The Django Journey Series: Preparing Windows 11 for Django Web Development

In my previous post of this series, I mentioned that I would be developing on a Windows 11 PC. I also shared the software and resources that I will be using along my journey which you can read more about here.

Getting started in Windows with Python development is fairly straight forward and, in my opinion, has significantly improved over the past few years for modern python web development. Installing all the tools that you need no longer requires an in-depth process and is pretty much straightforward. The tools that I installed in my system are what I consider must have software. Here is the software list of what I installed and where to find it.

• Python Install Manager - Offered through Python.org or Windows App Store
  • Read more Python.org's direction with Python on Windows here.
• Git - https://git-scm.com/install/windows
• uv (Astral) - https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/
  • WinGet method used for install.
• Windows Terminal - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/install
  • Much better than Command Prompt. Latest Windows includes Terminal, but if you do not have it, you can install it from the Microsoft App Store.
• PowerShell - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/install/install-powershell-on-windows?view=powershell-7.5
  • PowerShell is already installed on Windows 11; however, I opted to install the latest stable version using the WinGet install method.
• PyCharm - https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/?section=windows

Once you have installed all these tools on your system, you are set to get started!