Python for Data Analysis: Installation
EPDFree
The book will be using EPDFree, a software suite for Python development which “is designed to provide a lightweight…Python… environment for scientists, engineers, and analysts, in contrast to more complex tools[.]”
To get started, I’ll load EPDFree onto my Ubuntu 19.10 desktop environment. I will adjust as I go along, but as part of my goal with this book is to develop production-ready applications, I’ll be thinking about whether EPDFree is actually the best tool for my needs. (Let me know in the comments if you have an opinion on this.)
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The steps here seem clear enough:
Both the free and full installers are available in 32-bit (“x86”) and 64-bit (“x86_64”) versions. On 32-bit machines, you must use a 32-bit installer. On 64-bit machines, you can often use either, but we recommend that you use a 64-bit installer. The reason is that many 64-bit Linux distributions do not include the necessary 32-bit compatibility libraries by default so the 32-bit version will fail to run.
EPD 8 for Linux is distributed as a self-extracting shell script. Once the file is downloaded the install can be started by executing the following command (or similar, depending on version):
bash epd_free-8.0-beta-linux-x86.shThese instructions do seem to leave out how to obtain these files, and a link I found on a university page was broken. Interesting! Wikipedia reveals that EPD no longer exists and has been superseded by Enthought Canopy, which provides the ETS, or Enthought Tool Suite, which, as far as I can tell, looks like a newer and sweeter version of EPD. Count me in!
…EPD no longer exists and has been superseded by Enthought Canopy, which provides the ETS, or Enthought Tool Suite…
ETS, the thing we will actually be using, I guess
It looks like the manufacturer-preferred method of getting the Enthought Tool Suite is through the Enthought Deployment Manager. This led to the downloads page at press time. They don’t list an Ubuntu version. This led me down a weird and interesting rabbit hole (check this out!) but I’m just going to give it a go with the Debian version and see what happens. Hey, why not? Live a little!
Installing Enthought Deployment Manager on Ubuntu 19.10
With the .64-bit .deb downloaded, we can begin the installation process. That worked fine, so I’m going to read the docs and see how to proceed. That should be good for installation. Now, on…to setup!
Also, check out this painting of Ada Lovelace!
