Free AI Development Setup: Install Python, VS Code & Ollama Tools

Now we will learn how to set up our development environment. So let's start that.

What we need to build an AI application, we will use four free tools. In fact, three only

right now. Later on we will use the fourth one. First is the Python. That is the

programming language. So you will need Python programming language so that you can write your program to make your

assistant. Then you need Visual Studio Code. This is basically code editor. You need a

place where you write your Python program. You can modify it, you can save it, and you can run it to see the

output. That kind of environment is called integrated development environment. There are several

integrated development environment for Python like Jupyter Notebook, Jupyter Lab. Similarly, we will use Visual

Studio Code because this is very good uh integrated development environment for Python.

The third thing you need is Ollama. That is the model, AI model, which will run on our own computer or laptop. We

will download this model from the internet and thereafter it will run on our own computer. So

So I have already told that means you will not have any cost with it. First advantage and the second advantage is

you will not require internet every time to run your program or application. And the fourth is, which is optional, but

which we will use later on, for the version control. Don't worry if you don't understand it right now.

I will tell you. That's all. These are the tools right now, only three. So, there is no paid software, no GPU

required, no expensive cloud accounts. So, for this course, nothing is required, and even then everything will

be absolutely clear to you. So, you start the first step. That means install the Python.

Most of the times, it is possible that on your computer Python is already installed.

So, first check it whether it is installed or not. So, you open the command prompt for

Windows or terminal for Linux and type Python {minus} {minus} version. So, when you type this command, you

should see something similar to this. If you see something similar to this, that means the Python is already installed.

So, you don't need to do anything else with respect to the Python installation. But,

if you get an error that Python is not recognized like this, then install Python before continuing.

How to do that? Very simple. Go on to this website, and depending upon your operating system

like Windows, Linux, Mac, you get the files to download and install. So, very

simple it is to use. I will show it on the laptop also in demonstration. During installation on Windows, make

sure to check the box add Python to path. This saves you from common setup issues

later. That means you don't have to set up the path later. So, therefore you check it. So, it will be very simple.

Second thing is you have to install Visual Studio Code. I have already told you that you can use any editor which is

comfortable to you, but in this course I will be using Visual Studio Code. You can download it from

here, this website, and then you can install. You can write Python program in any

editor, I already told you, but I will be using this. Why? Because it provides syntax highlighting,

code completion, that means you just write a small portion of the code and it tells you what should be the next,

integrated terminal, that means you can use terminal within the Visual Studio Code interface

to run the program or to do anything related with the terminal. And it has very excellent Python

support. So, after you have installed the VS Code, also install the Python extension

when prompted. It will prompt. If it has not prompted right now, whenever you will open or write a Python file, it

will at that time ask to download and install the Python extension. So, it's very simple.

So, now you are ready to write Python code comfortably. So, now we have both. We have Python which we have installed,

and we have an editor where we can write the program and run it. So, we have both the things available for running the

Python program. In the next session, we will learn that how to install AI model Ollama.

I hope it is clear to you.