Computer Set-Up#
Participation in the MSSE Bootcamp will require using your own personal computer or laptop and installing some software.
Windows users take note
If you are working on a Windows computer, participating in the course will require you to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). You should install WSL 2 for this course. If you are using Windows 11, WSL 2 fully supported. If you are using Windows 10, see these notes on installation requirements for WSL 2.
Please follow the instructions here to ensure you have the necessary software installed. We will be using Python and the conda package manager. If you are on MacOS or Linux and already have Anaconda (or Miniconda) installed, skip to the “compilers” portion of these set-up instructions. Please see the appropriate section below if you do not have Anaconda or Miniconda installed.
Anaconda vs Miniconda
Anaconda is a distribution of Python, the conda package manager, and several third-party libraries which are commonly used in data science.
Miniconda contains only Python and the Conda package manager. It will take up much less space on your computer and allow you to install any package you would like later.
Miniconda is the better option because we will learn to manage Conda environments and install the packages we need.
However, if you already have Anaconda installed, there is no need to install Miniconda.
Installing Miniconda and compilers#
Click the appropriate tab for your operating system to see set-up instructions.
Miniconda Installation
You can download and run the installer at this link.
Compilers
MacOS users should install XCode. An easy way to install XCode is through the Mac App Store.
Miniconda Installation
You can download and run the installer at this link.
Compilers
After installing miniconda, you will need to install compilers for the C++ section of the course. Use this command to install compilers
sudo apt install build-essential
If your computer uses the Windows operating system, we require installing Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Follow the installation instructions at this link. If you don’t have a preference for Linux distribution, we recommend installing Ubuntu 22.04.
Once WSL is installed, open your Start menu and choose Ubuntu. Doing this will open a terminal window. A terminal is an interface you can use to interact with your computer using text. When you first open Ubuntu, you may see a message that says, “Installing, this may take a few minutes.” After the installation is complete, you will need to create a username and password. Once these are created, you should be able to use the terminal.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux is like running another computer inside your computer. It is a different operating system with different software installed than your Windows computer. For the WSL, you have to install Miniconda from the terminal in your Linux operating system. Note that if you are using the WSL, your Linux OS is completely separated from your Windows operating system. This means that software installed on one operating system is not available on the other.
WSL Miniconda Installation
You are now using a Linux OS under Windows. You must install Miniconda from the command line. You should open a terminal. If you are using WSL, a terminal is opened when you click your Linux Operating System from the start menu.
From your terminal, execute the following lines:
wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
bash Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
After installation, close and reopen your terminal window. If you do not see (base) before your username on the command line, type
conda init
Compilers
After installing Miniconda, you will need to install compilers for the C++ section of the course. Use this command to install compilers.
sudo apt install build-essential
Creating a conda environment#
Everyone should complete and read this section after installing Miniconda.
We will create a conda environment to simplify compilation and installation. Environments isolate software from this project from the rest of your laptop’s dependencies.
After installing Miniconda, type the following command into your terminal. This command creates an environment called “msse-python” which runs Python 3.11.
conda create -n msse-python python=3.11
After creating the environment, activate it using the command:
conda activate msse-python
Next, install the Python libraries JupyterLab and matplotlib.
conda install -c conda-forge jupyterlab matplotlib
You now have a new environment, msse-python, with the Python Standard Library, matplotlib, and Jupyter Lab installed. This is the environment we will be using for our initial coding projects.
To deactivate the environment, use
conda deactivate
Installing and configuring git#
Installation#
During this course, we will use git software for version control. This portion walks you through installing and configuring git.
If you do not have the environment activated, activate it first:
conda activate msse-python
Next, make sure you have git installed.
You can check if git is installed using the following command in your terminal:
git --version
Make sure that this outputs at least version 2.28. If you do not have git installed, or if it is an older version of git, you can install git using conda:
conda install -c conda-forge git
Note that because of the solver that conda uses to decide which version of a package to install you may end up with a version that is < 2.28.
You can use the command above git --version to see the installed version.
If the output of that command is < 2.28, you will want to use the following command to specify the version to install. Any version >=2.28 is acceptable.
conda install -c conda-forge git" =>2.28"
Configuring Git#
The first time you use Git on a particular computer, you need to configure some things.
First, you should set your identity. One of the most important things that version control like git does is to keep track of who changes what. A version history helps repository maintainers coordinate the efforts of each person who contributes to the project. You can provide git your name and contact information with the following commands:
Configuring git
In the command below, you do not need to put your name or email address in all caps
git config --global user.name "YOUR_FIRSTNAME YOUR_LASTNAME"
git config --global user.email "YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS"
Next, you must set the name of the default branch git uses. We will discuss in more detail during the bootcamp. The following command will set your default branch name to “main”.
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
Next, you might want to change the Git text editor. As we will see later, certain Git commands will open text files. When this happens, Git will use your environment’s default text editor, which might not be the editor you are most comfortable using. Using configuration commands, you can tell Git to use your favorite editor.
In the last portion of this set-up, we recommend installing Visual Studio Code as your text editor. Note that using VS Code on Windows or Mac requires additional set-up, outlined in the section Installing a text editor. To make VS Code your default editor for git, do
$ git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
A more complete list of possible editors is available here.
You can check the configuration commands that you have set using:
$ git config --list
GitHub#
If you do not yet have a GitHub account, you must create one. To create an account, go to github.com and click “Sign up.” When creating your GitHub username, remember that this is a professional profile where you can showcase your work. Keeping this in mind, ensure your GitHub username is both professional and recognizable.
GitHub Credentials#
We will be using the command line interface for GitHub. GitHub very recently deprecated using a username and password from the command line. Instead, you will need to create something called an ssh key to verify your account.
Follow the instructions given by GitHub to create an SSH key and add it to your account.
After you have added an ssh key, you can verify that it is added correctly and that you can use GitHub by executing
ssh -T git@github.com
This should return an output similar to the following, but with your GitHub username:
Hi YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.
Text Editor#
Everyone should have a text editor to edit Python and C++. If you do not have a preference for text editors, we recommend Visual Studio Code. If you are using WSL, see these instructions for installing Visual Studio Code for use with WSL. If you are using Mac, follow these instructions to set-up VS Code so that you can use it from the command line.