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At a minimum, you will need:

1. The Python language itself.

2. Several python packages:

• numpy
• scipy
• matplotlib

3. (optional but recommended for developers) An integrated development environment (IDE). This is a fancy editor that makes code development more efficient and allows for debugging with breakpoints, stepping through the code and inspecting the value of variables..

Some installation options

There are a multitude of ways to install Python; advanced developers might have their own favorite tools that work fine with XCIST. Here are some options for newbies.

A la carte installation: From Python.org you can download Python itself, and then separately install the packages that you need. This might rersult in the most compact installation, but you might need to download several packages seperately.

Here's what worked for me (Paul FitzGerald). Thanks for advice from Brion Sarachan! I installed for Windows, but Linux installations of the same tools are also available from the links below.

A more comprehensive installation One alternative is to install Anaconda, which includes Python and a large number of common packages and tools. Compared to the al la carte option, Anaconda is easier to set up but takes a while (hands off) and results in a lot of stuff installed (i.e. GB on your disk). For a straightforward installation, installing Anaconda seems like a good choice. I'm not sure of the differences between the 2.7 and 3.7 versions. I installed Anaconda version 3.7 for Windows. Here's Anaconda version 3.7 for Linux.

Even more comprehensive installation (for developers) Anaconda comes with several IDEs. Another IDE, PyCharm, is quite popular. I installed a new version of PyCharm that works specifically with Anaconda; here is the version for Windows and here is the version for Linux.

Then, run Pycharm.

Note: If you're behind a firewall, you might get an error message like this. You might need to change your proxy setting - contact your system administrator for the correct settings. The place to change it (in PyCharm) is File -> Settings... -> Appearance & Behavior -> System Settings -> HTTP Proxy. After changing the settings, you can test using the "Check Connection" button. You might then get an error message like this. I clicked "Accept" and all was good.

I then went to Help -> Getting Started. There are videos and tutorials to help you get started with Python and PyCharm.

Please feel free to add to this page if you have different suggestions!