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Anaconda Setup

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19 views5 pages

Anaconda Setup

Uploaded by

bksaif
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Conda Setup for XCS Courses

What is Conda?
Conda is an open source package management system and environment man-
agement system that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Conda quickly
installs, runs and updates packages and their dependencies. Conda easily
creates, saves, loads and switches between environments on your local com-
puter. It was created for Python programs, but it can package and distribute
software for any language.
Conda as a package manager helps you find and install packages. If you need a
package that requires a different version of Python, you do not need to switch
to a different environment manager, because conda is also an environment
manager. With just a few commands, you can set up a totally separate
environment to run that different version of Python, while continuing to run
your usual version of Python in your normal environment.

1 Installation
The fastest way to obtain conda is to install Miniconda, a mini version of
Anaconda that includes only conda and its dependencies. If you would want
to leverage your exotic CPU architecture (aarch64 including Apple Silicon,
ppc64le) the best way would be to install Miniforge! If you prefer to have
conda plus over 7,500 open-source packages, install Anaconda.
Here are some of the system requirements necessary for installation:

• 32- or 64-bit computer

• For Miniconda/Miniforge - 400 MB disk space

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• For Anaconda - Minimum 3GB disk space to download and install

• Windows, macOS, or Linux

For download specific instructions, please refer to this link.


For Windows: Go to your search menu on Windows after installing Mini-
conda, and locate the Anaconda Command Prompt to run the commands
below.

To verify the Conda download, please run:


conda info

In case you have previously installed Miniconda, be sure to update them


accordingly before moving onto step 2:
# Update to lastest version of Conda
conda update -n base conda
# Update all packages to the latest version of Anaconda
conda update anaconda
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2 Creating and activating environment from


YAML file
After you have installed Conda, we have provided a file called environ-
ment.yml. Note that the environment.yml will be provided on the first
day of the course upon the release of the first assignment. This YAML file
will help you create a virtual environment with a specified name used for ac-
tivation and install necessary dependencies for the coding assignments. Here
is what an example environment.yml file looks like.

Note: Although there are multiple ways of completing the homework assign-
ments, the libraries we provide you within the YAML file should be the only
ones you reference in the completion of the coding assignments. For the
remainder of this setup we will be using your-env-name to specify
the name of your environment (i.e. XCS229, XCS221, etc) . You
can find the name of your virtual environment by looking for the
name parameter within the environment.yml file.
To create your environment from the YAML file please run:
conda env create -- file environment . yml
Now to specify that the environment was installed correctly, please run the
code below and you should see an environment name that matches with the
name parameter in the environment.yml file:
conda env list
Next, you will activate the created environment. To do so, you will need to
to call the following command:
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conda activate < your - env - name >

Now in this environment, you will have all the relevant dependencies needed
to complete the assignments. If you want to deactivate your environment
please run:
conda deactivate

3 Converting Environment to Jupyter Note-


book
When completing the assignments, it may be helpful to use a Jupyter Note-
book as a scratchpad to help you debug or formulate potential solutions.
Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web application that allows you to cre-
ate and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations
and narrative text. The first step to creating your Jupyter Notebook for the
assignments is to activate your environment as follows:
conda activate < your - env - name >

Next, in the active environment type:


# install ipykernel
conda install -c anaconda ipykernel
# install the new kernel
ipython kernel install -- user -- name = < your - env - name >

And last but not least, ensure to run the following command to launch your
Jupyter Notebook in the active environment
jupyter notebook

That command will take you to your Jupyter Notebook directory. When you
hover over the New button in the top right hand corner, you should see you
environment present as an option.
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Go ahead and select it and it will create an empty Python Jupyter file where
you can copy and paste assignment code or use it to formulate your thoughts.
In the event you would like to remove your environment from Jupyter, simply
run the following code:
jupyter kernelspec uninstall < your - env - name >

You are now equipped with all the tools to complete the coding assignments.
For a list of the most useful Conda functions, please refer to this document.

4 Updating Existing Conda Environment


If you plan on reutilizing the an existing Conda environment from a previous
SCPD-AI course, we strongly recommend all students update their Conda
environment upon starting or replace it with the new Conda environment as
mentioned above. Below are steps to update your existing Conda environ-
ment in preparation for this course.
conda activate < your - env - name >
conda env update -- file environment . yml

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