2018 Unidata Users Workshop Computing Environment

Complete information on the 2018 Unidata Users Workshop

Installing git and Python

A number of demonstrations and hands-on exercises will make use of tools written in the Python programming language. If you want to follow along with these segments during the workshop, you can install a Python environment on your laptop by following the instructions below. We suggest installing the Python environment before you arrive at the workshop, but there will be time to ask questions about configuration during the first session on Monday morning.

1. Install Miniconda (Python 3.6). We'll be using the conda package manager to install dependencies, so consider installing a conda-based Python for the workshop even if you have a different version installed already. If you have trouble installing Miniconda, you might find this video useful.
   Note: By default, the Miniconda installer does not add the new python environment to your PATH environment variable. Adding the information to the PATH environment variable will make the software easier to use; unless you know that this will conflict with your existing configuration, we recommend you select the option to “Add Anaconda to my PATH environment variable” in the installer.
2. Install the git distributed version control system software. (We will be using git and GitHub to distribute code.)
3. Once git and Miniconda are installed, from the command line (e.g., OS X terminal, or cmd.exe on Windows), run these instructions:

git clone https://github.com/Unidata/unidata-users-workshop

cd unidata-users-workshop

conda env create -f environment.yml

Note that the conda env create command installs numerous dependencies and may take a while to complete. If you're interested in learning more about Conda environments, try this video.

From a Unix command line (e.g., OS X terminal)

If your default shell is NOT bash, first type bash. To activate or switch to a conda environment, you can source activate <environment>. For example,

source activate users-workshop

To switch and/or deactivate environments:

source deactivate
source activate <environment>

From a Windows command line (e.g., cmd.exe)

To activate or switch to a conda environment, you can activate <environment>. For example,

activate users-workshop

To switch and/or deactivate environments:

deactivate
activate <environment>

Updating the Workshop Environment

If we need to update the Python package dependencies during the workshop, change to the unidata-users-workshop directory and do the following:

deactivate users-workshop             # Windows systems
   or
source deactivate users-workshop      # Unix-like systems

git pull origin master                # update the local files from the workshop repository

conda env update -f environment.yml   # update the Python environment

Updating the environment after the initial creation should be fairly speedy.

Other Resources

If you're new to using Python, you might find some of the resources available in Unidata's Online Python Training pages useful.

Similarly, the materials for the Unidata Python Training Workshops we run at the Unidata Program Center and various university sites may help you get started.