Packages

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Python packages are an integral part of Python programming. A package is a bundle of modules. Modules are individual Python files that contain code pieces that can be used in your projects, which makes them easier to program. For example, you will often use the package sympy in your studies. The sympy package is a collection of modules containing code for different mathematical operations. The module sympy.matrices contain tools for working with matrices, or sympy.calculus includes operations for derivatives and integrals.

Tip

It is important to ensure that you have activated the correct environment before proceeding. Please check the Environments section, if you need to know what this means.

Conda is an open-source package management system that can install, run, and update packages and their dependencies in your Python development environment. We recommend is using Conda to manage your packages. If you followed our installation guides, you already have Conda installed.

Find a Conda cheatsheet

Installing packages

Packages can be installed to your specific environment by using conda install:

Windows

conda install "numpy==1.24.*" "scipy<1.10" "matplotlib"

MacOS

conda install "numpy==1.24.*" "scipy<1.10" "matplotlib"

The above command will install specific versions of the listed packages, which can be important for maintaining compatibility and stability in your environment. The above will install version 1.24 of Numpy, a Scipy version lower than 1.10, and the latest version of matplotlib.

Navigating packages

Quite often, it is necessary to list and find out if you already have a certain package and what package version you have. Using the command conda list, you can see all the packages that you have installed and their specific versions.

Windows

conda list

MacOS

conda list

Updating packages

Packages can be updated by using conda update and specifying the package you wish to update:

Windows

conda update numpy

MacOS

conda update numpy

The above command will update the numpy package to the most recent version that is compatible with your environment.

Removing packages

The command conda remove allows you to remove a specific package from your environment. It is useful when you no longer need a package or want to replace it with a different version.

Windows

conda remove numpy

MacOS

conda remove numpy

The above command will remove the numpy package from your environment.

Tip

Further documentation on packages and installation is available on Conda’s webpage.