While using the software for this course, your computer’s keyboard language must be set to English. If needed, please follow these instructions to change your keyboard language.
Go to the download section for the Anaconda distribution of Python.
Under the heading for MacOS, click on the link for 64-Bit Graphical Installer.
If you receive an error message that says you are downloading from an unsafe or unknown site, you’ll need to change your security preferences, at least temporarily, by taking the steps outlined in the Lowering security settings section below.
Double-click on the downloaded file in your Downloads folder
(the name of the file should begin with Anaconda3 and
end with .pkg). This should start an automatic installer.
You should be able to use all of the default settings that the
installer gives you. Wait for the installer to finish and then
close it. You can now delete the installer by dragging the .pkg
file to the Trash.
Running Spyder, option 1:
Use the Spotlight tool to search for and run the Anaconda Navigator.
Within the Anaconda Navigator, find the section for Spyder and click the Launch button.
Running Spyder, option 2:
Run Terminal.
Enter the following from the command line:
spyder
Once you have installed Spyder, you must configure it by following the instructions found here.
At some point during the semester, you may need to use a virtual desktop that has been created for students in CS courses. To do so, you need to install the VWware Horizon Client as follows:
Go to the VMware download page.
Find the row in the product table that says VMware Horizon Client for Mac and click the Go to Downloads link found on the right-hand side of that row.
On the resulting page, click the blue Download Now button.
If you receive an error message that says you are downloading from an unsafe or unknown site, you’ll need to change your security preferences, at least temporarily, by taking the steps outlined in the Lowering security settings section below.
Go to your download folder and launch the disk image (.dmg) file.
When presented with the end-user license agreement, click Agree.
When presented with a VMware Horizon Client window, click and drag the VMware Horizon Client icon to the Applications folder shortcut.
To use this software off-campus, you will also need to use BU’s virtual private network, which you can download by following the instructions found here:
OS X may stop you from downloading or running applications downloaded from the Web (as opposed to through the Mac App Store) unless you lower your security settings. Here’s how to adjust them so that you may install and run applications from anywhere:
Last updated on January 4, 2022.