Setup for Windows

[matuskalas]

I went through the https://github.com/NBISweden/workshop-python/blob/gh-pages/ht19/preliminary.md setup guidelines, concentrating on the implications for Windows users (as I'm one of those, despite of being a big Open Everything enthusiast :D )

It might of course be a bit late now to do any updates to the instructions, something for you the mainteners to consider, but in any case here follows a list of possible issues I found, that I worry may cause some difficulties for the tech non-savvy novices. So good to be aware in advance.

In order of appearance in preliminary.md:

• Python: There are 4 installation options for Windows at https://docs.python.org/3.7/using/windows.html#installation-steps, each of them problematic, unstable, or just messy in a different way. That's why we have conda and Anaconda these days! Therefore, it might be something to consider to ask the participants to just install Anaconda, at least for Windows user, or perhaps also MacOS, or even Linux, too. That's also how The Carpentries do it by default (https://carpentries.github.io/workshop-template/#python). The only real downside of installing Anaconda is that it takes upto 6GB space and a lot of time.

• Dependencies: With Anaconda installed on Windows, pyreadline, pandas, and matplotlib are installed already and can be imported immediately. No pip install needed. (And it's also discouraged in the conda philosophy to install packages into the base environment.)

• Text editor: On Windows, Notepad++ is a very nice editor for programming and handling textual data files. Again, also recommended by The Carpentries (https://carpentries.github.io/workshop-template/#editor).

• Test: On Windows with Anaconda|Miniconda, it's the best to use the Anaconda Prompt terminal. Then no messing with environment variables is needed. python3 does normally not work on Windows, and in the cmd terminal it may then open Microsoft Store to install the unstable Python 3.7 from there :D Use just python instead.

• Jupyter: Jupyter Notebook is included in the Anaconda install. (Plus the "Running the notebook" link doesn't seem to point anywhere useful and is not on the github.io page. On Windows with Anaconda, one can just click to open the Jupyter Notebook shortcut, or otherwise just type jupyter notebook in the Anaconda Prompt).

If not now, these might be something to consider for the future.

[ninanorgren]

Really good suggestions, thanks! I won't have time to fix this before the course, but if you feel up to it feel free to do some updates and submit a pull request

[MalinAhlberg]

I've added you as an collaborator of this repo, @matuskalas (I put you on the Triage level, mostly just to test that feature).

[matuskalas]

Thank you @MalinAhlberg!
I won't have time to fix anything tonight, but maybe tomorrow or during the weekend. If I'll manage to get to do it, do you want me to update the setup instructions only for Windows users, or do you want to change the whole setup to Anaconda as the #1 option for all systems? (Or for Windows + MacOS?)

[richelbilderbeek]

@matuskalas what is the status of this Issue?