The Renegade Coder – Code First. Ask Questions Later.

It's been awhile since I did any writing for my Patrons, so I figured I'd kick of today with a behind the scenes article. In particular, I wanted to share how I setup my computer to share Python code with you in my YouTube videos. Software In general, there are a few pieces of software that I use. In this section, I'll outline the three most important. Windows 10 If you've seen any of my videos, you're probably aware that I record on a Windows-based system. In particular, I'm using the latest version of Windows which is Windows 10. As a consequence, there are a few areas of the screen that you might see throughout a tutorial. For instance, I like to show off my clean desktop which usually features some anime background. Of course, my background isn't actually that clean. In Windows, there's a way to hide desktop icons which I always use for my videos (i.e. right click -> view -> show desktop icons). Here, you can see my current desktop which features four icons: Recycle Bin, DrJava, Eclipse garbage, and an Image Titler script shortcut (that's how I generate my featured images). When I select "Show desktop icons", the icons should disappear. Another quirk of my desktop is that I don't show my taskbar. Honestly, this is just a personal choice that I've made for awhile, but I just never cared for how cluttered those things can get. As a result, I hide it. To get to it, I just need to hover over the bottom of my screen. That will cause the taskbar to pop up for interaction: Otherwise, I try to keep everything hidden for my videos. I think the simplicity coupled with the minimalist art is a nice touch for my videos. Side note: if you're interested in this art, check out it here. Command Prompt By now, you've probably noticed that I do all my Python tutorials in the command prompt. Again, this is a personal choice for me, but I love the simplicity of being able to open a command window to start coding: If you weren't already aware, the command prompt in Windows allows you to actually change how it looks. For instance, try right clicking the control bar at the top and selecting "properties": In my case, I like to rock a font size of 44 for the videos as well as the default font. In addition, over in the "Colors" tab, I've set an opacity of 85% on the editor, so you can see straight through editor to the desktop background. That way, my tutorials have a little bit of character! From there, I could launch Python straight up, but I don't like the blandness of the command prompt. Luckily, there's a piece of software that can help us out. PTPython: A Better Python REPL Instead of using an IDE like PyCharm or VSCode, I decided to go the REPL route. That way, you wouldn't get distracted by toolbars or shortcuts. Instead, you'd just get raw code. Unfortunately, the command prompt doesn't have syntax highlighting which is critical in my opinion, so I went on the hunt for a syntax highlighting REPL. Turns out, ptpython is the way to go. Like most Python packages, you can install ptpython on your system using pip: pip install ptpython Then, you can launch it using the command "ptpython": Already, this can feel kind of cluttered, so I usually open the menu and start changing the settings: Here are my typical settings for a video: Blank Line After Output: OffShow Signature: OnShow Docstring: OnShow Status Bar: OffShow Sidebar Help: OffCode: Solarized-DarkColor Depth: True Color Beyond that, I leave everything the same. Unfortunately, these settings reset after I close the program, so I'm never too sure that I'm using the same settings twice. That said, if anyone figures out how to preserve settings, let me know! Any Feedback? Since I've only made five videos, I was wondering if this setup was working for you. Do you like how this looks, or would prefer I tried something else? Right now, I'm fairly content with this setup, but I'm open to feedback. In the meantime, I'd love it if you told your friends to join the bandwagon, so they can see this article as well. Feel free to forward them my Patreon or YouTube channel. Also, while you're here, why not share other behind the scenes information you'd like to see. For instance, I'm thinking about putting an article together about how I write articles. Since Hacktoberfest just ended, I was also thinking about sharing my git workflow. At any rate, thanks for taking some time to check this article out. I appreciate it!

Welcome to The Renegade Coder, a site for people interested in Python programming and college teaching! Join me on Patreon for even more content.

Latest Articles