INSTALL.md

Python Installation

This program requires Python 3.11 or later. Using a virtual environment manager (such as conda) is highly recommended. The following instructions are for people new to Python or VS Code. If you already know how to handle Python versions and environments, please skip to Installing Dependencies.

Installing Conda

What is conda?
Each python project you may want to run on your computer can have its specific python version and library dependency requirements (look at the first sentence in the paragraph above!). If you try to cram everything into one python installation, you will soon run into conflicts.
Conda is a package manager that allows you to create isolated environments for each project. You only install the required version of python and libraries for that project and nothing more, keeping everything lean and clean!

Download the latest version of Miniconda from its official website for your operating system.

If you are on Windows, and want to use VS Code with Conda
In Start Menu, search "Anaconda Powershell Prompt". Then run the following commands:

Initialize conda for powershell command line

conda init powershell

Set conda to manual activation (recommended but optional)

conda config --set auto_activate_base false

Allow the startup script to run when you open the VS Code terminal

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

You will likely see some red warnings at this point, but as long as it starts with Set-ExecutionPolicy : Windows PowerShell updated your execution policy successfully, you are good to go.

If you are on Linux
You can initialize conda with

conda init bash  # or zsh if you are into that
conda config --set auto_activate_base False # Set to manual activation

Please refer to official documentation for Linux.

If you are on MacOS
Then you are a lot richer than me, and I have no idea how conda works on your fancy machine.
Please refer to official documentation for MacOS.

Creating a New Conda Environment

Assuming you are using VS Code and you have done the steps above correctly...

Open the project folder in VS Code. Press Ctrl + ` to bring up the terminal.
Run the following commands to create a new conda environment called "eddy".

conda create -n eddy python=3.11 -y

Then switch to the new environment with

conda activate eddy

You should now see (eddy) at the beginning of the command line if it is successfully activated.

Note: VS Code will try to automatically activate the "eddy" environment when you open the project folder in the future. However, sometimes it fails to do so. You can always manually activate it with the command above.

VS Code Python Extension

On the Extensions tab on the left, search for "Python" and install the one by Microsoft.

Now, open any Python file in the project folder. If you try to click the "Run" button on the top right, a pop-up will appear, asking you for a Python interpreter. Select the one with "eddy" in its name. You can also do this from the bottom right corner of the VS Code window. If nothing is listed, restart VS Code so it can detect the new conda changes.

Note: Selecting Python interpreter here and activating conda environment in the terminal are two independent actions. You should make sure both are set correctly.
Hopefully, they will both be set automatically from now on. But please double-check each time you reopen VS Code.

Installing Dependencies

Currently, this program only requires numpy, matplotlib and tqdm to use.
If you want to run the test cases, you will also need pytest and pytest-cov.

If you have opened the project folder in VS Code, you can install them all with

pip install -r requirements.txt

or you can install them selectively with

pip install numpy matplotlib tqdm  # Required for the program itself
pip install pytest pytest-cov      # Required for running tests