BOT BUILDING 101: Build Your First Simple Bot (No Experience Needed)

🎯 What You’ll Build:

A basic chatbot that automatically replies to messages — runs on your own computer.
No prior coding knowledge needed.

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🔧 TOOLS YOU’LL NEED:

• A Windows or Mac computer

• Internet access

• Free software: Python + VS Code

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🔹 PART 1: Install Python (The Brain of Your Bot)

🖥️ For Windows Users:

1. Open your web browser (Chrome, Edge, or Firefox).

2. Go to this website:
   👉 https://www.python.org/downloads

3. Click the yellow button that says Download Python 3.x.x (you’ll see the latest version like 3.12.3).

4. Wait for the download to finish (usually bottom-left of your browser).

5. Click the downloaded file once it's ready. It’s named like python-3.x.x.exe.

6. ⚠️ IMPORTANT:
   Before clicking anything, check the small checkbox that says
   “Add Python to PATH” — this is critical! ✅
   If you miss this, your bot won’t run.

7. Now click the big button that says Install Now.

8. Wait 1–3 minutes. You’ll see Setup was successful.

9. Click Close.

✅ Done! You now have Python installed.

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🔹 PART 2: Install VS Code (Where You'll Write the Bot)

1. Go to this site:
   👉 https://code.visualstudio.com/

2. Click the blue button Download for Windows.

3. After download, click the installer file (named like VSCodeSetup.exe).

4. On the pop-up:

   • Click Next several times.

   • Accept the agreement when asked.

   • Leave everything default, just click Install.

5. After installation, check the box Launch VS Code, then click Finish.

✅ VS Code is now installed and ready.

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🔹 PART 3: Write Your First Bot

1. Open VS Code:

   • Move your mouse to the desktop.

   • Double-click the icon named Visual Studio Code.

2. Inside VS Code:

   • Click File > New File

   • Click File again > Save As

   • Name it mybot.py and save it on your Desktop.

3. Now type this code into the file exactly:

while True:
    user = input("You: ")
    if user.lower() in ["hi", "hello"]:
        print("Bot: Hello there!")
    elif user.lower() in ["bye", "exit"]:
        print("Bot: Goodbye!")
        break
    else:
        print("Bot: I didn’t understand that.")

4. Click File > Save.

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🔹 PART 4: Run Your Bot

1. Press your keyboard keys:
   [Ctrl] + [`] (that’s the backtick key next to [1] on your keyboard)

   🔹 This opens a terminal at the bottom of VS Code.

2. Now type this in the terminal:
   python mybot.py

3. Press [Enter].

  Now talk to your bot!

• Type hi → it replies “Hello there!”

• Type bye → it says “Goodbye!” and ends.

• Type anything else → it says it didn’t understand.

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🔧 TROUBLESHOOTING

• If "python" is not recognized:
  You forgot to check Add Python to PATH during install.
  Fix: Uninstall Python, reinstall, and this time tick that box.

• If VS Code doesn’t show a terminal:
  Click Terminal at the top → New Terminal

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CHECKPOINT

Did you see the bot respond when you typed hi or bye?
If not, tell me:

• What step didn’t work?

• What did you see instead?