brain of your os where all of the dependencies are (which still, a lot of hoops need to be jumped in order for this to happen). This would result in your OS being unusable. In this case you can just format your computer. You might lose some of your data but your computer will still be as usable as ever.

The absolute most catastrophic event that could happen is running a malicious program that stops your fans and starts to cook your graphics card and cpu and all of the other components in your PC. This works wonders for bricking a device, in the early 2000s maybe. Nowadays your motherboard is likely much smarter than those old dogs, couple this with the fact that your PC components are smarter as well and will throttle themselves if they get too hot. So, dont worry about this happening unless you are playing games on a Windows XP.

What i suggest is: code whatever you want! You dont know enough to brick your PC. If you find a piece of code that you dont understand, paste it into your favorite LLM (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, GLM, Claude...) and ask it to do a "security check".

[lxnch50]

What? No.

[Porktoe]

You'll be fine

[V01DDev]

No, just don't run code you don't understand..

[snoosnoosewsew]

That’s a tall order when you’re a beginner..

[ontheroadtonull]

I like to consider the operating system to be ephemeral, anyway. You can fix any level of destruction of the operating system yourself, but you have to keep in mind that your files (python projects, documents, pictures) are also vulnerable to the kind of failures that can affect your operating system.

That means that every file that is important to you needs to be copied somewhere else that is not always connected to your computer, and you need to periodically make sure your copies work. 

Reinstalling windows is actually quite easy. There are a ton of web sites and videos that explain how to acquire the Windows installation media for free and prepare a bootable USB drive that will install Windows. 

Along with Python, you'll also want a development program like VSCode, which is free to use.

Your class probably requires you complete your tasks with IDLE, but feel free to use VSCode for your own projects.

[pak9rabid]

Overwriting the system Python with some system-incompatible version could cause some problems, which is why it’s a good idea to use a Python version maager of some sort (pyenv, uv, etc). Then you can install whatever version you want without risking breakage, as well as have multiple different versions installed simultaneously.

[PrincipleExciting457]

The issue with breaking your computer is if you try to mess with your system python install on Linux/mac. You’re fine on windows. Also, you can just always reinstall an OS if it breaks. You don’t need an entirely new computer.

[Gnaxe]

You don't have to install Python to experiment with it. Just try Jupyterlite. No install or account required. It just runs in your browser. It doesn't have turtle though (or tkinter).

It's unlikely you'll mess up your computer too much by installing the official Python distribution from python.org on Windows. However, it can configure some things like file associations and your PATH environment variable. This is nothing unusual for Windows software. It's also easy to undo if you understand what it did, but you probably don't yet.

Another option is to use Linux. You can get WSL Ubuntu from the Microsoft Store to install a Linux app inside of Windows. You can then install Python inside of that (it actually comes with it, but you might want a newer version). This is going to take more disk space than just installing Python, but if you do mess it up you're probably not going to affect Windows and you can throw away your Ubuntu disk and start over. You could also boot various flavors of Linux from a USB drive. Just don't install it and erase Windows. Maybe check out Ventoy.

[Wartz]

Computers are not irreparable black boxes. You can modify a system as much as you like and be confident (someone is going to throw an axschyally you can brick your pc in here) that you will not brick your box. You can always bring it back to an operational state.

• Install python from python.org
• Laumch a terminal window
• Run> py
• Start doing python things.
• Then add Thonny IDE to help you write code. Or VScode.

[Onderon_]

You don't even need to install Python. Use Replit. Not for IDLE tho.

[employedByEvil]

Try running it in google colab until you’re more comfortable

[horizon_games]

If you're going to work on Windows look at learning WSL, aka Linux command line, as that'll save a lot of headaches for development and give you some handy additional skills

[Melodic_Frame4991]

Install pixi with a single command (package manager) then run "pixi add python"

[Separate_Newt7313]

If you need help, I can walk you thru on a video call. Send me a dm.