python-learn

Learning Python from Scratch

Local python environment setup

• Download & install miniforge3. Cut and paste the following command to a terminal window

  cd $HOME/Downloads
  curl -L -O "https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh"
  

  Verify that you have downloaded the file, for example: Miniforge3-Darwin-arm64.sh by doing a ls.

• Run the installation script, follow the prompt:

  bash Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh
  

• After the installation, you should have conda command installed, verify it by:

  conda env list
  

• Let's install a new python environment, we name it as "pylearn". We explicitly specify a python version we like to use, which is 3.14.

  conda create -n "pylearn" python=3.14
  

• Once an environment is created, we need to explicitly "activate" the environment. Note here we do it a bit differently, instead of running "conda activate pylearn" (which require a slightly different setup", we do it by:

  source activate pylearn
  

• Once environment is activated, we can install jupyter

  pip install jupyterlab
  pip install pandas
  

• Now, we have a local JupyterLab setup, which is the main learning environment, we can launch it by:

  jupyter lab
  

  you should expect a browswer window open - and you can create a new notebook from the sratch, or work on existing notebooks.