Before we talk about installing Python on your system, let me tell you about which Python version I'll be using in this book.
Setting up the environment
Python 2 versus Python 3
Python comes in two main versions: Python 2, which is the past, and Python 3, which is the present. The two versions, though very similar, are incompatible in some respects.
In the real world, Python 2 is actually quite far from being the past. In short, even though Python 3 has been out since 2008, the transition phase from Version 2 is still far from being over. This is mostly due to the fact that Python 2 is widely used in the industry, and of course, companies aren't so keen on updating their systems just for the sake of updating them, following the if it ain't broke, don't fix it philosophy. You can read all about the transition between the two versions on the web.
Another issue that has hindered the transition is the availability of third-party libraries. Usually, a Python project relies on tens of external libraries, and of course, when you start a new project, you need to be sure that there is already a Version-3-compatible library for any business requirement that may come up. If that's not the case, starting a brand-new project in Python 3 means introducing a potential risk, which many companies are not happy to take.
At the time of writing, though, the majority of the most widely used libraries have been ported to Python 3, and it's quite safe to start a project in Python 3 for most cases. Many of the libraries have been rewritten so that they are compatible with both versions, mostly harnessing the power of the six library (the name comes from the multiplication 2 x 3, due to the porting from Version 2 to 3), which helps introspecting and adapting the behavior according to the version used. According to PEP 373 (
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