2. Check what's installed

Before installing anything, see what's already on your system. You might have Python installed without knowing it. This page takes less than two minutes and could save you from unnecessary installation steps.

Open your command line

You'll use the command line throughout this book. It's a text interface where you type commands instead of clicking buttons. It's more straightforward than it looks.

On Windows, the commands in this book use Command Prompt syntax. If you open PowerShell instead, use the PowerShell equivalent when environment variables appear; for example, use $env:USERPROFILE where Command Prompt uses %USERPROFILE%.

• Windows. press Windows Key + R, type cmd, press Enter. Or search for "Command Prompt" in the Start menu.
• macOS. press Command + Space, type terminal, press Enter. Or find Terminal in Applications → Utilities.
• Linux. press Ctrl + Alt + T or search for "Terminal" in your application menu.

You'll see a window with text and a cursor. This is where you type commands. Each command does one thing. When you press Enter, your computer executes it.

Check for Python

With your command line open, check whether Python is installed. Type this command and press Enter:

python --version

Three things can happen:

Success: Python 3 is installed

Python 3.13.12

Any version starting with 3.10 or higher is perfect. Skip to "Check for pip" below.

You have Python 2 (outdated)

Python 2.7.18

Python 2 is outdated and won't work with modern libraries. Try python3 --version instead. If that shows Python 3.10+, use python3 instead of python for all commands in this book.

Python not found

'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command

Or on macOS/Linux:

command not found: python

Python isn't installed or isn't in your PATH. See Issue 1: Python not found on the troubleshooting page.

Python 3.10 or newer works for this book. Python 2 stopped receiving updates in 2020 and lacks critical security patches. If you're installing Python fresh today, Python 3.13 or 3.14 are excellent choices.

Check for pip

pip is Python's package installer. It usually comes with Python, but verify:

pip --version

Or if you're using python3:

pip3 --version

You should see something like:

pip 26.x from /usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/pip (python 3.13)

The exact numbers don't matter. As long as you see a version number and it mentions Python 3.10+, you're good.

If pip isn't found:

'pip' is not recognized as an internal or external command

See Issue 2: pip not found on the troubleshooting page.

Quick status check

At this point, you should have confirmed:

• Python 3.10+ is installed and accessible
• pip is installed and working
• You can open and use your command line

If any of these aren't checked yet, use the troubleshooting page before continuing. Everything that follows depends on these three things working correctly.

Next, you'll create a workspace folder for your API projects.