Anaconda is a distribution of packages built for data science. It comes with conda, a package and environment manager. You'll be using conda to create environments for isolating your projects that use different versions of Python and/or different packages. You'll also use it to install, uninstall, and update packages in your environments. Using Anaconda has made my life working with data much more pleasant.
With Anaconda, it's simple to install the packages you'll often use in data science work. You'll also use it to create virtual environments that make working on multiple projects much less mind-twisting. Anaconda has simplified my workflow and solved a lot of issues I had dealing with packages and multiple Python versions.
Anaconda is actually a distribution of software that comes with conda, Python, and over 150 scientific packages and their dependencies. The application conda is a package and environment manager. Anaconda is a fairly large download (~500 MB) because it comes with the most common data science packages in Python. If you don't need all the packages or need to conserve bandwidth or storage space, there is also Miniconda, a smaller distribution that includes only conda and Python. You can still install any of the available packages with conda, it just doesn't come with them.
Conda is a program you'll be using exclusively from the command line, so if you aren't comfortable using it, check out this command prompt tutorial for Windows or our Linux Command Line Basics course for OSX/Linux.
You probably already have Python installed and wonder why you need this at all. Firstly, since Anaconda comes with a bunch of data science packages, you'll be all set to start working with data. Secondly, using conda to manage your packages and environments will reduce future issues dealing with the various libraries you'll be using.
Anaconda is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. You can find the installers and installation instructions at https://www.continuum.io/downloads.
If you already have Python installed on your computer, this won't break anything. Instead, the default Python used by your scripts and programs will be the one that comes with Anaconda.
Choose the Python 3.6 version, you can install Python 2 versions later. Also, choose the 64-bit installer if you have a 64-bit operating system, otherwise go with the 32-bit installer. Go ahead and choose the appropriate version, then install it. Continue on afterwards!
After installation, you’re automatically in the default conda environment with all packages installed which you can see below. You can check out your own install by entering conda list into your terminal.
conda env create -f virtual_platform_mac.yml # for mac usersNow you have a pre-set virtual environment with all packages installed
Install keras for mac
pip install kerasInstall Tensorflow for mac
pip install tensorflow