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by promer 657 days ago
> Not sure what the paragraph about being able to install multiple Python versions after getting rid of Anaconda is about.

The sentence says "install and run". The problem is with "run."

On macOS, most students who install Anaconda accept the default, which is to autoactivate the base conda environment every time someone starts a terminal session. As a result, the instructions for starting an official Python don't work.

If you use Anaconda on Windows, you will not be able to test the effects of autoactivate.
1 comments
brewmarche 656 days ago
I did not know that (only know it from Windows), thanks for the explanation.

It looks like

  conda config --set auto_activate_base false
would be another fix for that. Or adjusting .condarc manually if you insist on not using the CLI. However I think teaching students about (virtual) environments will require them to know at least some CLI basics anyway.
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promer 656 days ago
Yes, this would be another way to escape from the conda base environment.

And as I've indicated in other responses, I absolutely agree that students need to learn how to edit files and run commands from the terminal. The only question concerns the order in which to teach these basics.

But please understand the facts. The majority of students I've encounter who have Anaconda installed on a Mac, had totally given up on the possibility of running an official version of Python. This, by the way, is a big indictment of the Anaconda Navigator, which encourages students to keep using a GUI instead of mastering files and shell commands.

Part of why I recommend the basics:

- an official python - pip and pypi.org - venv from the standard library

is that it gets them out of this pattern of this dependency on a GUI. This, by the way, also gives me some hesitation about VS Code. It too reinforces the GUI as the way to set up a working environment.

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