The first step on the way to using Python is to have the Python interpreter installed on your machine. The interpreter takes a Python script (which is simply a text file that you will write), checks that it is written correctly in the Python language, and if so, it executes the algorithm contained in the script. If the interpreter finds a language error, it helpfully tries to tell you about it so that you can fix it.
Unfortunately, due to the university's security policy, it is no longer possible for students or staff to manually install Python onto university desktop machines. Generally, computing at Newcastle is much more straightforward if you have administrator rights on your machine. You can request administrator rights on a university machine to allow you to work more effectively, however the university default policy is not to allow this. In the absence of administrator rights, you can request that your institute's computer support team install Python (and any libraries required) onto your computer. Newcastle's IT department has expressed its full support for increasing the programming skills of biomedical postgraduates and will help. Please let me know if there are any problems. Python has been pre-installed on all of the machines in the Dene cluster (which is accessible by all) and should remain installed on those machines for the forseeable future, however many useful libraries are currently missing.
We can download Python installers from the Python download page. You can find installers for all major operating systems on the same page. Depending on your operating system, you may need to know whether the version of your OS is 32-bit (e.g. Windows Installer) or 64-bit (e.g. Windows X86-64 Installer) in order to be able to choose the correct installation file.
Currently there are two main versions of Python available: Python2.7.4 and Python3.3.1. We will use Python2.7.4 just because it has been around for longer and people have developed more supplementary packages for it. The language syntax is slightly different between Python2.x and Python3.x, and Python3.x will become the standard version in the future, but the differences are quite minor and only become apparent with advanced use.
Overview ∴ Installation ∴ First Script ∴ Execution ∴ Libraries ∴ Structure ∴ Other Resources