Machine Learning Introduction: Setting Up Python for Machine Learning

This is the second article of the Machine Learning series. If you want to know what is Machine Learning and what are the different types of problems and algorithms, check the first part.

In this article we are going to explore why Python is currently the most popular programming language for Machine Learning and how to set up the perfect environment for developing your projects.

Picture from Unsplash

Why Python?

Created in 1991 by Guido van Rossum, Python is now the fastest growing programming language among all, and the trend is only expected to keep the pace.

Philosophy

The reasons why is being accepted and used at such an impressive pace can be explained by taking a look at its philosophy (Tim Peters-2004):

• Beautiful is better than ugly.
• Explicit is better than implicit.
• Simple is better than complex.
• Complex is better than complicated.
• Flat is better than nested.
• Sparse is better than dense.
• Readability counts.
• Special cases aren’t special enough to break the rules.
• Although practicality beats purity.