Anaconda Python

Anaconda is a pre-packaged Python distribution for scientific users. Unlike other Python distributions, this means that most additional functionality that we need to do numerical computing, statistics, plotting and the like come already installed - which saves us a lot of time.

Installing Anaconda Python for Mac

Install using Homebrew. In your terminal type the following and press return:

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brew cask install anaconda

During the installation process you might be the following output asking you to review the license agreement:

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Welcome to Anaconda3

In order to continue the installation process, please review the license
agreement.
Please, press ENTER to continue
>>>
...
Do you approve the license terms? [yes|no]

Press Return until you reach the end, and type 'yes'.

Making Anaconda Python Accessible from the Terminal

By default, Mac uses a default install of Python inside the terminal. We want to change that.

Enter the following in the terminal and press Return:

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export PATH="/usr/local/anaconda3/bin:$PATH"

Then, reload the terminal environment:

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source .bash_profile

Now proceed to verify your install

Installing Anaconda Python for Linux and Windows

First, we need to download the Anaconda Bash Script (a file that will install things for us). Enter the following into the terminal:

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curl -O https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2019.10-Linux-x86_64.sh

Run the Anaconda Script by entering the following into the terminal:

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bash Anaconda3-2019.10-Linux-x86_64.sh

As this script runs through, review and accept the license agreement. To do this press Return until you reach the end, and type 'yes'.

After you agree to the license, you will be prompted to choose the location of the installation:

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Anaconda3 will now be installed into this location:
/home/lachlan/anaconda3

  - Press ENTER to confirm the location
  - Press CTRL-C to abort the installation
  - Or specify a different location below

[/home/lachlan/anaconda3] >>>

Use the default.

The installation will continue - it does take some time, so be patient.

Once the installation is complete, you will get the following output:

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...
installation finished.
Do you wish the installer to prepend the Anaconda3 install location
to PATH in your /home/lachlan/.bashrc ? [yes|no]
>>>

Type 'yes'.

Now we need to refresh our terminal settings, so type the following and press return:

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source ~/.bashrc

Now proceed to verify your install.

Verify Installation

To verify that the correct version of Python has been installed, usually we would follow the programName --version logic from before:

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python --version

which yields:

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Python 3.7.4

which tells us that Python is installed. But, because most operating systems these days have some version of Python installed, this doesn't guarantee that the Anaconda version is available for us to use from the terminal.

To check, initiate Python by entering the following into a terminal and pressing Return:

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python

You should now see something like:

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Python 3.7.4 (default, Aug 13 2019, 20:35:49)
[GCC 7.3.0] :: Anaconda, Inc. on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

where the operating system name should be different for Mac users.

Now we see that the terminal is using the Anaconda version as we wanted. To quit the Python session we just opened, type the following at the >>>:

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>>> quit()

and you will return to your terminal. This was successful if you now see a $ rather than the >>>.