🌐 What is a virtual environment?

A virtual environment is a special directory for holding a specific version of Python and other modules.

🤔 Why do we need them?

Creating a virtual environment prevents packages with different versions from interfering with each other. This prevents the dependencies from causing conflict issues that stop the app from operating smoothly.

🔄 Types of virtual environments

venv - an inbuilt virtual environment tool from Python
pipenv - the combination of pip and venv
conda - an open-source tool for virtual environments (widely used for data science projects)

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Let's explore how to create a virtual environment using conda:

🚀 Setting up your virtual environment

1. Install conda 💻

You can download and install conda from the official Anaconda or Miniconda website

2. Navigate to a directory of your choice in the terminal 📂

cd replace_this_with_your_directory_here

3. Create the Conda environment file 📜

Create a new file and name it (this one is called my_first_conda_venv.yml).

Then add the information about the environment to it:

name: my_first_conda_venv
channels:
  - defaults
dependencies:
  - python=3.10
  - pip
  - pip:
    - -r requirements.txt

4. Create the requirements.txt file 📝

List the Python libraries you need later on into the requirements.txt file:

pandas
numpy
matplotlib
seaborn
sqlalchemy
psycopg2
jupyterlab

5. Create and activate your environment 🌿

Use these commands to set up and access your environment:

conda env create -f my_first_conda_venv.yml
conda activate my_first_conda_venv

6. Deactivate your environment 🛑

Always shut down the environment after you’re done working in it:

conda deactivate

Happy coding!✨