Properly Installing Python ========================== There's a good chance that you already have Python on your operating system. If so, you do not need to install or configure anything else to use Python. Having said that, I would strongly recommend that you install the tools and libraries described in the guides below before you start building Python applications for real-world use. In particular, you should always install Distribute, Pip, and Virtualenv — they make it much easier for you to use other third-party Python libraries. Installation Guides ------------------- These guides go over the proper installation of :ref:`Python 2.7 ` for development purproses, as well as distribute, pip, and virtualenv setup. - :ref:`Mac OS X `. - :ref:`Microsoft Windows`. - :ref:`Ubuntu Linux `.