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Setting up the Flask development environment

Introduction​

Flask is a micro web framework for Python. It is simple, yet incredibly flexible, making it a great choice for beginners who want to develop web applications. This tutorial will guide you through the steps to set up the Flask development environment.

Prerequisites​

Before we begin, you need to have Python installed on your computer. If you don't have it yet, you can download it from the official Python website. Flask supports Python 3.5 and newer versions.

Installing Virtualenv​

Virtualenv is a tool that helps us create isolated Python environments. It's a good practice to create a separate virtual environment for each of your projects, including this one.

To install virtualenv, open your terminal and type the following command:

pip install virtualenv

Creating a Virtual Environment​

Now, let's create a new environment for our Flask project. Navigate to the directory where you want to create your project and run the following command:

virtualenv flask_env

This will create a new directory flask_env with a fresh Python installation in it.

Activating the Virtual Environment​

Before we start installing Flask, we need to activate our new environment. The command to do this depends on your operating system.

  • On macOS and Linux:
source flask_env/bin/activate
  • On Windows:
flask_env\Scripts\activate

Once activated, your terminal prompt will change to show the name of the active environment.

Installing Flask​

With our environment ready and activated, we can now install Flask. This is as simple as running the following command:

pip install flask

Verifying the Installation​

To verify that Flask was installed correctly, you can run the following command:

python -c "import flask; print(flask.__version__)"

This should print out the version of Flask that you installed.

Conclusion​

Congratulations! You have set up your Flask development environment. You can now start developing your Flask applications in this isolated environment, without worrying about conflicting with other Python projects.

Remember to activate the environment with the source (or equivalent) command whenever you start a new terminal session. When you're done working, you can deactivate it by simply typing:

deactivate

In the next tutorials, we will start coding in Flask. Happy coding!