How I Learned to Let Go and Love Python: An R Story

Presenter: Joe Sutherland

Link to the original post

Plan

It’s not always easy to let go, but in this case the reward far outweighs the risk! The purpose of this session is to introduce the ways in which Python supplants or supplements R in political science research. We will configure Python and Jupyter Notebook on your system, review package management, and collaborate to rewrite a commonly used R script in Python.

Setup Instructions

1. Install Homebrew if you’re on a Mac, or Chocolatey if you’re on a PC by following the instructions at their homepages.
2. Install the Python distribution. This will also install Python’s package manager, pip.
   • Mac: brew install python python3.
   • PC: choco install python python3 (run as administrator).
3. Use pip to install jupyter notebook.
   • Mac: pip install jupyter.
   • PC: pip install jupyter (run as administrator).

Booting Jupyter notebook

To boot the notebook, simply: jupyter notebook (on PC it is sometimes jupyter notepad) from the command line.

Link to Workshop Materials

• Github Repository with Materials (to get the materials on your computer you either need to install git and then git clone https://github.com/jlsutherland/learn-to-love-python.git in your command line, or simply download .zip file directly from github using clone or download button).