Create and run your first project

1. If you’re on the Welcome screen, click New Project. If you’ve already got any project open, choose File | New Project from the main menu.

2. Although you can create projects of various types in PyCharm, in this tutorial let's create a simple Pure Python project. This template will create an empty project.

   

3. Choose the project location. Click in the Location field and specify the directory for your project.

   The project name will be automatically derived from the folder name in the specified path.

4. Python best practice is to create a dedicated environment for each project. In most cases, the default Project venv will do the job, and you won't need to configure anything.

   Still, you can switch to Custom environment to be able to use an existing environment, select other environment types, specify the environment location, and modify other options.

   

   note

   If PyCharm detects no Python on your machine, it provides the following options:

   • Specify a path to the Python executable (in case of non-standard installation)

   • Download and install the latest Python versions from python.org

   • Install Python using the Command-Line Developer Tools (macOS only).

   For more information, refer to Configure a Python interpreter.

   For now, let's keep the default Project venv option.

5. Click Create when you are ready.

1. In the Project tool window, select the project root (typically, it is the root node in the project tree), right-click it, and select File | New ....

   

2. Select the option Python File from the context menu, and then type the new filename.

   

   PyCharm creates a new Python file and opens it for editing.

   

Let's start editing the Python file you've just created.

1. Start with declaring a class. Immediately as you start typing, PyCharm suggests how to complete your line:

   

   Choose the keyword class and type the class name, Car.

2. PyCharm informs you that there are errors in your file:

   

   Note that PyCharm analyzes your code on-the-fly, the results are immediately shown in the inspection indicator in the upper-right corner of the editor.

   This inspection indication works like a traffic light: when it is green, everything is OK, and you can go on with your code; a yellow light means some minor problems that however will not affect compilation; but when the light is red, it means that you have some serious errors.

   Click it to preview the details in the Problems tool window. There's a missing colon, then an indentation is expected:

   

3. Let's continue by creating the __init__ function for the class: when you start typing the function's name, PyCharm suggests pasting the entire code construct including the mandatory self parameter, the closing parenthesis, and the colon:

   

4. If you notice any inspection warnings as you're editing your code, click the bulb symbol to preview the list of possible fixes and recommended actions:

   

5. Let's copy and paste the entire code sample. Hover over the upper-right corner of the code block below, click the copy icon, and then paste the code into the PyCharm editor replacing the content of the Car.py file:

   warning

   This application is intended for Python 3

   class Car:
   
       def __init__(self, speed=0):
           self.speed = speed
           self.odometer = 0
           self.time = 0
   
       def accelerate(self):
           self.speed += 5
   
       def brake(self):
           self.speed -= 5
   
       def step(self):
           self.odometer += self.speed
           self.time += 1
   
       def average_speed(self):
           return self.odometer / self.time
   
   
   if __name__ == '__main__':
   
       my_car = Car()
       print("I'm a car!")
       while True:
           action = input("What should I do? [A]ccelerate, [B]rake, "
                           "show [O]dometer, or show average [S]peed?").upper()
           if action not in "ABOS" or len(action) != 1:
               print("I don't know how to do that")
               continue
           if action == 'A':
               my_car.accelerate()
               print("Accelerating...")
           elif action == 'B':
               my_car.brake()
               print("Braking...")
           elif action == 'O':
               print("The car has driven {} kilometers".format(my_car.odometer))
           elif action == 'S':
               print("The car's average speed was {} kph".format(my_car.average_speed()))
           my_car.step()

Use either of the following ways to run your code:

• Right-click the editor and select Run 'Car' from the context menu .

• Press CtrlShiftF10.

• Since this Python script contains a main function, you can click in the gutter.

  You'll see the popup menu of the available commands. Choose Run 'Car':