During club activities we will often rely on a number of Python packages that are not included in the base installation of python. To simplify things and make sure we’re all on the same page we’re going to be using the Anaconda Python distribution.

Anaconda streamlines package management through Conda, and pre-installs many of the most frequently used data science packages. I’d strongly recommend you use it to keep track of your packages, but if you want to do things the hard way you can scroll past the Anaconda installation guide to find a guide for the base installation of Python.

Anaconda Installation

OSX

  1. Download the Anaconda installer Python 3.6 Version

  2. Double click the .pkg file and begin the installation

  3. Test your installation by typing conda in the terminal

Windows

  1. Download the Anaconda installer Python 3.6 Version

  2. Double click the .exe file and begin the installation

  3. Test your installation by typing conda in the terminal

Linux

  1. Download the Anaconda installer Python 3.6 Version

  2. Open the terminal and navigate you the location of the Anaconda download

  3. Run bash Anaconda3-5.2.0-Linux-x86_64.sh – replace 3-5.2.0 with whichever version you’ve downloaded

  4. Follow the installation prompts

  5. Test your installation by typing conda in the terminal

You can also check your Python installation by typing python –version in your terminal if you’re on osx or linux, or simply python if you’re running windows.

Basic Python 3.6 installation

OSX should already come with python pre-installed, but if it isn’t version 3.6 you can update it using the following commands.

  1. Install Xcode

    • In the terminal run xcode-select –install (this may take a while)

  2. Install Homebrew

  3. Check your Homebrew installation by typing brew doctor

  4. Install Python 3.6

    • Run brew install python3 in the terminal

  5. Check your python installation using python3 –version

Windows

  1. Download the latest Python installer here

  2. Run the downloaded .exe file

  3. Check your installation by running python -V in the terminal

Linux

  1. Run sudo apt update in the terminal

  2. Run sudo apt install python3.6 in the terminal

  3. Check the installation by running python3.6 -V

Now if everything went well you should have a working version of Python 3 through either Anaconda or the base install.