under VS Code: the terminal does not recognize "1+1" as a command

[Rahzan]

I am a complete beginner to Python but have used VS Code quite a bit with other languages.
I am also new to Linux; the VS-Code is installed under Zorin Linux.

After installing VS Code and selecting the interpreter (using Ctrl+Shift+P) I can run a simple .py file without a problem but the terminal does not recognize "1+1" as a command.
It seems I cannot paste a screen-shot here.


On entering 1+1, the error is "Command not found".
What is missing?
   


Thanks in advance.

[deanhystad]

You are not running python in the terminal, so anything you type is interpreted as a shell command. If you want to interactively execute commands in the python interpreter, you need to start the interpreter first.

Output:
E>python
Python 3.13.5 (tags/v3.13.5:6cb20a2, Jun 11 2025, 16:15:46) [MSC v.1943 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
Ctrl click to launch VS Code Native REPL
>>> 1 + 1
2
>>> 

On Ubuntu I think you use python3 instead of python.
I strongly advise creating a virtual environment for your python exploration. This protects against messing up your system python when you install python packages.

https://linuxcapable.com/how-to-create-a...ntu-linux/

[Rahzan]

Thank you.
That works (Python3).

I was watching a beginner youtube tutorial but that was an installation on windows, and there was no need to start the interpreter explicitly.
From what I understand there is no practical use for the CLI interpreter anyway.

I was thinking it is analogous to VBAs Immediate window (which is very useful) but it is not.
From what I read, only Pycharm provides a direct analog and VS offering is incomplete... too bad! I've already decided to go with VS.

Standard Visual Studio's Immediate Window for Python is limited to expression evaluation and often restricts variable assignment, whereas the Interactive Window provides a full shell but lacks the direct debugging context of the Immediate Window.

[deanhystad]

Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code are not versions of the same tool. The two are very different.

I prefer VS Code. Some of my coworkers prefer PyCharm. A few use VS Code and PyCharm together, switching back and forth between them based the programming task at hand (coding, debugging, refactoring, testing, version control).

[Rahzan]

Thanks for your help.
I downloaded pycharm (Community) and it simply would not start under Linux.
Maybe installing vscode messed up something.
So now I'm looking a Pyzo