Download, install, update, and manage basic software tools on Windows.
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Windows users: Installing software on Windows can be done by typing simple commands with Chocolatey, a software automation tool for Windows. You can use Option 1 below if you like. Option 2 works equally well.
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Mac/Linux/All other users: Skip down to Option 2 below.
Programming Environments
- Anaconda - a Python distribution for data processing
Code Editor
- Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Version Control
- Git (comes with Git Bash, which provides a little bit of Linux on Windows) :)
- Windows Users only: TortoiseGit (integrates Git and Windows File Manager)
All recommended tools are free.
Option 1: Windows users only: Install Windows Software with Chocolatey
Use powerful automation tools to make installing software easier. Install Chocolatey, the Windows Package Manager from https://chocolatey.org/ by following the directions on the website.
Right-click in your Documents folder, and select 'Open PowerShell as Administrator'. If you don't have this option, see Windows Setup for Developers.
Using the -y flag is optional and will automatically answer 'yes' to install questions.
It's safe to install software you already have (e.g., typically Chrome is already installed). You can find additional information by going to the specific link from https://chocolatey.org/packages.
All at once:
choco install anaconda3 vscode git tortoisegit -y
Refresh environment variables if they have been modified.
refreshenv
Or one at a time:
choco install anaconda3 -y
choco install vscode -y
choco install git -y
choco install tortoisegit -y
refreshenv
Explore at https://chocolatey.org/packages.
- View list of locally-installed programs. Open PowerShell here as Admin and run:
choco list -local
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Inspect the downloaded software - the default location is 'C:\ProgramData\chocolatey' (or for earlier installations, 'c:\chocolatey').
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Inspect your updated Windows environment variables. Hit Win key and type env. Select "Edit System Environment Variables". From System Properties window Advanced tab, click "Environment Variables".
To upgrade your versions, periodically run choco upgrade. You can automate this script to make it even easier.
choco upgrade chocolatey -y
choco upgrade all -y
refreshenv
Option 2: Install Software (Using the installers on their websites)
Alternatively, each tool can be installed in the traditional manner. Just go to the website for the software and follow instructions to download, install, and configure tools using provided installers.
Important!
- Ensure VS Code installs right-click 'Open with Code' on folder context menus. If not, reinstall using traditional methods.
- Windows users only: Ensure full TortoiseGit context menus are available. If not, reinstall using traditional methods.
- automation tools
- web browser
- Chocolatey
- editor
- environment variables
- package manager
- upgrade (get the latest version)
- Windows (operating system)
Configure Git distributed version control system and automate software upgrades