Getting Started

On this page

1. What you end up with
2. 1. Read the syllabus
3. 2. Your Babson AI key
4. 3. Have a GitHub account
5. 4. Install the tools
6. 5. Install uv and Python
7. 6. Set up GitHub Desktop
8. 7. Create the repository
9. 8. Publish it
10. 9. Write something and push it
11. 10. Make the notebooks folder
12. 11. Replace the .gitignore
13. 12. Open a terminal inside VS Code
14. 13. Run Python
15. 14. Commit what you made
16. Where your work lives
17. When it does not work
18. Then what

Everything to set up your computer and your course repository, in order. Each step needs only the one above it. Work through it at your own pace, stop wherever something breaks, and bring the error to class or to office hours.

Steps 4 to 13 take most people 30 to 45 minutes the first time. Starting a project begins where this page ends, so all of it has to be working first.

What you end up with#

• A repository named after this course on GitHub, with your name in its README
• The same folder on your own computer, in a place you can find again
• Python 3.14 running on your machine
• A file called hello.py that prints something when you run it

1. Read the syllabus#

Start with the syllabus. It covers how grading works, what is due when, the late policy, and how AI fits into this course, which is a longer answer here than in most courses. Reading it takes 10 minutes and saves an argument in November.

2. Your Babson AI key#

You do not request it. Babson's AI team emails you one, at no cost. Keep that email, because you need it to set the key up. Your AI Tools and Babson Key has every step.

3. Have a GitHub account#

If you already have one, use it. An account with history on it is worth more than a clean one.

If you are creating one, sign up at github.com with your Babson email, and pick a username you would not mind a future employer reading. Your work in this course is published under it.

4. Install the tools#

Install these in this order. None of them asks you to choose anything.

1. Visual Studio Code, where you run commands and see your files
2. Git
3. GitHub Desktop, which saves and publishes your work, and which holds your course folder so you never have to hunt for it
4. uv, which installs Python and runs it. uv has no installer to double click. You paste a line into a terminal, and step 5 is that line.

Do not install Anaconda. If you already have it, leave it installed and do not use it for this course. The Python environments guide explains why.

5. Install uv and Python#

Open a terminal first.

• Windows: press the Start key, type powershell, open Windows PowerShell
• macOS: press Command and Space, type terminal, open Terminal

Paste the line for your system and press Enter. It installs uv, installs Python 3.14, and prints the Python version when it is done.

macOS:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh && . "$HOME/.local/bin/env" && uv python install 3.14 --default --preview-features python-install-default && python --version

Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"; $env:Path = "$HOME\.local\bin;$env:Path"; uv python install 3.14 --default --preview-features python-install-default; python --version

You are done when the last line reads Python 3.14.something. That line means uv is installed, Python 3.14 is installed, and your terminal can find both.

Why the version is spelled out#

Your machine probably has a Python already. A Mac ships one, and it is old: 3.9, from 2020. uv prefers a Python that is already on the machine over downloading a newer one, so without this step you would silently get the old one, and so would nobody else in the class. Installing 3.14 and marking it the default puts everybody on the same Python.

When this step fails#

• You are asked for a password. First, so you are not stuck: a terminal shows nothing at all while you type a password. No dots, no moving cursor. Your keyboard is fine. Type it and press Enter. Then fix the cause, because you should not have been asked: uv installs into your own home folder and never needs administrator rights, so a prompt means the word sudo got into the command. Take it out and paste the line again.
• uv or python is not found, as command not found or is not recognized. Close the terminal window, open a new one, and run python --version again. A terminal reads the list of installed programs when it opens, so one that was already open does not know about a program installed since.
• macOS warns that .local/bin is not on your PATH. The line above already handles this for the terminal you are in. A new terminal will have it too.
• python --version prints 3.9, or anything other than 3.14. Something else on your machine is answering to python first. Bring it to class with the output of uv python list.

6. Set up GitHub Desktop#

Do this before you make a repository. A commit made while Git does not know who you are belongs to nobody, and fixing it afterwards is harder than doing it now.

1. Open GitHub Desktop
2. Open File → Options on Windows, or GitHub Desktop → Settings on macOS
3. Under Accounts, sign in to GitHub.com with the account from step 3
4. Under Integrations, set the external editor to Visual Studio Code, and the shell to PowerShell on Windows or Terminal on macOS
5. Under Git, check that your name and email are filled in

7. Create the repository#

In GitHub Desktop, choose File → New repository.

Fill it in exactly like this:

Then click Create repository.

Put the repository in a GitHub folder in your home folder. Click Choose... next to Local path, open your home folder, make a new folder called GitHub, and choose it. Your home folder is C:\Users\<your-name> on Windows and /Users/<your-name> on macOS, where Cmd+Shift+H jumps to it. GitHub Desktop suggests Documents/GitHub, but on many computers OneDrive or iCloud Drive syncs the Documents folder without telling you, and those programs can delete or lock files while your code runs. GitHub Desktop's Open in Visual Studio Code button takes you back to the repository every time, so you never have to remember where it is.

8. Publish it#

The repository exists on your computer now and GitHub cannot see it yet.

1. Click Publish repository
2. Uncheck "Keep this code private"
3. Leave the organization field alone. It publishes to your own account.
4. Click Publish repository

Then click View on GitHub. Your browser opens https://github.com/<your-github-username>/<course-code>.

If you left it private by accident, open the repository on GitHub, go to Settings, scroll to the bottom, and change the visibility to public. The course website reads your repository, and a private one is invisible to it.

9. Write something and push it#

1. In GitHub Desktop, click Open in Visual Studio Code
2. In VS Code's file list on the left, click README.md
3. Type your name into it
4. Save the file with Control and S, or Command and S on macOS

A dot on the file's tab in VS Code means the file has changes you have not saved. Saving clears it.

Now go back to GitHub Desktop. Your change appears in the left column.

5. In the Summary box at the bottom left, type add name to readme
6. Click Commit to main
7. Click Push origin at the top

Click View on GitHub again. Your commit message and your name are both on the page.

That message is called a commit message and it describes what changed. You write one every time.

10. Make the notebooks folder#

Back in VS Code, in the file list on the left, click the New Folder button and name it notebooks. Put your notebooks here for the rest of the term.

The folder stays empty for now, and Git does not track an empty folder, so it will not appear on GitHub until there is a file in it.

11. Replace the .gitignore#

Step 7 had you set Git ignore: Python, which is GitHub's generic template. Swap it for the one this course uses.

1. Open .gitignore for your course repository and click Copy the text
2. In VS Code's file list, click .gitignore in the root folder of your repository, beside README.md, to open it
3. Select everything in the file with Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (macOS), paste over it with Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (macOS), and save with Ctrl+S (Windows) or Cmd+S (macOS)
4. In GitHub Desktop, write use the course gitignore in the Summary box, click Commit to main, then Push origin

A .gitignore lists what git leaves out of your commits. The course file is GitHub's current Python template with one line added at the end, .DS_Store, for the file macOS writes into every folder.

Why replace it. GitHub Desktop offers an older copy of GitHub's template, from before marimo's line was added, so it does not list __marimo__/. marimo writes every cell's output into __marimo__/session/, as one large file per notebook that changes while you work. Left unlisted, it lands in your repository and turns every commit into noise, and it carries whatever your cells printed.

Folder names to avoid. The template leaves out any folder called build, dist, downloads or lib, wherever it sits, so git never commits what you put in one. Do not give your own folders these names.

12. Open a terminal inside VS Code#

VS Code has a terminal built into it, which saves switching windows and starts you in the right folder.

Choose View → Terminal. A panel opens at the bottom, already pointing at your course folder.

Python is already installed from step 5, so there is nothing to download here.

13. Run Python#

In the terminal directly. Run:

uv run python

Check the first line it prints. It should read Python 3.14.something. The prompt then changes to >>>, which means Python is now reading what you type. Try these:

1 + 2
print("hi")

To leave, type exit() and press Enter. The >>> goes away.

From a file. In VS Code, make a folder named scripts in your course folder, and in it a new file called hello.py. Put one line in it:

print("hello world")

Save it, then run:

uv run python scripts/hello.py

hello world appears in the terminal.

When python on its own does not work#

uv run python finds an interpreter for you, so it works even when the second half of step 5 never ran. Typing python on its own needs that step, and if you installed uv separately or already had it, you have not run it. Check with:

python --version

If that prints an older version, command not found, or is not recognized, run this and then open a new terminal:

uv python install 3.14 --default --preview-features python-install-default

Colored text in the terminal#

Terminals color things for their own reasons and PowerShell in particular will gray out or color text it is predicting for you. Color on its own is not an error. What matters is whether the words say Error or Traceback, and whether hello world appeared.

14. Commit what you made#

Go back to GitHub Desktop. hello.py is waiting there.

1. Summary: add hello.py
2. Commit to main
3. Push origin

Where your work lives#

Every week, commit what you built in class before you leave, so your repository holds all of it. What each assignment asks you to submit is on its Canvas assignment.

When it does not work#

Bring the error itself. Select the text in the terminal, copy it, and paste it into an email or into class. A screenshot works too. A description such as "it says an error" almost never works, because the message is the part that says which of about twenty things happened.

The most common causes, in order:

1. A program installed while VS Code was already open. Quit VS Code completely and open it again. The Terminal explains why closing the terminal panel is not enough.
2. A step done out of order. Start again at the step above the one that failed.

Files a check cannot find#

When a comment on your work says a file is missing and you know you made it, look for these first:

1. The file is in the wrong folder. The root folder is the outermost folder of your repository, oim7510 or oim6301, where README.md sits, and never a folder named root. One folder too deep is wrong as well: scripts/scripts/bmi.py is a different path from scripts/bmi.py, and notebooks/projects/mp1/ from projects/mp1/. Where files go lists the folder for each kind of file.
2. The name is close but not exact. Copy the name from the task letter for letter, capitals included: AGENTS.md takes capitals and projects does not. loan-schedule.py.py and a copy ending in (1) are different names. Check the names your agent chose as well.
3. A rename that changes only capitals never reached GitHub. Windows and macOS treat Agents.md and AGENTS.md as one file, so git sees nothing to commit. Rename it to another name and commit, then to the right name and commit again.
4. A placeholder is still in the file. Replace all of <your-github-username>, the angle brackets too, so that only your username is left. A starter line you were meant to replace, or a TODO your agent left, counts as not written while it is still there.
5. The commit is on your computer and not on GitHub. Open the repository on github.com and click the file itself. Your commit message at the top of the page shows only that a commit arrived, and the file may not be in it. Commit and push from GitHub Desktop, because Add files via upload on github.com skips the copy on your computer and can block your next push.

Check yourself#

A task asks for projects/mp1/loan-schedule.py. Your agent saved the notebook as notebooks/Projects/mp1/loan-schedule.py.py. Find each difference.

Answer

projects belongs in the root folder, beside notebooks, and here it is inside notebooks. Projects has a capital P. The file name ends in .py twice.

Then what#

Your repository now has a README with your name and a hello.py that runs, both pushed.

Next, turn that repository into a Python project and set up your agent. Starting a project and Your AI Tools and Babson Key are the written steps for both.

How the work is actually done, including how to work with the agent and what to do when a number surprises you, is in the AI guide. Read it once before you start working with the agent.

Last updated: Tuesday, 11/3/2026