What you need for this book

For this book, you will need Python 2.7.3 or a later version installed on your operating system. This book was written using Ubuntu 12.03's Python default version (2.7.3).

Other software packages used in this book are IPython, which is an interactive Python environment that is very powerful, and flexible. This can be installed using package managers for Linux-based OSes or prepared installers for Windows and Mac OSes.

If you are new to Python installation and software installation in general, it is very much recommended to use prepackaged scientific Python distributions such as Anaconda, Enthought Python Distribution, or Python(X,Y).

Other required software mainly comprises of Python packages that are all installed using the Python installation manager, pip, which itself is installed using Python's easy_install setup tool.