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Welcome to an article about installing Anaconda distribution, a data science toolkit. The data science toolkit by Anaconda is a free solution available for your operating systems and great for anyone breaking into the data industry!

Anaconda Individual Edition will be the focus of this installation article, and we share information on both Mac and Windows below. This is the kind of app that helps you perform advanced techniques like Market Basket Analysis or maybe simple ETL. Begin here: beginners guide to ETL.

Before you begin, ask IT if it’s okay to install this on your device; if this is your device, enjoy installing Anaconda distribution for the first time! Use the table of contents to help you progress quickly.

A Brief History of Anaconda Distribution

Anaconda is a software distribution company founded in 2013 by Maxime Chevalier and Pieter Abbeel. The company’s flagship product is the Anaconda Python distribution, which includes various packages and libraries for data science, machine learning, scientific computing, and other fields.

Anaconda was created in response to a growing need for a streamlined and easy-to-use Python distribution that both beginners and experienced data scientists could use. The company’s founders saw the potential of Python as a powerful programming language for data analysis and scientific computing. Still, they recognized that many users were struggling with the complexities of setting up and managing their Python environments.

To address this challenge, Anaconda created a distribution that included the necessary packages and libraries for everyday data science tasks and tools for managing dependencies, creating virtual environments, and installing new packages. This made it easy for users to get started with Python and helped to popularize the language among the data science community.

Over time, Anaconda has continued to grow and expand its offerings. In addition to its flagship Python distribution, the company offers a range of other products and services, including training courses, consulting services, and enterprise support. Today, Anaconda is one of the largest and most active companies in data science and machine learning, with a growing user base and a solid commitment to innovation and excellence.

A Brief History of Anaconda Jupyter Notebook

We use Anaconda distribution for the app Jupyter Notebook! It’s easy to attain through the terminal. However, that’s one aspect of this distribution that’s nice to have!

Anaconda Jupyter Notebook is a popular data science and machine learning platform developed by Anaconda, a company founded in 2013.

Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web application that allows users to create, share, and view documents containing live code, equations, visualizations, and explanatory text. It was created by Wes McKinney in 2011 as a data analysis and visualization tool. Still, it quickly became popular among data scientists, individuals using AI vetting software, teams unlocking the power of data, and researchers who found it easy to use and collaborate.

In 2014, Anaconda acquired the rights to distribute Jupyter Notebook under its branding and began bundling it with its Python distribution, Anaconda3. This made it even easier for users to get started with Jupyter Notebook and helped to popularize it among the data science community.

Since then, Anaconda has continued to develop and improve the Jupyter Notebook, adding new features and integrations that make it even more powerful and versatile. Today, it is used by millions of users worldwide for a wide range of data analysis, machine learning, and scientific computing tasks.

Data science may appear complex!

Data science may appear complex because different variations of programming languages do the same thing.

Apps like Anaconda Distribution seek to lower the barriers.

There are millions of experts, many open-source packages, and unknown variables to make known, and these need to be implemented correctly. Installing Python, R, and other libraries the correct way each time begins to generate roadblocks to solving problems.

Anaconda seeks to make data science not complex! We are all about lowering barriers at Dev3lop and are eager to show you how to implement Anaconda, which has many great tools. Anaonda is the way to install, update, and run packages.

Build and train machine learning models using the best Python packages built by the open-source community, including scikit-learn, TensorFlow, and PyTorch.

Anaconda.com – source

Anaconda has over 25 million users worldwide; the open-source app is considered the easiest way to perform Python and R data science and machine learning, which can be completed on a single machine. Anaconda has opened the door for novice and pro data science gurus around the globe; where will this installation take you?

What will we cover in our anaconda3 setup article?

  1. Downloading anaconda
  2. Installing anaconda
  3. Setup anaconda

Does Anaconda only work with Data Science?

Anaconda also works with other forms of data, like extracting, transforming, and even accessing Acid databases like PostgreSQL VS SQL Server. For example, data science isn’t required to use the Anaconda Jupyter Notebook.

Now that we made that clear let’s have fun.

Downloading Anaconda3 2021.05 (64bit) Setup

Like any application installation, we need to get the file on your computer to begin and determine the correct file that fits your operating system.

How do you download Anaconda on your local machine?

Navigate to anaconda.com and find the individual download. Like most open-source applications, they will do their best to make getting the application in your hands easy.

If you are behind a firewall and corporate IT has turned off this capability. How can I download Anaconda?

If your corporate IT settings do not allow you to download a Windows .exe executable file, download our zipped file as an alternative to changing the extension downloaded.

Installing Anaconda For the First Time

Installing Anaconda is going to be quick. Click the exe or dmg to begin the setup.

installation welcome screen for anaconda3 2021.05 (64-bit)
anaconda3 setup screen1, windows anaconda install

Ready, Mac installs Anaconda3 is about the same installation.

And Mac installer screenshot
Lastly, Mac installer for Anaconda offers a read-me

The license agreement is next; here are the basics.

  • Install and use the Anaconda Individual Edition (which was formerly known as Anaconda Distribution),
  • Modify and create derivative works of sample source code delivered in Anaconda Individual Edition from Anaconda’s repository and
  • Redistribute code files in source (if provided to you by Anaconda as source) and binary forms, with or without modification, subject to the requirements set forth below.
License agreement text for anaconda 2021.05 (64 bit)
license agreement for anaconda3

Once you’re done reading this “License Agreement” novel, click I Agree, or you’ll start over!

The installation Type will be valid if you share the computer or need to generate a layer of admin privileges. Like most screens in an installer/setup, click next.

Select installation screenshot + text for anaconda 2021.05 (64 bit)
Choose just me, if it applies

You are choosing an install location. Here, we select the type of installation you would like to perform for anaconda3. Start by using the default install location today, and remember your destination folder.

Note: To properly install and set up Anaconda3, your computer will need 2.9 GB of available disc space.

choose installation location setup  screenshot + text for anaconda 2021.05 (64 bit)
Choosing a destination folder, use the default

We recommend default due to the lack of spacing presented in this directory.

In what folder should I install Anaconda on Windows?

We recommend installing Anaconda or Miniconda into a directory that contains only 7-bit ASCII characters and no spaces, such as C:anaconda. Do not install into paths that contain spaces such as C:Program Files or that include Unicode characters outside the 7-bit ASCII character set. This helps ensure correct operation and no errors when using any open-source tools in either Python 3 or Python 2 conda environments.

– FAQ anaconda.com source

Advanced installation options. Here, we can customize how Anaconda integrates with our operating system. You can attempt to go non-recommend routes. However, I want to show you how to set up environment variables in a few minutes.

advanced installation options screenshot + text for anaconda 2021.05 (64 bit)
advanced options, avoid not recommended steps to save time

Setting up environment variables when installing anaconda3?

If you desire to change the environment variables, dive in; however, the documentation on the website suggests this is not the right move. We may update this area later as the training progresses.

Should I add Anaconda to the Windows PATH?

When installing Anaconda, we recommend that you do not add Anaconda to the Windows PATH because this can interfere with other software. Instead, open Anaconda with the Start Menu and select Anaconda Prompt, or use Anaconda Navigator (Start Menu – Anaconda Navigator).

FAQ anaconda.com – source

Setting up environment variables when installing Anaconda might work for you, but based on the documentation on their website, we opt not to change our settings. However, enjoy if you’re a pro and understand what you’re doing with environment variables.

windows environment variable system properties menu screenshot.

This is a great spot to remind ourselves that Anaconda is looking to set up its very own environment, and changing the way your computer handles incoming Python requests may negatively impact other applications your computers are dependent on using. So, using your environment variable settings should not be the next step. Anaconda3 is looking to build its environment to keep the problems off of your environment because things like this have destroyed computers for long enough. Anaconda3 is a workaround to needing to take this step.

Due diligence wins the race in life and when learning Python because anyone can write keyword-rich content about installing anaconda3.

Should I add Anaconda to the macOS or Linux PATH?

We do not recommend adding Anaconda to the PATH manually. During installation, you will be asked “Do you wish the installer to initialize Anaconda3 by running conda init?” We recommend “yes”. If you enter “no”, then conda will not modify your shell scripts at all. In order to initialize after the installation process is done, first run source /bin/activate and then run conda init.

FAQ anaconda.com – source

I already have Python installed. Can I install Anaconda?

You do not need to uninstall other Python installations or packages before installing Anaconda. Even if you already have a system Python, another Python installation from a source such as the macOS Homebrew package manager and globally installed packages from pip such as pandas and NumPy, you do not need to uninstall, remove, or change any of them.

FAQ anaconda.com

Completing the anaconda3 installation setup

Congratulations, you are on your way to becoming a data science guru.

successful installation screenshot + text for anaconda 2021.05 (64 bit)
install of anaconda is completed
mac install anaconda3 running packages scripts screenshot

screenshot + text for anaconda 2021.05 (64 bit) related to pycharm
next (however, Pycharm is excellent)
completed setup screen/menu screenshot + text for anaconda 2021.05 (64 bit)
finish

Click finish with both checkboxes and follow along to check out their tutorial. If you did not check the box and want to watch the tutorial, follow along here.

Mac install completed!

Start anaconda3 for the first time.

When installing, they throw in a lot of apps, too. In this tutorial, we aim to open Anaconda Navigator to begin the following tutorial.

How do I start anaconda3 on Windows?

  1. Hit the Windows key.
  2. type anaconda
  3. open anaconda navigator

Skip anaconda Prompt, click navigator instead, and anaconda3 will open.

finding anaconda3 navigator
Open in the start menu.

If you’re on Mac, try SPACE+CMD and type anaconda or open your application folder and select Anaconda Navigator, one of the many things added to your machine.

opened anaconda3 distribution
The Anaconda application is now installed!
macos screenshot
MacOS icon in the application library

Thanks for joining us in this Anaconda setup article. Next, take a minute to learn about our Natural Language Processing articles, like recognized named entities in unstructured web text, and more.