Quick Guide to Python Virtual Environments

Robots use virtual environments too.

When we write Python, a good practice is to create a virtual environment for each project. It is simply a way to isolate one Python installation, a specific version, and a set of libraries so they do not conflict with anything already installed on your machine.

You can create them with venv or conda, but my preferred setup is still virtualenv plus virtualenvwrapper.

Installation

On Windows

pip install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper
pip install virtualenvwrapper-win

On Linux

pip3 install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper

Basic commands

Create a new virtual environment called f5:

mkvirtualenv f5 -p python3

Activate it or switch to it:

workon f5

Deactivate it:

deactivate f5

List all virtual environments:

lsvirtualenv

Delete one that is not in use:

rmvirtualenv f5

Inside the environment you can install whatever libraries you need with pip, including pinned versions when necessary.