Software Requirements

You will need:

• A Windows, Mac or Linux/Unix computer to work on.
• Python version 2.7 installed on the machine. Python version 3 is not completely compatible with version 2, so some of this material will not be adequate for using version 3.
• IDLE, the default python code editor (recommended for this course) or a code editor of your choice (e.g. Notepad ++, emacs, vi …). A text editor, such as word, is not suitable for writing code. Experienced programmers can also use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), useful for debugging code. See “additional packages” for a list of available IDEs and code editors.

In part 4, you will also need the Numpy and matplotlib ‘packages’ (see ‘Glossary’) installed on your computer.

Because you will probably need lots of Python packages for your work, the easiest option is to install a ‘Python distribution’. A Python distribution is a bundle of software which includes the main python program and a number of packages which are widely used. The alternative is to install Python and the packages you need separately.

For scientific use, the two main distributions are:

• Canopy which installs version 2.7 of Python and more than 100 packages. It’s free for academic use and available on different platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux). IDLE is included. Later on you might want to use the simple and useful code editor is provided that helps find bugs in your code. Ask your IT support team to install it for you, or download and install it yourself.
• Anaconda. By default, it comes with version 2.7 of Python, but you can switch to version 3 using the package manager included. As Canopy, it includes a wide range of packages. IDLE is included in this distribution. This distribution also includes the Spyder Python IDE. It’s free and cross platform (Linux, Mac and Windows).