Software Prerequisites

[Home]

Prior to the workshop, it is vital that you install some software on your laptop and create an account at Github by following the instructions below

There is little time during the workshop to deal with installation problems, so it makes the day run more smoothly if you arrive with your software already installed.

Bash

Among many other things, Bash allows you to automate repetitive tasks. We use it during the command line section of the course.

Windows

Bash will be provided as part of the Git for Windows installation as described below.

Mac OS X

The Bash shell is accessed by opening the “Terminal” application. The Terminal application can be found in the “Utilities” folder which is in your “Applications” folder.

Linux

The Bash shell is accessed via the Terminal application.

Text Editor

A text editor is the piece of software you use to view and write code. If you have a preferred text editor, please use it. If you don't, we recommend Microsoft Visual Studio Code, which can be installed along with Python (below).

Python

We use Python 3, because it is generally the most widely used version of Python. The “Anaconda3” package provides everything Python-related you will need for the workshop. To install Anaconda, follow the instructions below.

IMPORTANT: When asked “Add Anaconda to my PATH environment variable”, answer “yes”. After it’s finished, close and reopen any open terminals to reload the updated PATH and allow the installed Python to be found.

If you want to use Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VSCode) as your text editor, install it when prompted. Note This requires administrator rights.

Windows

Download the Python 3.7 Anaconda Windows installer. Double click the installer and follow the instructions.

Mac OS X

Download the Python 3.7 Anaconda Mac OS X installer. Double click the .pkg file and follow the instructions.

Linux

Download the Python 3.7 Anaconda Linux Installer. Install via the terminal like this

bash Anaconda3-2018.12-Linux-x86_64.sh

Answer ‘yes’ to allow the installer to initialize Anaconda3 in your .bashrc

Git

Git is the version control software we will use. It allows you to keep track of your software and the edits made to it.

Create a Github account

You must create a Github account before attending the workshop!

To create an account, go to the Github website and provide your details. It’s quick and it’s free. Once you have your account, you need to install the Git software as described below.

Windows

Download and install Git for Windows.

IMPORTANT: During installation, at the step ‘Configuring the terminal emulator to use with Git Bash’ you must select ‘Use Windows default console window’.

Mac OS X

On Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks and later, Git will be installed automatically the first time you try to run it. Open a terminal and enter:

git

There may be a short delay whilst the installer operates. You can then follow the prompts to install the Apple command line development tools.

On Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leoapard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and 10.8 Mountain Lion, download and open the Git installer image. Double click the .pkg file and follow the instructions.

If you intend to use an earlier version of Mac OS X, please contact us before the event.

Linux

Install via a terminal like this:

Ubuntu and derivatives:

sudo apt-get install git

Fedora:

su -
dnf install git

Verify your setup

To make sure that everything has installed correctly, we have written a simple Python script to test the prerequisites.

Close your existing terminal and reopen it (this is important!).

Enter the command below into your terminal. It will download the python script and run it to check your prerequisites.

Windows

From the Git folder in the Start Menu, open the Git Bash terminal.

git clone https://github.com/Southampton-RSG/2020-05-21-southampton-swc
python 2020-05-21-southampton-swc/setup/installation_test.py

Mac OS X, Linux

Close your existing terminal and reopen it. This is important!

git clone https://github.com/Southampton-RSG/2020-05-21-southampton-swc
python3 2020-05-21-southampton-swc/setup/installation_test.py

On Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, the script will run and output some text. If everything has installed correctly, within the text you will see all passes and no failures, like this:

check command line shell (virtual-shell)... pass
check Git (git)...  pass
check Python version (python)...    pass
check Argparse (argparse)...    pass
check NumPy (numpy)...  pass
check Matplotlib (matplotlib)...    pass

If anything fails, please contact us before the workshop.