Installing Anaconda and Spyder

This is the Spring 2022 version of the installation page. It is written specifically for EGR 103 but works for other classes too - just change the Box folder when asked.

Descriptions

Anaconda describes its Anaconda Distribution as follows: "The open-source Anaconda Distribution is the easiest way to perform Python/R data science and machine learning on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. With over 15 million users worldwide, it is the industry standard for developing, testing, and training on a single machine, enabling individual data scientists to:

• Quickly download 1,500+ Python/R data science packages
• Manage libraries, dependencies, and environments with Conda
• Develop and train machine learning and deep learning models with scikit-learn, TensorFlow, and Theano
• Analyze data with scalability and performance with Dask, NumPy, pandas, and Numba
• Visualize results with Matplotlib, Bokeh, Datashader, and Holoviews" Anaconda Distribution Landing Page

Anaconda describes Spyder as: "Spyder, the Scientific Python Development Environment, is a free integrated development environment (IDE) that is included with Anaconda. It includes editing, interactive testing, debugging and introspection features." Spyder Documentation

Installation

• Go to https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual and click the Download button if the correct version is listed just below it or pick the appropriate distribution from the "Get Additional Installers" section and download the package. You will want to use the graphical installer and almost definitely the 64-bit unless you know you have a 32-bit processor.
• You are not required to create an Anaconda account, but you are certainly allowed to.
• You can use all the default recommendations for the installation or, if you are sure you know what you are doing, you can make changes.
• You can also look at the tutorial and such, though on your own time a little later in the lab :)
• Once installed, start the Anaconda Navigator.
• In the Navigator window, there may be multiple items. One of them should be Spyder. We will ask you to launch that during lab and we will briefly go through how to write a program in Python.
• If Spyder asks about installing Kite, you can install Kite. It is an add on to Spyder that provides more in-depth help with Python commands. Note: if you are using a Duke VCM to run Anaconda, you will not be able to install Kite.

Windows Installation and Setup

• Save the installer to your hard drive. It will be on the order of 500 MB.
• Run the installer. You can generally accept all the default options. Note that installing may take some time - Anaconda installs several packages and libraries by default.
• During the setup, you can choose whether you want to learn more about Anaconda Cloud or how to get started with Anaconda. The former shows you how to share documents and projects in a cloud environment, while the latter gives an overview of Anaconda and Spyder. If you are new to Anaconda, we highly recommend you go through the Getting started with Anaconda. Note that for EGR 103 we will be using Spyder and Jupyter Notebooks but not writing programs with the Anaconda prompt or terminal - once you get to the "Close Jupyter Notebook" and "Close Navigator" part of the Getting Started page, everything below that is interesting but not applicable to EGR 103.

Your First Program!

• Start a new file by clicking the New file icon at the top left.
• Enter the code print('Hello, world!') in the first line under the comments that were pre-loaded.
• Save the file by clicking File and then Save. Save it in your Box/EGR103S22 folder as start.py.
• Run the file by clicking the play button (single green arrow near the top of the screen). Clicking this button on a saved file will both change the Spyder working director to the folder that file is in and will run the file.
• Confirm that the Console window now, among other things, says Hello, world!

Updating

To update Anaconda and the Spyder distribution within it, open the Anaconda Prompt and then type:

conda update conda
conda update anaconda
conda update spyder

Unless you know of a specific reason not to, you can accept all the defaults.