Installing Python locally

If Python isn't already available on your system, detailed instructions by platform can be found in the Python Setup and Usage section of the official documentation. Real Python also offers a nice guide to installation on various platforms, including iOS and Android.

Finally, these posts by Brett Cannon A quick-and-dirty guide and Why you should use python -m pip, give very helpful advice on how to manage Python installations and packages.

Note for MacOS users: prior to MacOS Monterey (12.3), Python 2.7 came pre-installed with the operating system. Using Python 2.7 with Exercism or most other programs is not supported. You should instead install Python 3 via one of the methods detailed below. As of MacOS Monterey (12.3), no version of Python will be pre-installed via MacOS.

Some quick links into the documentation by operating system:

• Windows Additionally, this Microsoft article on installing Python on windows is helpful.
• Unix & Linux Systems (these largely work for MacOS as well)
• MacOS : This is outdated. We recommend reviewing some of the methods outlined in the Real Python article Installing Python or the articles by Brett Cannon linked above.

Exercism tests and tooling currently support 3.7 - 3.11.5 (tests) and Python 3.11.5 (tooling). Exceptions to this support are noted where they occur. Most of the exercises will work with Python 3.6+, or even earlier versions. But we don't guarantee support for versions not listed under Active Python Releases.

Please refer to the Python 3.11.x documentation for what is currently supported.