Okaym so it's time to set up your computer and install the necessary software for this course. 1
In this lesson I will show you how to install Python and configure your local environment so that way 2
we don't have to rely on the trial environment on jupyter.org. 3
I will show you how to install Python Anaconda on a Windows machine. 4
So if you've got a Mac, skip to the next video. 5
But before we begin, let me explain what Python Anaconda is and why we're downloading it. 6
Anaconda is a Python distribution. 7
And this means that Anaconda aims to provide everything you need for data science in one place. 8
It's essentially a bundle of software and code that makes it easy for getting set up for data science 9
and machine learning. 10
For example, the Anaconda bundle already includes the Jupyter notebook so you don't have to separately 11
download it and install it and it also includes tons and tons of Python packages and libraries that 12
we'll be using in this course. 13
What do I mean by libraries? 14
Well, remember how we wrote "import pandas" or "import matplotlib" or "import scikit-learn" in our first 15
project? 16
Usually, you'd have to download all these packages one by one before you can use them in your project. 17
But by downloading Anaconda we're going to be getting all these packages in one go. That way we don't 18
have to worry about setup and configuration. 19
Later on in the course one word of warning though, 20
if you Google the word Anaconda you're probably not gonna get what you're looking for. 21
You'll want to search "anaconda python" to find the continuum.io website or alternatively click on 22
the link in the lessons resources to be directed directly to the download page. 23
Now don't click the "Download" button just yet. 24
First you have to do a very important check on your machine. Your laptop or your desktop computer will 25
come in one of two flavors: 26
tou will either have a 64 bit machine or a 32 bit machine. 27
And here's how you check which flavor of computer you've got; 28
you can go to your Control Panel and there, under "System type", you should see whether you've got a 32 29
bit operating system or a 64 bit operating system. 30
So, with that in mind, make a note of the type of processor and go back to the download page on continuum.io. 31
Here you should see a big green "Download" button. Click on that big green "Download" button, 32
only if you've got a 64 bit processor; if you've got a 32 bit machine, click on the link below. 33
The thing about Python is it also comes in two flavors. 34
We're going to go with the newer version of Python - Python 3. 35
So, while Anaconda is downloading, this is a good time to go for a coffee or tea. After the download completes, 36
you can start the installation. 37
We're gonna be presented with one of those standard setup wizards, so we're going to click "Next". 38
Then I'm gonna agree to the license agreement, we're probably signing away our first born child at this point, 39
but on the next parts of the wizard I'm just gonna go with the recommended options, so I'm gonna say 40
install for just myself and for the destination folder I'm also going to stick with the default. For 41
the advanced options, 42
I'm going to leave them as they are in the installer as well with the first one unticked and the second 43
one ticked. Now, 44
my computer actually isn't as fast as it appears to be because I'm speeding up the video here but this 45
installation process actually takes a little while too. 46
So just be patient, and after the installer finishes, just going to click "Finish". 47
Now it's time to fire up Anaconda and the Jupyter notebook just to see if everything's working. Click 48
on your Start menu and then go find the Anaconda command prompt. You should see a little black window 49
like this appear, and in this window type "python --version" and here you should see the 50
version of Python that you've installed. 51
And as we've mentioned before, 52
make sure the version of Python is 3.6 or higher. 53
Now, it's very useful to have the Anaconda command prompt handy, so in your taskbar at the bottom right 54
click and pin this program to the taskbar. 55
That way you can fire up the Anaconda prompt very quickly. 56
Next, let me show you how to start up your own Jupyter notebook. 57
You can do that by simply typing "jupyter notebook" 58
and hit Enter. 59
Now give it a minute and you should see your browser firing up with the folder structure on your C drive. 60
And when you click on "New", you should be able to start a new Python 3 notebook, so congratulations on 61
getting that working. 62
But starting up is only part of the equation. 63
We also have to be able to shut this down properly. And to shut down open notebook, go to File > Close and 64
Halt, and you can log out and close your browser window. 65
But the important part is actually to terminate the notebook from the Anaconda command prompt and you 66
need to do this with a keyboard shortcut. 67
You can see here in the instructions it says "Use Control-C to stop this server and shut down all kernels 68
(twice to skip confirmation).", so on your keyboard press Control+C twice, you should then see the messages 69
"Interrupted...", "Shutting down kernels", and that's how you close out of Jupyter completely. 70
Finally, let me show you all the components that were installed along side with Anaconda and to do that, 71
let me show you the Anaconda Navigator. 72
This is also an alternative way of firing up the Jupyter notebook - instead of going through the Anaconda 73
prompt. After it finishes loading, 74
you should see a window like this. From here, 75
we can launch the Jupyter notebook, or the Spyder Python IDE or even RStudio. 76
So congratulations on getting set up. 77
If you have any problems or had any issues ask in the Q&A section for this lesson. I'll see you in 78
the next videos.