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Beginners instructions for installing Python

We only support the Anaconda distribution, although other Python distributions should work too.

In this work-in-progress document, we give very detailled instructions about how to install a full scientific Python distribution. This document targets beginners, and tackles things such as using the command-line interface, installing Anaconda, etc. These instructions are sometimes hard to find, scattered across many websites, blog posts, and posts on support mailing lists. Eventually, you'll find here the very minimum you need to know.

This document aims at being maintained by the community: please propose a Pull Request if an information is missing.

Overview

Anaconda is a program created by Continuum Analytics. It lets you install a Python distribution with many scientific packages like NumPy, SciPy, IPython, matplotlib, and many others. Anaconda also comes with a packaging tool named conda. This tool lets you maintain, install, and update your Python packages. It is actually more general than that, in that it can deal with any non-Python binary package.

Things to know

You need to know/learn, several things before you start:

  • The system terminal, or command-line interface.
  • Git, a version control system.

The terminal

OS-specific instructions

Windows

Use Powershell.

Linux

TODO

Mac OS X

TODO

Home directory

  • On Windows: c:\users\yourname\
  • On Linux: /home/yourname/

Current directory

  • cd subfolder: go into a subfolder
  • cd ~: go in your home directory
  • ls (if on Windows and not in Powershell, replace by dir)

Git

Not strictly required, but highly recommended if you want to use obscure packages, or if you start to write significant amount of code.

TODO:

  • Installing git...
  • git bash...
  • git GUI...

Environment variables and system paths

TODO

Installing Anaconda

Once you're relatively confortable with the terminal and git, you can install Anaconda, a Python distribution.

Don't execute conda or any other Python-related commands in the Anaconda directory: go somewhere else.

Windows

  • Install Anaconda for Windows with Python 3.x (the latest is 3.4 in Sept. 2014).
  • Don't install Anaconda with admin rights: check "Just for me" in the installer.
  • Install in a path like c:\anaconda.
  • You'll be able to install Python 2.x in a separate conda environment.
  • If you use Powershell, you need to use customized activate/deactivate scripts. Clone the repository, and copy them in c:\anaconda\scripts or similar.

Linux

TODO

Mac OS X

TODO

Using Anaconda

The basics

Updating the packages

conda update conda

Environments

Anaconda lets you maintain various isolated environements. You can switch to any environment at any time from the command-line.

Get the list of installed environments

conda info -e

Switch to another environment

  • On Windows: activate myenv
  • On another OS: source activate myenv

Installing Python 2.x side-by-side with the default Python 3

  • Run the following command:

    conda create -n py27 python=2.7.8 (press f` if you have a WARNING)

  • You'll have no package in this new environment. Make sure to install pip!

    conda install pip conda update pip

Running Python, IPython, and the IPython notebook

IPython profile

  • A profile is a set of parameters and configuration files specific to a project of yours.
  • You can use different profiles for different use-cases: one profile when running code from the Cookbook, another one for your work, etc.
  • Using IPython profiles is not strictly necessary, and you can do everything in the same default profile. But it is good practice to use different profiles.

Creating a profile for the cookbook

ipython profile create cookbook

Running IPython with this profile

  • Command-line interface: ipython --profile=cookbook
  • Notebook: ipython notebook --profile=cookbook

Using a code editor

Installing new packages

  • conda install mypackage
  • If that doesn't work, it needs that there is no conda package for this Python module. There are solutions.
  • Important: make sure pip is installed in the currently activated environment with conda install pip.
  • Then you can try to use pip: pip install mypackage.