The first step is installing the right tools you will need to start your python programming journey. For any programming language, usually more than one options are available in the form of a set of tools known as Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Python has a number of IDEs available. Personally I found Jupyter Notebook to be simplest one, at least in the beginning. Mostly because of the way it is set up, in the form of notebooks. You have write code, execute it, get output and then go back and easily change the code if something goes wrong. It provides line by line execution of code which makes it very easy to "debug" (fixxing errors) the code. Here we will go over setting up Jupyter Notebook. However my goal is to introduce you to other IDEs as we progress through the tutorials. I am on a Windows machine therefore these instructions are for Windows users. However I would imagine, for Mac users, they may not be much different.
The easiest way to install Jupyter notebook is through the Anaconda distribution. Once on the website, scroll over to the "Products" drop down list in the menu and click "Individual Edition", or you can try this link. Click the download button which then takes you down to the download links of packages. Pick one depending on your system. For me, since I am on a Windows machine, I picked 64-bit graphical installer for Windows. Once downloaded, the installation is pretty simple.
Once installation is completed. You can launch Anaconda by either through the start menu or by typing "anaconda" in the search bar. It is listed as "Anaconda Navigator". Once launched, you will see many options, look for Jupyter Notebook and click the launch button.