For a long time, I didn't understand how to use Virtual Environments in Python 🐍.

If this is just, let's end it here and now: 🧵👇

[2] Virtual Environments let you deal with the dependencies that your code has with external Python libraries.

It avoids having conflicts when your projects depend on different versions of the same library.

👇
[3] Let's imagine that you are building your first Python project and you install the "requests" library:

pip install requests

You get version 2.24.0 installed in your system.

👇
[4] A month later, you decide to work on your second project. It also needs the "requests" library.

But the latest version is not 2.24.0 anymore.

Now version 3 is available, and that's the one you want to use!

👇
[5] You could upgrade your entire system to version 3, but then you'll be potentially breaking the first project you built that depends on 2.24.0!

Can you imagine this happening on a server with many more applications running?

👇
[6] Virtual environments solve this problem.

The first step for every new project is to create a virtual environment for it.

Some people have a central location where they store all environments. I prefer to keep them inside the project folder.

👇
[7] You can create a new virtual environment with Python 3 using the following command:

python3 -m venv .myvenv

Then, you can use "source" to activate the environment.

At this point, you'll have full isolation for your project.

👇
[8] If you install any libraries within a virtual environment, they will never mess with the libraries installed at the system level or other virtual environments.

And this is great!

Here is a @realpython's article covering virtual environments: https://t.co/lgXqJDUlKw
[9] The built-in "venv" module is not the only way to create virtual environments. Here are other options:

- conda
- pipenv
- virtualenv

What's your choice?

More from Santiago

10 machine learning YouTube videos.

On libraries, algorithms, and tools.

(If you want to start with machine learning, having a comprehensive set of hands-on tutorials you can always refer to is fundamental.)

🧵👇

1⃣ Notebooks are a fantastic way to code, experiment, and communicate your results.

Take a look at @CoreyMSchafer's fantastic 30-minute tutorial on Jupyter Notebooks.

https://t.co/HqE9yt8TkB


2⃣ The Pandas library is the gold-standard to manipulate structured data.

Check out @joejamesusa's "Pandas Tutorial. Intro to DataFrames."

https://t.co/aOLh0dcGF5


3⃣ Data visualization is key for anyone practicing machine learning.

Check out @blondiebytes's "Learn Matplotlib in 6 minutes" tutorial.

https://t.co/QxjsODI1HB


4⃣ Another trendy data visualization library is Seaborn.

@NewThinkTank put together "Seaborn Tutorial 2020," which I highly recommend.

https://t.co/eAU5NBucbm

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I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):


The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹


References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹