We have been using (and highly recommend) the Anaconda version of Python as it comes with the most commonly used packages included with the installer. It also comes built-in with the conda package management tool that makes installing other packages a breeze.

You can download Anaconda from http://www.continuum.io/downloads; select the appropriate version that will fulfill Spark's requirements. For macOS installation instructions, you can go to http://bit.ly/2zZPuUf and for a Linux installation manual check, you can go to http://bit.ly/2ASLUvg.