README-developers.md

README for developers

We use venv to create virtual environments and manage module dependencies in python scripts or Jupyter Notebooks.
To create a virtual environment execute the command python3 -m venv <environment name> in the root directory.
I typically name my environment .env or venv, and configure .gitignore to ignore both .env and venv files. This prevents the environment libraries from being uploaded to the repository.

After the environment is created, run the following commands from your terminal:

1. First, execute the command source <environment name>/bin/activate to enter/activate the environment (e.g., source .env/bin/activate).
2. Second, execute the command pip install -r requirements.txt in order to install the dependencies. This will probably generate a message that pip is out of date. You can either ignore this message, or update pip by executing the command pip install --upgrade pip.

Other packages can be installed using the pip install <package> command. After a new package is installed, remember to add the package to the requirements.txt file in order to include the package as part of the project.

You exit the virtual environment with command deactivate in the terminal.