IMHO, the nice thing about Anaconda is that it obviates a lot of the integration questions. Having things in local environments makes life so much easier that I can't imagine another way.
Anaconda is huge, though. SWC could make a much smaller Anaconda-like installer using constructor: https://github.com/conda/constructor - this is also easy enough to maintain specific installers for each training, so that the installers could contain only what was going to be used in a given training. Instructors could create their own installer (just change the input list of packages). If you don't use Constructor, I agree that it makes more sense to use Python from Cygwin, but worry about how easy it might be to maintain any add-ons aside from Python. Some time ago, I wanted to use Anaconda for everything in a training. Constructor wasn't around at that time. I made conda packages for nano, and I think everything else was already available. https://jiarong.github.io/2015-11-05-ND/ - Constructor is a lot nicer than saying "install miniconda first, then download this environment file, then create this environment." It does bypass the opportunity to discuss ephemeral development environments, though. HTH, Michael On Dec 2, 2016 6:56 AM, "Erik Bray" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Hopefully this is the right place for this discussion--honestly I'm > not sure anymore. > > I'm trying to put together a new Software Carpentry "installer" for > Windows, to set Windows users up with a more UNIX-y environment in > which they can follow along with Software Carpentry lessons > seamlessly. > > The current setup for Windows users is to have them install git for > Windows (aka "Git Bash", which includes a bash shell along with many > other standard GNU tools), as well as Anaconda for Python, and then > the existing SWC "installer" which cobbles together some other tools > used by SWC lessons--namely make, sqlite, and nano. > > There have been a number of problems in the last year with integration > between these tools when taking them from different sources. I am > trying to put together a new installer based on Cygwin, which provides > the MinTTY console (also used by Git Bash) as well as a bash shell, > and all the aforementioned tools provided through Cygwin. I have > found in my experience with Cygwin over the last year that it provides > a very consistent and holistically Unix-y experience on Windows. > > I hope to have a prototype ready soon for people to test out. But one > question I have that's really bothering me is: Is there a *particular* > reason we rely on Anaconda for our Python distribution in the lessons? > Is there something particular in the existing lesson plans that > require Anaconda? > > I have nothing particular against Anaconda but for the purposes of > this installer it would be much simpler and better integrated, I > think, to provide Python from Cygwin as well. So I'm wondering if > there's any reason not to do that. The same goes for R, but I'm less > familiar with how R works or what the implications are there. I will > need to test how well a Cygwin shell integrates with an existing R > installation... > > Thanks, > Erik > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss
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