Introduction to Python

Python

1.1 Introduction

Python is a modern, robust, high level programming language. It is very easy to pick up even if you are completely new to programming. Python can be easy to pick up whether you're a first time programmer or you're experienced with other languages. The following pages are a useful first step to get on your way writing programs with Python!

1.2 Installation
Mac OS X and Linux comes pre installed with python. Windows users can download python from https://www.python.org/downloads/ .
To install IPython run,
$ pip install ipython[all]

This will install all the necessary dependencies for the notebook, qtconsole, tests etc.

1.2.1 Installation from unofficial distributions
Installing all the necessary libraries might prove troublesome. Anaconda comes pre packaged with all the necessary python libraries and also IPython.

Download Anaconda from https://www.continuum.io/downloads

Anaconda is completely free and includes more than 300 python packages. Both python 2.7 and 3.4 options are available.And all the required Data Science packages are already there in the Anaconda version.So it's highly recommend to install Anaconda version of Python 3.

2.2 Launching IPython Notebook

From the terminal
ipython notebook

In Anaconda, Open the respective terminals and execute the above.