Introduction

There are a lot of reasons why you will love working with the Python code.

It is easy to use, easy to learn, has a lot of great frameworks and libraries to work with (and we will discuss at least a few of these as we go through this guidebook), and is still powerful enough to make machine learning easy for you.  

While it is possible to work with other coding languages to help you get the results that you want, but most people prefer to work with Python due to all of the benefits that we have discussed.

Before we take a look at how to set up the Python environment so you can use it properly, let’s take a look at a few of the different parts that come with the Python language, so you understand how a few of these codes can work for you.  

The parts you should know about the Python code

First, we need to take a look at these important keywords in the Python language.

Like with what you will find in other coding languages, there is a list of keywords in Python that are meant to tell your text editor what to do.

These keywords are reserved, and you should only use them for their intended purposes if you want to be able to avoid issues with your code writing.

They are basically the commands that will tell your compiler how to behave, and they remain reserved so that you can execute the code without a lot of issues in the process.  

Variables are important because they will save up spots on your computer’s memory in order to hold onto parts of your code.

When you go through the process of creating a new variable, you are making sure that you are reserving some space on your computer for this.

In some cases, such as when you are working with data types, your interpreter will do the work of deciding where this information should be stored because that speeds up the process.  

When it comes to working with variables, your job will be to make sure that the right variables are lining up with the right values.

This will ensure that the right parts show up in your code at the right time.

The good news is that you can give the variable the value that you want, but do check that it actually works inside of your code.

When you are ready to assign a new value to a variable, you can use the equal sign to make this happen.

Let’s look at a good example of how this would work: 

#!/usr/bin/python

counter = 10          # Assigning an integer

kilometers   = 100.0       # Assigning a floating-point

fname    = "Jordan"       # Assigning string

print counter

print kilometers

print fname

With the above example, you will get the results to show up with the variable that you placed with the value.

So, when the counter shows up, it will show you a 100 for the counter, 1000 for the miles, and John as the result of the name.  

Next are the Python comments.

These are helpful to leave a little note in your code and can make a difference in how others are able to look through the code and know which parts are supposed to work with.

Working with the comments can be relatively easy when you are on Python.

You simply need to add the # sign in front of any comments you would like to write.

The compiler will know how to avoid that part of the code and will skip over it, without any interruption in the program.  

One thing to note is how many comments you write.

While you can technically write out as many of these as you would like or that you think the code needs, try only to keep the absolutely necessary ones.

You do not want to write in so many comments that it is hard to read the rest of the code.

Just write in comments when they are needed, not all of the time.  

Python statements are a simple part of the code that can make a big difference, so we are going to take some time to explore them real quick here.

Statements are going to be the part that the compiler is going to execute for you.

You can write out any kind of statement that you want, but make sure they are in the right place, and that you are not using any of the keywords with them, or the compiler will get confused.  

And the next thing that you need to take a look at here is the functions. 

Functions can be another part of your language that you need to learn about.

This is basically a part of the code that can be reused, and it can help to finish off one of your actions in the code.

Basically, these functions are often really effective at writing out your code without having a lot of wasted space in the code.

There are a lot of functions that you can use in Python, and this can be a great benefit to the programmer.  

These are just a few of the basics that come with the Python code.

We will take a closer look at doing these a bit more as we move through this guidebook, but these will help you get the basics of the Python language and how you can use it for your advantage in machine learning.  

Getting that environment set up

Now that we have had a chance to look at machine learning, some of the ways that you can benefit from and benefit from machine learning, and some of the different types of machine learning that you are able to work with, it is time to introduce some Python into this.

Python is a great coding language that you can work with, no matter what your skill level is when coding.

And when it is combined with some of the ideas that come with machine learning, you are going to be able to see even better results in the long run as well.  

That is why we are going to spend some time looking at how you can set up your own environment when working with the Python code.

This will help you to make sure that Python is set up on your computer in the proper manner, and will make it easier to work with some of the codes that we will talk about later on.  

You will find along the way that the Python code is going to be a really easy one to learn compared to some of the others that are out there, and it is often one that is recommended for beginners to learn because it is simple.

But this isn’t meant to fool you!

Just because you see that it is simple to work with doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to find the strength and the power that you need with this one.

There are a lot of different parts that you can learn about the code, but first, we are going to make sure that the environment for Python is set up in the right way to help with the Python environment with the help of machine learning.  

So, to help us get this done, we need to go to the Python official website and download the Python program that we want to work with.

Then make sure that with the files you are working with, you will need to make sure the right IDE is present.

This is going to be the environment that has to be there and will ensure that you are able to write out the codes that you want to work with.

The IDE is also going to include all of the installation of Python, the debugging tools you need, and the editors.  

For this specific section of machine learning, we are going to focus on the IDE for Anaconda.

This is an easy IDE to install, and it is going to have some of the development tools that you need.

It is also going to come with its own command-line utility, which is going to be so great for you installing any of the third-party software that you need with it.

And when you work with this IDE, you won’t have to worry about doing a separate installation with the Python environment on its own.  

Now we are on to the part of downloading this IDE.

There are going to be some steps that you will need to complete to make this happen.

We are going to keep these steps as simple as possible, and we are going to look at what we need to do to install this Anaconda IDE for a Windows computer.

But you will find that the steps that come with installing this on a Mac computer or a Linux computer are going to be similar to this as well.

Some of the steps that you need to use in order to help you download this kind of IDE to your computer include:

1. To start, download your preferred newest version of Python.
2. Once the executable file is downloaded, you can go over to its download folder and run the executable.

When you run this file, you should see the installation wizard come up.

Click on the “next” button.  

3. Then the License Agreement dialogue box is going to appear.

Take a minute to read this before clicking the “I Agree” button.  

4. From your “Select Installation Type” box, check the “Just Me’ radio button and then “next”. 
5. You will want to choose which installation directory you want to use before moving on.

You should make sure that you have about 3 GB of free space on the installation directory. 

6. Now you will be at the “Advanced Installation Options” dialogue box”.

You will want to select the “Register Anaconda as my default Python 3.6” and then click on Install.  

7. And then, your program will go through a few more steps, and the IDE will be installed on your program.  

As you can see with all of this, setting up the Python environment that you would like to work with is going to be simple.

You just need to go through these steps to get the Anaconda IDE set up properly, and then you are able to use it for all of the codes that we will discuss in this guidebook, along with some of the other codes that you will want to write along the way.  

Remember that there are some other options that you can work with when it is time to pick out an IDE that you would like to work with.

If you are doing some other work than machine learning, or you like some of the features and more that comes with another IDE, you are able to download these IDEs to make it work with them as well.

But we are going to spend time working with the Anaconda IDE because it is going to have all of the features that we need to get the machine learning algorithms working the way that you would like.