Working at the Command Prompt
On Windows you access the command prompt by starting the Anaconda Prompt program; on other operating systems, you simply use the operating system shell (which is usually bash).
Accessing the capabilities of Framework-derived models from the command prompt is recommended even if you are a proficient computer programmer. This recommendation is made because it will make you more productive: you don't need to learn Python, you don't need to write from scratch a moderately complex Python program just to generate results for a policy reform, and you can automate large-scale tax calculations by putting many model commands in a shell script (or batch file on Windows) that executes unattended. Accessing the model from the command prompt can generate basic tables and graphs for any tax reform, which means it supports most tax analysis. And it can also generate dump output that will support any kind of custom tax analysis using the data analysis software of your choice. Some users will choose to do this custom analysis using a declarative language like SQL, while others will use procedural languages like Python or R or some other data analysis software with which they are familiar.
You need two things to work at the command prompt: a text editor and the ability to work efficiently at the command prompt. For details on what this means, see this discussion of working efficiently and of the command-prompt tools that come packaged with all Framework-derived models. The main use of the text editor is to write run specification files (or JSON files) that the model reads. There are many good, free, open-source text editors, including Atom, Visual Studio Code, and Emacs, all of which are available for any computer. A simple-to-use and well-regarded text editor for Windows 10 is Notepad++. In a Tech Times review entitled "Top 5 Best Text Editor For Windows In 2019", Notepad++ was listed first and the discussion of it concluded:
Suited for beginners as well as pros, Notepad++ is really the best text editor for [the] Windows environment that brings best results in editing.