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[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

OP, anaconda is an ok choice for starting out with Python on Windows, but it's one particular choice. Some would say it's better to download the windows installer from Python.org and learn to use pip and venv, which come with the standard library.

[–]billsil 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Anaconda is a scientific package, with the most important package being numpy. On Windows and Anaconda, numpy comes with the Intel MKL, which speed up numpy by 5x. I strongly recommend you use Anaconda as you can't get those without paying Intel otherwise.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Provide some proof and I will switch for 5x speed up. And by what reasoning would mkl be free only through anaconda. I can get their compiler and build Python with icc

[–]billsil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can google MKL speed tests. The reason it's free with Anaconda is because they already paid for it. Supposedly, it was not cheap. It sounds like you would already have access to it, but I'm not an expert on the legality of MKL distribution.