SettingUp

You will download and install Python on your own computer, so that you could easily use the techniques in the class afterwards. If you already have a working Python 3 environment that you manage with pip or whatever, just keep using it.

If you don't - there are many ways to install Python and its packages. We recommend to use Anaconda, and here are some guides for your operating system: https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/install/

You may see options to choose between Python 3 (Python 3.5-3.7) and Python 2 (Python 2.7). Choose Python 3. This is also why you need the second edition of the textbook, and not the prior editions that used older Python versions.

In advanced installation options, do NOT add Anaconda to PATH, unless you know what you're doing.

You can opt to try the Visual Code Editor, it's pretty cool.

ChromeOS: no guarantees, but you might be able to install Anaconda: https://wsvincent.com/install-python3-chromebook/

One of the strengths of Python is that it has many packages developed for performing specific tasks. Most times that you need anything, there already exists a Python package for doing just that.

If you use the full Anaconda distribution we recommended, you don't need to do anything. If you're using miniconda or pip, make sure you have the following packages:

• pandas
• scikit-learn
• numpy
• matplotlib

Here is how you can install extra packages using conda: https://conda.io/docs/user-guide/tasks/manage-pkgs.html