Appendix A. Installation
You’ll need to install several components in order to work through this book. The most obvious is Python itself, but the basic Python distribution doesn’t come with the geoprocessing modules bundled with it. Some third-party Python distributions do include these libraries, or at least some of them, and you’re welcome to use them if you’d like. Although I haven’t tested the examples in this book with it, I’ve had success teaching classes using Anaconda Python, which is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux (https://www.continuum.io/downloads). Three other examples that I’m aware of, but haven’t tested things with, are OSGeo4W, Enthought Canopy, and Python(x,y). If you want to use one of these distributions, make sure that you check the package list first to make sure it includes the Python modules that you’re interested in. The instructions provided here will show you how to obtain Python and the required modules without using one of these distributions, as well as how to get them using Anaconda. Unfortunately, everybody’s system is different, even if they’re using the same operating system, so these instructions can in no way cover all cases.
Here’s the list of modules that we’ll work with in this book: