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# Introduction to Anaconda Navigator
^ebc35b
Anaconda Navigator is a program that we will be using in this course to manage Python environments, libraries and launch programs to help us write our python code.
The Anaconda website nicely describes *Navigator* as:
*a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables you to work with packages and environments without needing to type conda commands in a terminal window.Find the packages you want, install them in an environment, run the packages, and update them – all inside Navigator.*
To better understand how Navigator works and interacts with the anaconda ecosystem see the figure below.
```mermaid
flowchart TB
%% Sections
subgraph BE[Back-end]
C["Conda (Package Manager)"]
E[Environments]
subgraph Libs[Libraries]
L1[Numpy]
L2[Pandas]
L3[Matplotlib]
end
end
subgraph FE["Front-end (What you see)"]
N["Navigator (Graphical Interface)"]
subgraph IDE["Integrated Development Environments (IDE)"]
S[Spyder]
J[JupyterLab]
end
end
A[Anaconda]
%% Connections
A --> N
N -->|Launches| IDE
N -->|Selects| E
C --> E --> Libs
A --> C
```
As you schematic indicated, Navigator is a tool in the Anaconda toolbox that allows the user to select and configure python environments and libraries. Let's see how we can do this.
## Getting Started
Note to windows 10 users: Some installation instances do not allow users to search the start menu for *Navigator*, instead, you'll have to find the program under the *Anaconda (anaconda3)* folder. Expand the folder and click on *Anaconda Navigator* to launch the program.
Once Navigator starts, under *Home*, you'll see tiles of programs that come with anaconda. The tab allows you to launch the programs we will be using in this course. Before jumping straight into the programs we will first need to configure our Python instance.
The *Environment* page allows us to install a variety of libraries and configure our environments for different project, more on this in the next section.
## Environments
A Python environment can be thought of as a "container" where you can have all the tools, libraries, and dependencies your Python project needs without interfering with other projects. Think of it as a dedicated toolbox for your project.
Although the base environment comes with many libraries and programs pre-installed, it's recommended to create a dedicated environment for your projects. This protects the base environment from breaking due to complex dependency conflicts. Let us go ahead and create a new environment for us to use Spyder with.
1. Click on the *Environments* page located on the left hand side.
2. At the bottom of the environments list, click *Create*.
3. Select the python checkbox.
4. Select versions of python. At the time of making this tutorial the latest version of Python is 3.xx.x. We will go ahead and use that one.
5. Choose an appropriate name for your project. We will be creating an environment for the Spyder IDE so we'll call it "Spyder-env".
6. Click *Create*.
For more information see [Anaconda Environments](https://docs.anaconda.com/working-with-conda/environments/) and [Managing environment](https://docs.anaconda.com/navigator/tutorials/manage-environments/).
## Package Management
Now that we have a clean environment configured, let us install some library we will be using for this class.
1. Navigate to the environment page and select the environment we just created in the previous section.
2. Use the search bar in the top right corner to search for the following packages:
| Library | Usage |
| ---------- | --------------------------------- |
| numpy | Numerical computation |
| scipy | Scientific and techical computing |
| pandas | Data manipulation and analysis |
| matplotlib | Plots and visualizations |
| sympy | Symbolic mathematics |
*Note: The libraries list may change throughout the development of this course*
3. Check the boxes to install the selected packages to the current environment.
## Installing Applications
From the *Home* page you can install applications, to the current environment we created in the Environment section above. In this section we will install Spyder IDE, but the process is exactly the same for other applications.
1. Go to the *Home* page.
2. Select the desired environment. In our case, we select *Spyder-env*.
3. From the Home page find the Spyder IDE tile. Click the *Install* button to start the download.
4. Once the download is complete, press *Launch* to start the applications.
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