How to install Anaconda and start programming with Python?

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Python is among the most popular programming language for data science nowadays, and getting started with Python is quite easy. You can just install e.g. a free platform like Anaconda, then you can get direct access to Python as well as most of its preinstalled modules (Numpy, pandas, matplotlib, etc.), its IDE (Spyder, etc) and its easygoing package management tools.

1. Download and install Anaconda

To install Anaconda, you can just visit their webpage or go directly to the following link:

https://www.anaconda.com/download#downloads

then find and download the installer for Windows. Next, just follow the general installation steps for windows software. Just note that you must choose option ‘Add Anaconda to my Path variables’ before you are finishing the installation.

2. Set up Python environment under Anaconda Prompt window

After you have got Anaconda onto your pc, there are just several simple steps before you can really start programming in Python IDE.

You must create an environment in your Anaconda first. This environment is specifically for your working topic or project. Say, you will use Python for machine learning, then you need an environment called ‘Python_ml’. So, you can install machine learning packages like ‘Tensorflow’, ‘keras’ in this environment. And if you need Python for web building. You must create another environment like ‘Python_web’, and some Python modules like Django will be installed there. Each environment in Python is not influenced by the other environments, and each environment has its own Python version. Why? Because most of the Python programming packages or modules are adapted to specific Python versions.

To create a new environment in Anaconda, you can go to Anaconda Prompt window by clicking Start/Anaconda from your pc. The following command is for creating a new environment ‘learnpython’ under Anaconda Prompt, and the version of Python is 3.9.

conda create -name learnpython python=3.9

Next you need to activate this environment under the same window.

activate learnpython

3. Start using IDE Spyder for Python programming

Now you can start using Python IDE – Spyder for programming by clicking Anaconda/Spyder from your pc.

You can also watch full video on Python course from our YouTube channel.