Setting up Linux for Python and this class

NOTE: this is from memory: no system to test on right now.

Getting The Tools

Python

You probably already have python. Try:

$ python
Python 2.7.8 (v2.7.8:ee879c0ffa11, Jun 29 2014, 21:07:35)
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)] on linux

You can see what version you’ve got. If you don’t have 2.7.*, then you’ll need to go try to find a newer version – your distribution may have a package named something like:

$ apt-get install python2.7

Or yum install or ???

Terminal

Every Linux box has a terminal emulator – find and use it.

git

git is likely to be there on your system already, but if not:

$apt-get install git

pip

pip is the Python package installer.

Many python packages are also available directly from your distro – but you’ll get the latest and greatest if you use pip to install it instead.

To get pip, the first option is to use your system package manager, something like:

$apt-get install python-pip

If that doesn’t work, you can get it from:

https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/installing.html

download get-pip.py from that site, and run it with python:

$ python get-pip.py

It should download and install pip (and setuptools)

You can now use pip to install other packages.

iPython

One we are going to use in class is iPython:

$ pip install ipython

You should now be able to run iPython:

$ ipython
    Python 2.7.8 (v2.7.8:ee879c0ffa11, Jun 29 2014, 21:07:35)
    Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

    IPython 2.0.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
    ?         -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
    %quickref -> Quick reference.
    help      -> Python's own help system.
    object?   -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.