Time for action – installing NumPy, matplotlib, SciPy, and IPython on Windows

Installing NumPy on Windows is necessary but this is, fortunately, a straightforward task that we will cover in detail. It is recommended that you install matplotlib, SciPy, and IPython. However, this is not required to enjoy this book. The actions we will take are as follows:

1. Download a NumPy installer for Windows from the SourceForge website http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/files/.
   

   Choose the appropriate NumPy version according to your Python version. In the preceding screen shot, we chose numpy-1.9.2-win32-superpack-python2.7.exe.

2. Open the EXE installer by double-clicking on it as shown in the following screen shot:
   
3. Now, we can see a description of NumPy and its features. Click on Next.
4. If you have Python installed, it should automatically be detected. If it is not detected, your path settings might be wrong. At the end of this chapter, we have listed resources in case you have problems with installing NumPy.
5. In this example, Python 2.7 was found. Click on Next if Python is found; otherwise, click on Cancel and install Python (NumPy cannot be installed without Python). Click on Next. This is the point of no return. Well, kind of, but it is best to make sure that you are installing to the proper directory and so on and so forth. Now the real installation starts. This may take a while.

   Install SciPy and matplotlib with the Enthought Canopy distribution (https://www.enthought.com/products/canopy/). It might be necessary to put the msvcp71.dll file in your C:\Windows\system32 directory. You can get it from http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcp71 A Windows IPython installer is available on the IPython website (see http://ipython.org/).

What just happened?

We installed NumPy, SciPy, matplotlib, and IPython on Windows.