Configuring Spyder

Spyder is the program that we’ll be using to write code in Python. Before you begin using it, you should take the following steps to change its initial configuration:

1. If you haven’t installed Spyder yet, do so now following the instructions in Lab 0.

2. Run Spyder.

3. Once Spyder opens, select the View menu and then select the Window layouts option. From the resulting list of options, choose Horizontal split. You should then see two separate panes within the Spyder window: the editor pane on the left, and another pane on the right.

4. At the bottom of the right pane, click on the tab for the IPython console, which should give you a picture that looks something like this:

   

   Important: Some macOS users have reported seeing an error message in the IPython console. The error message begins with the word “Traceback”, and it continues for many lines. If you are seeing this message, you should:

   • uninstall Spyder
   • use an alternative set of directions to install Spyder as part of larger set of tools known as Anaconda.

5. At the top of the IPython console, you should see a line that mentions some version of Python 3. It doesn’t matter what comes after the 3. All that matters is that you see Python 3 and not Python 2. If you see Python 2, you will need to uninstall Spyder and reinstall it following the directions in Lab 0.

6. Next, open the Preferences window:

   • On macOS, choose Preferences in the python menu.

   • On Windows, choose Preferences in the Tools menu.

7. Inside the Preferences window, choose IPython console from the left-hand list of options.

8. Next, click the Advanced Settings tab, and scroll down to the section labeled Prompts.

9. In the box labeled Input prompt:, enter the following:

   >>>
   

10. In the box labeled Output prompt:, enter the following:

    result:
    

11. Next, click the Run tab, and under the section labeled General settings, click the box next to Remove all variables before execution.

12. Click the OK button to close the Preferences window.

13. Close Spyder.

14. Restart Spyder. As needed, click on the tab for the IPython console at the bottom of the right-hand pane. You should now see a >>> prompt in the IPython console pane, as shown in the image below:

    

Last updated on January 4, 2022.