Tutorial-1-Installing-python.md

Tutorial 1: Installing Python

Aim

This tutorial lists the necessary steps of installing python through anaconda, setting up conda virtual environment and installing required packages.

Step 1: Installing Anaconda

For the vision part, we recommend using the free Anaconda Python distribution, which provides an easy way for you to handle package dependencies.

Windows:

Download .exe file and install it.

macOS :

Download .pkg file and install it.

Ubuntu:

Follow the installation instructions on web.

Step 2: Anaconda Virtual Environment

Once you have Anaconda installed, it is highly recommended to create a virtual environment for the course.

If you use Python for different projects, they may require different versions of Python and/or other modules. Creating a virtual environment will allow you to install specific versions of Python packages for the course project, without crashing with the dependencies of other projects. For more details about what the virtual environment is and why it is highly recommended, you can refer to this page.

If you choose not to use a virtual environment, it is up to you to make sure that all dependencies for the code are installed globally on your machine.

Windows:

To set up a virtual environment, open Anaconda Prompt and run

conda create -n mtrn3100 python=3.7.10

to create an environment called mtrn3100.

Then, to activate and enter the environment, run

conda activate mtrn3100

If you want to exit from the environment, you can simply close the window, or run

conda deactivate

macOS/Ubuntu:

To set up a virtual environment, open a Terminal and run

conda create -n mtrn3100 python=3.7.10

to create an environment called mtrn3100.

Then, to activate and enter the environment, run

conda activate mtrn3100

If you want to exit from the environment, you can simply close the window, or run

conda deactivate

Step 3: Installing Dependencies

First activate the virtual envinroment 'mtrn3100' using the method mentioned above

#run in Anaconda Prompt/Terminal
conda activate mtrn3100

Then check whether you are using the correct version of 'pip' by running

Windows:

#run in Anaconda Prompt
pip --version

which will give you 'pip 21.1.3 from .....\Aanaconda3\envs\mtrn3100\lib\site-packages\pip (python 3.7)'

macOS/Ubuntu:

#run in Terminal
which pip

which will give you '.../anaconda3/envs/mtrn3100/.../pip'

Next, install the required dependencies. You can do this with two options:

Option 1:

Download the tutorial project containing the requirements.txt file, 'cd' to the project folder (.../mtrn3100_21T2_Python_Tutorials) and run (make sure the requirements.txt is in the current folder)

pip install -r requirements.txt

Option 2:

Mannually install the required dependencies:

pip install matplotlib==3.2.2
pip install opencv-python==3.4.2.17
pip install opencv-contrib-python==3.4.2.17
pip install ipykernel==5.3.2
pip install notebook==6.4.0

Step 4: Adding Virtual Environment to Jupyter Notebook

Add your virtual environment to Jupyter by typing:

python -m ipykernel install --user --name=mtrn3100

Step 5: Running python

Type python or python3(if you have both python3 and python2 installed) and press Enter.

Step 6: Test OpenCV

Make sure python is started, then run

import cv2
cv2.__version__

which gives you '3.4.2'

Step 7: Exit python

Now you can type in exit() or quit() and press Enter to exit Python.

Step 8: Jupyter Notebook

Jupter Notebook is a web application which contains live code, similar to live scripts in Matlab. This allows you to edit/run code in the browser and check the results of computations attached to the code which generated them. This is easier when your work needs a bit of fine-tunning.

Git clone the repo. Activate the mtrn3100 environment in Anaconda Prompt (Windows) / Terminal (macOS/Ubuntu) and change dir to the repo folder, then run

jupyter notebook

Click the 'Tutorial-2-Variables-Boolean-and-Operators.ipynb', change the kernel to mtrn3100, and run each section.

If you want to quit jupyter notebook, you can close the page and type "cltr + c" in the Anaconda Prompt several times.

Summary

Now you should have Python installed and be able to run python and jupyter notebook.