Installing scientific computing packages for Python in Linux
Ubuntu Linux
Many Python packages are available as packages in the Ubuntu and
Debian Linux distributions, which can
be installed with the dpkg/apt tools.
This document is focused on the Ubuntu installation currently in
place in the
Physics Educational Computing Facility (PECF), the computer lab for
Physics 7682 / CIS 6229 at Cornell, although much of it should be
relevant for Debian installations as well.
Install, or get your system manager
to install, as many of those packages as you might find useful.
For
Physics 7682 / CIS 6229, we are making use of the following packages:
- python (the core Python distribution)
- python-scipy (scipy and numpy)
- python-matplotlib (pylab/matplotlib plotting package)
- ipython (ipython interpreter)
- python-imaging (Python Imaging Library)
- python-visual (VPython)
- imagemagick (ImageMagick image manipulation tools)
- python-networkx (NetworkX network analysis package)
- anything else? (let me know if you find something)
There are other packages installed in the PECF, but are not used
for Physics 7682 / CIS 6229. Nonetheless, you might find them useful
for other projects:
- python-biopython (sequence analysis and bioinformatics)
- python-gnuplot (python interface to gnuplot plotting package)
- python-netcdf (python interface to netcdf data format)
- python-pydot (python interface to Graphviz dot tool)
- python-scientific (useful scientific tools, distinct from scipy)
Other information
An older page describing Python installations on other Linux systems
is available here.
Version numbers are no doubt out-of-date, but there may be
useful information on the general structure of Python packages and
the use of the distutils setup.py mechanism for package installation.