Install python and an IDE

The code in this book is written in using python 3.8.8 and a list of dependencies.

Local installation

For beginners it is is recommended that users first install ‘Anaconda’. This bundles python along with data science centric IDEs called Spyder and Jupyter Notebook (I recommend the more modern Jupyter-Lab over basic notebook, but there is no requirement to use it.)

https://www.anaconda.com/download/

See also

Anaconda includes ‘conda’ (a package manager). An optional step is to follow our notes to use conda to create a virtual environment that includes python 3.8.12 and Jupyter-Lab 3.x

My personal preferences

Alternatively (and my preference) you can install substantially smaller Miniconda and install the packages you need using the provided conda environment or by selecting them yourself. I tend to use packages installed from conda-forge, but the packages in the Anaconda channel (defaults) are equally good.

Run our code via Binderhub or Google Colab

Note

You have the option of running our code in the cloud without the need to install on your local machine.

When you navigate to books pages and exercises that contain code cells you will see a image of a ‘rocketship’ in the top right hand corner of the screen. Move you mouse over the image and you can choose to either open the notebook in BinderHub (will take ~1 minute to open) or Google Colab. You will need a Google account to use Google Colab.