Installing python

Ready to dive into data science for biology? Follow these steps to set up your environment and start coding!

Installing Python from Source on Linux

Installing Python from source gives you more control over the version and optimizations. This guide walks you through downloading, compiling, and installing Python manually. If you work with biological data, chances are you'll handle large omics datasets. Most tools for this kind of data are available exclusively on Linux platforms, so I strongly recommend setting up your Linux machine as soon as possible.

However, if you're working on your personal computer and still want to get started, don’t worry—there’s always an alternative. Windows users can check out WSL2, which allows you to run a Linux environment. I personally used it when I started back in 2021, and believe it or not, I even ran an RNA-seq analysis on it.

Please visit the official python website at the link, for the latest version.

• Download and Extract the Source Code wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.10.18/Python-3.10.18.tgz

• Extract the Archive tar xvf Python-3.10.18.tgz

• Move in the directory cd Python-3.10.18

• Configure the Build

  ./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local

• Compile the Source Code

  make

• Install Python

  make install

• Add Python to Your PATH

  echo 'export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc

• Restart shell session

• source ~/.bashrc

• Verify the Installation

  python3.10 --version

If you see the expected Python version, the installation is successful!