For this book, you need Python 2.7.6 or a later version installed on your operating system. For the examples in this book, Mac OS X 10.10.5's Python default version (2.7.6) has been used. Other software packages used in this book are IPython, which is an interactive Python environment. The new version of IPython is called Jupyter, which now has kernels for 50 different languages.

Install the prepackaged scientific Python distributions, such as Anaconda from Continuum or Enthought Python Distribution if possible. Anaconda typically comes with over 300 Python packages. For the Python packages that are not included in the prepackaged list, you may either use pip or conda to install them. Some examples are provided in Appendix, Go Forth and Explore Visualization.