Windows

Python

We recommend installing a complete scientific python distribution. One of these is Anaconda.

Please download and install Anaconda. (Python 3.6 version.)

Sophos

To use the IPython notebook on a Windows computer with Sophos anti-virus installed it may be necessary to open additional ports allowing communication between the notebook and its server. The solution is:

• open your Sophos Endpoint Security and Control Panel from your tray or start menu
• Select “configure” > “Anti-virus” > “Authorization” from the menu at the top
• Select the websites tab
• click the “Add” button and add 127.0.0.1 and localhost to the “Authorized websites” list
• restart computer (most likely not needed, just restart the IPython notebook)
• output works now :)

Git

Install the GitHub for Windows client. This comes with both a GUI client as well as the msysgit terminal client which we will use in Software Carpentry. You should register with Github for an account and sign into the GUI client with this account. This will automatically set-up SSH based authentication for the terminal client. The terminal client comes in 3 different flavours based on Windows CMD (DOS like), Windows Powershell, and BASH. We will use the BASH client as this most closely resembles the Linux and OS X terminal used by other students. In order to configure this open the Github client. Sign in with your credentials and:

• Select File
• Options
• Advanced
• Default Shell
• Git Bash
• And Press Update to save.

Verify that this is working by opening the Git shell. The Shell window should have a title that starts with MINGW32.

Editor

Unless you already use a specific editor which you are comfortable with we recommend using Notepad++. Follow the download link.

Using Notepad++ to edit text files including code should be straight forward but in addition you should configure git to use notepad++ when writing commit messages (We will learn about these in the version control session). The following sections goes through this:

Finding out where things got installed

Now, we need to find out where Notepad++ have been installed, this will be either in C:\Program Files (x86) or in C:\ProgramFiles. The former is the norm on more modern versions of windows. If you have the older version, replace Program Files (x86) with Program Files in the instructions below. If you are unsure about this open Windows explore and navigate to the C drive. If the C drive contains both a Program Files (x86) and Program Files folder Notepad++ is most likely to be installed in Program Files (x86). Verify this by opening the folder and look for a Notepad++ subfolder. On a non English Windows installation the directories may have different names. You should however still use the English names above. Just verify if the directory ends with (x86) or not.

Telling the shell where to find Notepad++

We need to tell the new shell installed with git where Notepad++ is.

In order to do this we will edit a Windows environmental Variable called Path This is basically a list of directories separated by ‘;’ where the shell will look for programs.

To do this:

• Open the control panel
• Select system
• Advanced system settings
• Environment Variables
• Select Path and press edit.

This will open a Dialogue box with a long string Variable value: At the end of the string you should add ;C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++ Where you substitute Program Files (x86) with the directory determined above.

Testing your install

Check this works by opening the Github shell. Once you have a terminal open, type

which notepad++

which should produce readout similar to /c/Program Files (x86)/Notepad++/notepad++.exe

Also verify the typing:

notepad++

opens the editor and the close it again.

which git

which should produce /bin/git. The which command is used to figure out where a given program is located on disk.

Telling Git about Notepad

Now we need to update the default editor used by Git.

git config --global core.editor "'notepad++.exe' -multiInst  -nosession -noPlugin"

Note that it is not obvious how to copy and paste text in a Windows terminal including Git Bash. Copy and paste can be found by right clicking on the top bar of the window and selecting the commands from the drop down menu (in a sub menu).

Testing python

Confirm that the Python installation has worked by typing:

python -V

Which should result in details of your installed python version.

This should print the installed version of the python and git confirming that both are installed at working correctly.

You should now have a working version of git, python, and notepad++, all accessible from your shell.