The scikits-learn project aims to provide an API for machine learning. What I like most about it is the amazing documentation. We can install scikits-learn with the package manager of our operating system. This option may or may not be available, depending on the operating system, but should be the most convenient route.
Windows users can just download an installer from the project website. On Debian and Ubuntu, the project is named
python-sklearn. On MacPorts, the ports are named
py26-scikits-learn and
py27-scikits-learn. We can also install from source, or using easy_install. There are third-party distributions from Python(x, y), Enthought, and NetBSD.
You need to have SciPy and NumPy installed. Go back to Chapter 1, Winding Along with Ipython, for instructions, if necessary.
Let us now see how we can install the scikits-learn project.
- Installing with easy_install: We can install by typing any one of the following commands, at the command line:
pip install -U scikit-learn easy_install -U scikit-learn
This might not work because of permissions, so you might either need to put
sudoin front of the commands, or log in as admin. - Installing from source: Download the source from http://pypi.python.org/pypi/scikit-learn/, unpack and
cdinto the downloaded folder. Issue the following command:python setup.py install