Data Science Setup for Mac OS X

Data Science requires a few tools to help us discover interesting features in our data. We will primarily use two tools and several libraries within each of these tools. The three tools are:

• python, a simple programming language (this allows for the computer to do the work for us)
• git, a distributed version control system/repository tool (this runs technology behind “github”)

All of these tools are free (and open-source), so it just takes a few minutes for you to install them to get started!

Installing python

You will need Python 3.6 (or later). We will first check if you have Python already (if you have done Data Science) and install it if you don’t already have it.

Checking for existing Python

1. Open up your command prompt

2. Type python --version and press Enter.

• If you see Python 3.7.1 (or similar), you are all set – no need to install Python!

• If you see an error or Python 2.7, we will install it now!

Installing Python

1. Visit https://conda.io/miniconda.html to get Miniconda, a light-weight version of the python programming language

2. Download the latest Mac OS X, 64-bit bash installer for the latest version of Python (eg: 3.7).

3. Open up your command prompt and run the script you downloaded by running the following:

cd Downloads
bash Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh

You will need to press q to exit the license screen and all default options are fine.

1. Restart your terminal

Installing git

Any modern version of git works. We will first check if you have git and install it if you don’t already have it.

Checking for git

1. Open up your command prompt

2. Type git --version and press Enter.

• If you see git version ... (or similar), you are all set – no need to install git!

• If you see an error, we will install it now!

Installing git

1. Visit https://git-scm.com/downloads to get git, a distributed version control system/repository tool

2. Download and install the latest Mac OS X installer.

3. After the install finishes, verify it installed by following the steps above.