This Fedora distribution preloaded with Python goodies is perfect for teaching Python in the classroom and also has a lot to offer to developers.

The Python Classroom Lab first introduced with Fedora 26 and now updated to Fedora 38, is a ready-to-use operating system targeted to teachers and schools.

It is perfect in a school setting due to the property of Linux being able to run on old and limited hardware, since the available machinery seldom is up to date. Python classroom does not just that, but also fosters all the necessary tools to
set up a complete Python environment for studding and trying out Python. As such this is not just addressed to schools but also programmers themselves wanting a fully blown development environment.

First, the setup. The Lab comes in three variants. Either you can run it in graphical mode with GNOME, or you can virtualize it with Vagrant or run it in a Docker container.

Then, the contents. The distro includes several python interpreters by default, such as CPython, PyPy and the IPython enhanced interactive Python interpreter. The Lab also includes tools, libraries, and applications that are useful when learning Python:

Mu editor, a simple Python editor for beginner programmers

IDLE, Python’s Integrated Development and Learning Environment.

The Scientific Python Stack, which is a collection of libraries for scientific computation and visualization, comprised of :

• NumPy, a Python library providing fast multidimensional arrays with vector operations
• SciPy, a Python library providing computational routines, for example numerical integration, various equation solvers and optimization
• matplotlib, a powerful Python library providing scientific visualization of publication quality
• pandas, a Python library providing data type for data series manipulation
• SymPy, a Python library for computer algebra support (i. e. symbolical computation)

Jupyter Notebook, a web app that allows you to create and share live code, equations, visualizations and explanatory text

Tox, a generic virtual environment management and test command line tool you can use for:

• checking your package builds and installs correctly under different environments (such as different Python implementations, versions or installation dependencies),

• running your tests in each of the environments with the test tool of choice,

• acting as a frontend to continuous integration servers, greatly reducing boilerplate and merging CI and shell-based testing.

and, of course, Git

In the end, Fedora or otherwise, Linux is the backbone of digital education. There's always a distro dedicated to something, like this one to Python. We've also witnessed other attempts like AI Linux , a distribution that comes complete with artificial intelligence libraries, tool and languages or Endless, a distro that includes a range of games involving visual coding with blocks or JavaScript, designed to kick-start kids into coding.

Yes, Classrooms love Linux!

More Information

Python Classroom

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