Installing Python

Most Linux operating systems come with some version of python already installed. As the installation of additional python modules or packages can be a bit problematic with these standard installations, and as we want to make use of jupyter notebooks, we will install a python distribution called Anaconda. Furthermore, Anaconda is available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux, so you can easily run it on your own computer if you want to learn more about Python.

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Go to the Anaconda website and download Anaconda. We will use python 3.7 in this course, so make sure to download the right version.
  2. Open a new terminal. In it, type bash ~/Downloads/Anaconda3-2019.10-Linux-x86_64.sh to start the installation process. (Adjust the path if you did not download the installer into ~/Downloads/. From there you can just follow the on-screen instructions, which are (±) these:
  3. The installation process will ask you to read and agree to the license agreement. Press RETURN to see the agreement, then scroll down. At the end you can agree to them by typing yes.
  4. The next question is into which location Anaconda should be installed. You can just press RETURN to accept the default location.
  5. The installer will ask whether you want to append Anaconda to your PATH to fully install everything, i.e. “Do you wish the installer to prepend the Anaconda<2 or 3> install location to PATH in your /home/<user>/.bashrc. Type yes and you should be done.
  6. Type source ~/.bashrc to reload your current terminal, with this Anaconda should be properly installed.
  7. You can test whether it worked by typing jupyter notebook or ipython notebook. A new browser window should now open up, showing you the jupyter/ipython interface.
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