Using Anaconda to Install Software

Overview

Teaching: 20 min
Exercises: 0 min

Questions

• Why would I want to install scientific software packages with Anaconda?

• How do I install Anaconda for different operating systems?

Objectives

• Install anaconda for your operating system.

• Use conda to install packages not included with the anaconda distribution.

Anaconda

Python is a popular language for scientific computing, and great for general-purpose programming as well. Installing all of its scientific packages individually can be a bit difficult, however, so we recommend the all-in-one installer Anaconda.

Anaconda has easy to use installers for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It installs a lot of the most commonly used packages for you automatically.

Installing

Windows - Video Tutorial

1. Open the Anaconda Windows download page.
2. Download the installer. Be sure you get the Python 3 version.
3. Double-click the installer icon and follow the setup instructions on screen. You can use MOST of the default options. The only exception is to check the Make Anaconda the default Python option.

Mac OS X - Video Tutorial

1. Open the Anaconda MacOS download page.
2. Download the installer. Be sure you get the Python 3 version.
3. Double click the installer icon and follow the setup instructions. You can use all of the default options.

Anaconda is a very large package and it can take up to an hour to install everything. If you need to save space, you can install miniconda instead, but then you will now have to install each package that you want individually.

• Intalling packages with conda

If you have the time and space on your computer, installing the full version of anaconda is worthwhile.

Key Points

• Anaconda can be used to install many Python-based software packages at one time.