[rgwant]

Apart from the fact that the "editor" section sounds like an infomercial for VSCode, why would you overload a beginner with all that virtual environment bloat?

The whole "open" source system is marching backwards towards inscrutable IDEs that do work by magic and leave the user clueless.

[simonw]

Virtual environments are, sadly, absolutely crucial for Python beginners to get their heads around if they are to do anything more advanced then "hello world".

When I'm getting someone started I usually say:

"There is a magic incantation involved in Python development called 'activating your virtual environment' - if stuff isn't working as you expect, check that you have done this. Development environments are the hardest thing about learning to program. I'm so sorry."

[BryanBeshore]

pip freeze > requirements.txt

When first learning python and virtual environments, it took me a little bit of time to understand that the virtual environment is basically a clean slate.

The command above saved a lot of time. I’d go so far as to having a set of requirements files ready to go for certain types of projects just to get started.

[coopreme]

Check out pipenv, it really is a lot simpler.

[anthonygd]

Back when I started working with Python professionally, virtual environments were required before I could grok things. I just could not wrap my head around the crazy inconsistent behavior and nightmare dependencies until I discovered virtual environments.

I've never become a Python fan, but I really don't think it's even usable without virtual environments.

[heresie-dabord]

Agreed. I understand that some programmers dislike braces, parentheses, and semi-colons. The Python language itself offers notation with a simple set of characters. I do use Python but I prefer other languages and notations.

But as a software project, Python is mayhem. pip+pypi is an embarrassment. After the difficult 2.x -> 3.x transition, the 3.x->3.8 period inflicted a world of pain on anyone trying to develop and deploy stable tooling.