WORKFLOW

Configure Python for ExternalEvaluate

Configure your system to evaluate external Python code.

For Mac...

Install the Python package manager

Information about how to download and install the Python package manager, pip, can be obtained from https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing.

  • Python is already installed on Mac systems, so no further installation is necessary. If you want to install other versions of Python, download the appropriate installer from http://python.org, double-click the resulting .pkg file, and follow the instructions.

Install the “pyzmq” package for Python

To install the “pyzmq” package as the current user:

$ pip install --user pyzmq

To install the package globally, use:

$ sudo pip install pyzmq

Verify the installation

If the installation was successful, FindExternalEvaluators will discover it automatically:

Evaluate Python code

Use the Python installation to evaluate Python code:

For Windows...

Install Python

Download the Python installer at http://python.org and open the resulting .exe installer file.

Install the Python package manager

Information about how to download and install the Python package manager, pip, can be obtained from https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing.

Install the “pyzmq” package for Python

Install the “pyzmq” package for communicating with Python using ZMQ sockets:

> pip.exe install pyzmq

Verify the installation

If the installation was successful, FindExternalEvaluators will find it automatically:

Note that there may be multiple evaluators that appear for each different form of the Python executable, but that all use the same installation of Python. This is normal.

Evaluate Python code

Use the Python installation to evaluate Python code:

For Linux...

Install Python for Linux

Python comes pre-installed on some Linux distributions. You can test if your system has Python available by evaluating in a terminal:

$ python --version

If you get a message such as "command not found", you need to install Python either by using a package repository tool on your system or by downloading the Python installer at http://python.org and uncompressing the resulting tarball.

Install “pyzmq” package for Python

To install the “pyzmq” package as the current user:

$ pip install --user pyzmq

To install “pyzmq” package for Debian-based systems as root do:

$ sudo apt-get install python-zmq

To install “pyzmq” package for RedHat-based systems as root do:

$ sudo yum install python-zmq

Verify the installation

If the installation was successful, FindExternalEvaluators will find it automatically:

Evaluate Python code

Use the Python installation to evaluate Python code:

Notes
If you have installed Python according to the steps above, but it is not discovered by FindExternalEvaluators, you can register it manually with RegisterExternalEvaluator; for example:
Most Linux distributions have separate packages for Python 2 and Python 3. The “pyzmq” package must be installed separately for each version. Consult your operating system documentation for instructions on specific package names for each version.