I decided to write this post, as I myself when for the first time tried to use conda (the package manager for Anaconda Python distribution, the first question was in what ways conda is better then pip, and so why one should think of preferring condo over the de-facto pip. Here I have put a comprehensive post about ‘getting started with conda’ i.e. what extra condo can offer.
A short comparison
pip
- Can only be used for Python packages.
- The supported package manger by the Python foundation, hence widely used.
conda
- Handles library dependencies even outside Python i.e. packages for C libraries, or R packages, or really anything.
- Supports virtual environment out of the box.
- Developed to be used with Anaconda Python distribution, though can be used with the standard Python distribution – but highly not recommended.
Virtual environment with conda
Out of the box conda provides the virtual environment creation and management functionality (with normal distribution you have to install virtualenv). For example, you need to test a package with different Python version, let say Python 2.7
Create venv
conda create -n <venv> python=<python-version>
Output
Activate venv
source activate <venv>
Output
Deactivate venv
source deactivate <venv>
Output
List the environments
At the core, same as virtualenv Anaconda’s environments are mere directories. To list all the environments
conda info -e
Output
List packages of a virtualenv
Can list the installed packages of an inactive environment
conda list -n <venv>
Output
