Python Tutorials

Step 1: Install Python

In order to follow along any of the tutorials included here, you need to have a working version of python (at least 2.7). We use the Anaconda version of python and the

steps for installation are included below.

Python Installation Basics

To follow along during the tutorial, you will need to do the following :

Download and install the Anaconda python distribution: http://continuum.io/downloads
On Mac and Linux, include the path to the Anaconda bin directory in your .bashrc file.

export PATH="<path_to_anaconda_bin>:$PATH"
If Anaconda is installed in /home/johndoe/anaconda, then this will be:
export PATH="/home/johndoe/anaconda/bin:$PATH"
On Windows, it should appear in the Start Menu as soon as Anaconda is installed. You can also access the binaries from the command prompt.

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

Step 2: Tutorial Materials

The rest of this page assumes you have installed Anaconda and various python binaries are available in a terminal (Mac and Linux) or command prompt (Windows).

Attached below are the Ipython notebooks for the various tutorials.

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:

ipython notebook

from the directory where you have all the following files (you need to have Anaconda bin directory in the path). Once the ipython 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.)

Python Basics

python-session1-basics-modified.ipynb

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Simple File and Data Manipulation

files-and-data-new.ipynb

total_petroleum_consumption_thousand_barrels_per_day.csv

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