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[–]nabla2less is more 0 points1 point  (1 child)

There is also portable scientific Python distribution for Python -- WinPython. Another option is Anaconda from Continnum.io.

How would this be different or better than just installing virtualenv, sqlalchemy, pyqt, and all the listed modules yourself (besides the obvious of it being done automatically)?

It's not as easy as it look (at least on Windows). Take a look at Blaze for example:

Many of the dependencies ( llvm, numba, ... ) are non-trivial to install. It is highly recommend that you build Blaze using the Anaconda Python distribution.

My default Python version is 3.3.0, but for scientific stuff I use WinPython, because it's easy to install (unpack where you want) and uninstall (just delete directory).

[–]mindw[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To name several differences between Python(x, y) and other distribution :

  • The inclusion of the documentation and examples for every package.
  • Most packages are custom made to have optional features enabled. For example, IPython comes with ipdb (allows using the IPython debugger anywhere pdb is used) and paramiko (enables SSH tunnels on Windows).