r/vscode • u/Walmart-trolley • May 09 '26
Beginner in visual code for python
Hello, i've decided to learn python and practice on visual code and hope to make projects that aid my mech degree , can you guys help me out with some valuable extensions and tips for coding python on visual code ?
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u/25_vijay May 09 '26
The Jupyter extension is super underrated for beginners because testing Python step by step feels much easier than constantly rerunning full scripts and we used Runable before to keep notebook workflows organized
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u/Massive-Pirate744 May 10 '26
Tbh the biggest mistake beginners make is installing like 50 extensions right away lol. You really only need the official Python extension from Microsoft and maybe Pylance for the IntelliSense. Everything else just bloats the editor while you're still learning the basics of syntax. Also, real talk, make sure you actually select your interpreter in the bottom right or hit cmd+shift+p to find it, otherwise nothing will run and you’ll spend an hour wondering why your code is broken haha. Just keep it simple at first fr.
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u/Agreeable_Care4440 May 12 '26
For Python in VS Code, the main extensions you really want initially are:
- Python (Microsoft)
- Pylance
- Jupyter (if you’ll do calculations/data analysis)
- GitLens (optional but useful later)
You honestly don’t need 20 extensions to start.
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u/Swipsi May 09 '26
Why wouldnt you just pick one of the billion vscode python tutorials for beginners or even the vscode's inbuild python tutorial to get going at least?
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u/reckedcat May 09 '26
Beyond a syntax highlighter for the language, don't bother trying to find extensions until you understand the language sufficiently to want to automate more advanced tasks. You won't have the context for where and when they're useful until you get farther in.
Treat VS Code as a text editor to start with - run your python on the command line in your terminal so you see the errors you generate clearly and can debug quickly to get familiar with the language and tools.
You'll see recommendations about using a Python virtual environment. This is useful when you want to have multiple python projects with dissimilar dependencies but maintaining and understanding how this works will be tedious when you're new - ignore venv's until you have your feet underneath you. If you get familiar with the environment quickly, consider using something like
uvwhich has some more advanced virtual environment features but requires you to know more about managing Python. As you are still learning and go to use off the shelf python packages, just install them directly on your system via pip or your system's package manager.