Anaconda Python

Anaconda python distribution from Continuum Analytics (Conda) is an open source package management system and environment management system for installing multiple versions of software packages and their dependencies and switching easily between them. It works on Linux, OS X and Windows, and was created for Python programs but can package and distribute any software.  

There are multiple versions of conda, differentiated by two things: the number of packages that get installed by default, and the version of python it uses.

Miniconda is a minimal installer for conda, which includes - conda, Python, the packages they depend on, and a limited number of other useful packages (incl. pip, zlib, etc).   Its small base size and selectivity makes it a preferred choice for when space is a concern.

Anaconda is the most popular full Python distribution. It comes with a package manager system, conda, and includes many commonly used Python modules. For this reason it occupies 3.2 GB as installed and includes hundreds of the most popular packages for large-scale data processing, predictive analytics, and scientific computing.

Miniconda/anaconda installation

Create Environment "test" and install tensorflow

$ conda create --name test tensorflow
Fetching package metadata .......
Solving package specifications: ..........

Environments must be activated:

$ source activate test
(test)  $

$ source deactivate test

Display help for conda

$ conda --help

List package in current conda environment

$ conda list

Search for available packages (in this case - pil)

$ conda search pil 

Install package

$ conda install pil

Update package

$ conda update pil

Remove package

$ conda remove pil

It is possible to install a package from Anaconda Cloud by specifying --channel flag to specify the repository you want to install from. 

$ conda install --channel conda-forge opencv

Useful links:

http://conda.pydata.org/docs/_downloads/conda-cheatsheet.pdf

http://conda.pydata.org/docs/test-drive.html