When: February 4, 2019 (5 - 7 PM)
Where: PierceHall 301 (Stephanie F. Connaughton Room)
(29 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138)
Presenters: Eleni Kaxiras, Faras Sadek, Keshavamurthy Indireshkumar
Who is this for: This is primarily for classes, but beginning researchers might benefit as well.
What are the topics: This session will be a simple introduction to Python. We will discuss variables, collections, control of flow, and functions. We will also discuss numpy, scipy, linear algebra and ordinary differential equations.
Pre-tutorial preparation:
You have at least two options: 1) Have a working version of python and jupyter on your laptop or 2) Work on google colaboratory (needs google account).
- Have a local python installation. Easiest way of accomplishing this is via Anaconda distribution of python.
Please visit the link below for Anaconda installation (click on download):
https://www.anaconda.com/what-is-anaconda/
Suggestions:- Choose Python 3 (3.6 as of this writing)
- On Mac, if the graphical installer does not work, choose the command line installer.
- You can also access jupyter notebook via google colaboratory. You need a google account (g.harvard.edu will do).
https://colab.research.google.com/notebooks/welcome.ipynb#recent=true
Helpful links on Anaconda, ipython notebooks etc:
http://docs.continuum.io/anaconda/faq.html
http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/catherinedevlin/mpwfw_exercises/blob/master/setup.windows.ipynb
http://opentechschool.github.io/python-data-intro/core/notebook.html
Tutorial Materials
The rest of this page assumes you have installed Anaconda.
Tutorial material will be available on February 1, 2019. You are not required to have these unless you are trying to follow along. If you download these, put them in the same directory.
On windows, the simplest option is to put these files in the "Ipython Notebooks" directory in the "My Documents" directory under "Documents" (i.e Documents --> My Documents --> IPython Notebooks).
You can open Ipython Notebook on various OSs as follows:
On Mac and LInux, open a terminal (and on Windows, open a command prompt) and change to the directory where your notebooks are. Then type:
jupyter notebook
from the directory where you have all the following files (you need to have Anaconda bin directory in the path). Once the jupyter notebook server and the browser are up, you will see the files with 'ipynb' extension in the dashboard. Clicking on it will open it.
(On windows, there should be an ipython notebook launcher under Anaconda in the Start Menu. However, the better option is to open the notebook as described above.)