Before you arrive

Before you arrive at the Institute, you will want to have installed the following programs and packages on your laptop. IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment; it’s a tool for editing programs that includes extra language-specific support, such as prompting and debugging resources. All recommendations are available without charge unless otherwise noted.

All users

• Python: Anaconda Python. Install Python 3 (current version is 3.6), not Python 2.
• Python IDE: PyCharm. The Community Edition is free, but students and faculty can also obtain a free license for the Professional Edition. Don’t use the Academic version; the student/faculty licensing supersedes it. We’ll also use Jupyter Notebook, which is part of the Anaconda Python distribution, but PyCharm is better for complex projects.
• XML IDE: <oXygen/>. The developers have generously provided an extended (121-day) free full-featured trial license, the key for which will be sent by email to all Institute participants. <oXygen/> can also be used under a general free thirty-day trial license or discounted academic license. <oXygen/> is a commercial product, but it’s sufficiently better than the free alternatives that we use and recommend it.
• Version control: Git. We’ll use the Git command line tools, so you don’t need to install a GUI.
• Work folder: Create a work folder for your Week 1 practice files. Unless you have an alternative preferred work space, we’d suggest putting it under your Documents folder. The name of your work folder must not contain any characters except letters, digits, underscores, hyphens, and periods (e.g., “neh” or “neh_institute” are okay; “neh institute”, with a space, is not).

Mac users

• Xcode is a suite of Mac development tools. You can install it from the command line by typing xcode-select --install or download it from https://developer.apple.com/xcode/. Allow a lot of time; it’s a large installation.
• Text editor: You don’t want to write code in a word processor! Unless you are already adept in another text editor, we recommend BBEdit (which now incorporates the functionality of the same company’s earlier TextWrangler). Install the command-line BBEdit tools separately. Some users prefer Atom. Popular commercial editors include TextMate, which enforces a license requirement, and SublimeText, which has an honor-code license (unlimited free trial, but users are expected to register).

Windows users

• Text editor: You don’t want to write code in a word processor! Unless you are already adept in another text editor, we recommend Notepad++. Some users prefer Atom. Popular commercial editors include EditPad Pro, which enforces a license requirement, and SublimeText, which has an honor-code license (unlimited free trial, but users are expected to register).

Command Line Practice

• While prior knowledge of command line is not required, we recommend SW Carpentry’s Tutorial on the Unix Shell if you would like to familiarize yourself ahead of time.