Node.js has npm and package.json files, PHP has composer and composer.json files, and Python has pip and virtual environments, which don't work quite like npm and composer.

The basic idea is that for each Python project, you define a virtual environment that harbors all the project's python dependencies.

The easiest way to go about things assuming your have pip, virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper installed on your system is as follows:

1. Create a directory for your project:

   $ mkdir ~/Dev/MyProject

2. Create a virtual environment for your project:

   $ mkvirtualenv MyProject

   The actual virtual environment will be in ~/.virtualenvs/.

3. Enable the virtual environment:

   $ workon MyProject

4. Install the packages you need:

   $ pip install <whatever>

5. When you are done, switch your shell back to “regular” mode:

   $ deactivate

• To see what environments are available:

  $ workon

  without an argument.

• To set the Python version you want to use:

  $ mkvirtualenv -p /usr/bin/python3 MyProject

When you want to deploy your project on another machine, you will want to use the same versions of the packages you used while developing it (i.e., those in the virtual environment). To do this TODO.

What about if you want to use an IDE or other GUI tools? TODO