For this book, you will need Python 3.4 or a later version installed on your operating system. This book was written using Python 3.4.3 installed by Continuum Analytics' Anaconda 2.3.0 on Mac OS X El Capitan version 10.11.1.

The other software packages that are used in this book are IPython, which is an interactive Python environment that is very powerful and flexible. This can be installed using package managers for Mac OSes or prepared installers for Windows and Linux-based OSes.

If you are new to Python installation and software installation in general, I highly recommend using the Anaconda Python distribution from Continuum Analytics.

Other required software mainly comprises Python packages that are all installed using the Python installation manager, pip, which is a part of the Anaconda distribution.