Installation and Environmental Problems

Overview

Some of the most frustration problems you will experience as a software developer are ones that basically aren't your fault. Well, they are actually your fault, but they have nothing to do with the code you wrote - they have to do with environmental issues, or missing packages, or something similar.

This may seem obvious, but there are a few points to be made about these types of situations:

• Persistence: Being persistent - not giving up - is one of the hallmarks of a good software developer. You need to try, and try again, and not be inclined to give up. Every good software developer has this trait.
• Google is your best friend: Chances are good that, whatever situation you are facing, somebody in the world has faced it before. And you may not appreciate it, but the fact that so many people are attempting to learn software, works in your favor, because there are a boatload of questions that have been asked, and answered, online, from sites such as Stack Overflow and others. And in my experience, Google is the best way to discover those answers. Sometimes you can even copy and paste the error into the search field.
• PyCharm vs your OS: I have noticed that sometimes, when I've installed a package using pip3, this won't get picked up by PyCharm. Most often, this is not the case. When this does happen, you will find that PyCharm can help you to install the package there. Also - see previous point - a google search can help in this regard.
• Python Interpreter in PyCharm: You may need to configure your python interpreter - that is, the python binary that PyCharm will use to run your programs as you develop them. When you are at this point, pointing PyCharm at the right interpreter will depend on your OS, how Python was installed, etc. Just follow PyCharm's instructions, and if you get stuck, check to see if anybody else has experienced the problem you are seeing.
• Installed package not working in PyCharm: If you end up having an issue where PyCharm is just not seeing your installed package, one option, in this python-52-weeks stuff, is to comment out the lines that attempt to use the package. For example, in an early lesson, I attempt to show you how easy it is to print out tabular data, using the 'tabulate' package. You'll need to install this; if you encounter problems with the installation, you can safely just comment out those lines, until you figure out the issue later.

I think that's the main advice I have for you, for now anyway. I may