Python Essentials
Python on Windows and Mac
You can download a recent version of Python from
http://python.org/downloads/. The website should
recognize your operating system, if not, you can navigate to the version for your desired
operating system using the "Downloads" tab.
I recommend to choose the most recent stable version of Python (e.g., 3.6.4 as of
March 2018), but definitely do NOT install anything that starts with "2.".
Python on the Web
There may be several options to run Python code in a web browser, but the recommended
tool for this course is
Jupyter Notebook.
Follow the instructions on that page to install Jupyter using
Anaconda
(recommended) or
pip. In a terminal/shell, you can start Jupyter by typing
jupyter notebook. This
Jupyter documentation is a good starting
point to learn how to use it to program in Python. Scroll to the part where it says
"How To Use Jupyter Notebooks". Hint: If you receive errors when running your code, but you
are certain that all mistakes have been fixed, click the "Restart the kernel" button and
try again.
First Python Examples
If you are new at Python programming, there are countless tutorials on the web that
can get you started. For example,
https://pythonspot.com/
has a nice list of brief examples demonstrating the key features of Python. I recommend
going through at least the
Beginner section; you can copy code fragments
directly into your Jupyter Notebook and test it there (note: if a print command
results in an error, try adding () around the text to be printed).