Software

Python

Python is a popular language for scientific computing, and great for general-purpose programming as well. Althought lecturers will provide a short introduction to Python, if you are not familiar with it, we strongly recommend to take a look at the first 4 chapters of thePython Tutorial (https://docs.python.org/3.5/tutorial/).

Installing all of its scientific packages individually can be a bit difficult, so we recommend Anaconda, an all-in-one installer. Regardless of how you choose to install it, please make sure you install Python version 3.x (e.g., 3.4 is fine).

We will teach Python using the Jupyter Notebook, a programming environment that runs in a web browser. For this to work you will need a reasonably up-to-date browser. The current versions of the Chrome, Safari and Firefox browsers are all supported (some older browsers, including Internet Explorer version 9 and below, are not).

Windows

Open http://continuum.io/downloads with your web browser.
Download the Python 3 installer for Windows (If you are using WindowsXP use this version).
Install Python 3 using all of the defaults for installation. Make sure that both "Add Anaconda to the system PATH environment variable" and "Register Anaconda as the system Python"option are checked.

Mac OS X

Open http://continuum.io/downloads with your web browser.
Download the Python 3 installer for OS X.
Install Python 3 using all of the defaults for installation.

Linux

Open http://continuum.io/downloads with your web browser.
Download the Python 3 installer for Linux.
Install Python 3 using all of the defaults for installation. (Installation requires using the shell. If you aren't comfortable doing the installation yourself stop here and request help at the workshop.)
Open a terminal window.
Type
```
bash Anaconda3-
```
and then press tab. The name of the file you just downloaded should appear.
Press enter. You will follow the text-only prompts. When there is a colon at the bottom of the screen press the down arrow to move down through the text. Type yes and press enter to approve the license. Press enter to approve the default location for the files. Type yesand press enter to prepend Anaconda to your PATH (this makes the Anaconda distribution the default Python).

Z2Pack

The link for installing Z2Pack is here: http://z2pack.ethz.ch/doc/2.0/tutorial_installation.html. For the school, only the first two parts are relevant ("Installing Z2Pack" and "Installing the tight-binding backend").

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