The first one tells us the version of Conda we have. Try each of these commands and see what happens: conda info Conda has a number of tools for managing our Python installation. It comes with a variety of packages installed, including our favorites: Pandas and Matplotlib.īasics. We use the Anaconda distribution of Python, which we think is the most user-friendly version out there. You should see something like this: bla bla blaĬonda is the Anaconda tool. Click the magnifying glass at the top right and enter 'terminal'. We can - and will - enter commands at the prompt. You should see a open window with a prompt that looks like this: bla bla bla Press the Windows key or the Windows icon. Picture the computer screens in ' War Games.' Many of the graphical interfaces used in the computing world run things on the command line behind the scenes, so it's often better to go straight to the source and run things on the command line ourselves. These tools run on the command line, the old-school approach to computing that predates the graphical interfaces we use today (Mac OS, Windows, etc). We provide links to more extensive documentation at the end. We start with conda, the tool used to update the components of the Anaconda distribution, then move on to the traditional Python tool, pip ('pip installs packages').Īs usual, the idea is to get things started. Python has some handy tools for installing and updating the core language and its packages.

Warning: This is a little terse, but we think it does the trick. We describe tools used to update and install Python packages.Īpplications.

How to update python on mac with pip