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.

Another software package used in this book is 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 OS X.

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

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