> Although one can install a plain-vanilla Python and all required libraries by hand, we recommend installing Anaconda ...
In a novice course, if the official version of Python and its tools all work, why is this organization recommending a product from a for-profit organization that requires acceptance of some complex and potentially costly provisions in its terms of use?
As much as I would rather not associate with these people (to stay polite), especially in an educational context, note that you do see people recommending the use of VSCode / Github / Windows / MacOS here all the time, all of which are orders of magnitude worse than Anaconda.
> Although one can install a plain-vanilla Python and all required libraries by hand, we recommend installing Anaconda ...
In a novice course, if the official version of Python and its tools all work, why is this organization recommending a product from a for-profit organization that requires acceptance of some complex and potentially costly provisions in its terms of use?