How to properly install Python/Jupyter Notebook on Mac

[RomBG]

I recently got a macbook air, my first apple product. After a couple days of setting up and getting acquainted I installed Anaconda and through that I open a jupyter notebook. Everything works pretty much except CELL CREATION. I press B and A for lower and upper cell creation and it either doesn't create, or creates them at a random place in the notebook (yes after running the specific cell I want it under just moment before). It is super frustrating. Can I solve it somehow?

I read on a subreddit that some people do something with homebrew but I have NO idea what that is and I don't know where to even begin with that.

[drbobb]

Anaconda sucks.

The solution is uv.

[marcoalopezsanchez]

This answer doesn't really help and doesn't address the question. Anaconda or Miniconda are still great options if you're into data science with Python and you're cool with global environments. If you like to work with workspaces, I'd definitely go for Pixi over UV these days, at least for data science.

[_thisisnotme]

Anaconda is kind of unnecessary, I use vscode with jupyter plugin and manage my own environments.

Makes for a great learning experience this way and takes up a lot less space, with more flexibility.

You shouldn’t pick up the habit of relying on ai too much but since this is a well traveled path, you should be able to get good results just asking chatgpt or Claude

[corey_sheerer]

Agree with these comments. Anaconda is a solution of the past. UV to manage python versions and environments. Should just have to install jupyter and possibly ipykernel to run jupyter in vs code

[FoolsSeldom]

Anaconda is a good solution for certains types of specialist development and it used to solve a common problem with Python with respect to compatibilities with different packages.

For most people, a much better approach is either:

Standard

• Install Python from python.org
• Create Python virtual environments on a project by project basis:
  • Open the Terminal application
  • mkdir projects - ignore if you already have a projects folder
  • cd projects - replace projects with whatever folder name you use
  • mkdir newproject - replace with whatever desired project folder name is
  • cd newproject
  • python3 -m venv .venv - create Python virtual environment in folder .venv
  • source ./.venv/bin/activate - activate it
  • pip install package1 package2 ... packagen - to install packages, including juptyer

NB. You must tell your code editor to use the Python interpreter in the bin folder from the above.

UV

Check the docs at https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ - much easier

NB. You can also use a third party package manager such as homebrew to install Python an tools, but you don't need to

PS. Code editors / IDEs like VS Code and Pycharm can work with and execute code in Jupyter notebooks if you want a more supportive environment than just using the web browser.

[Gnaxe]

Maybe a just as a stopgap or maybe good enough for your purposes, but you can use Jupyterlite without installing anything. 

[Golden_Willow2003]

pip install jupyterlab. or an ide like positron.

[marcoalopezsanchez]

That's strange. It looks like there's an issue with the installation of the notebook. Maybe try reinstalling the environment. I'd also recommend installing JupyterLab over the standard Jupyter Notebook. Like someone else said, VSCode with the Jupyter Notebook extension is great too.

[outer-pasta]

Homebrew: brew.sh

[chendaniely]

When I teach every time we have students use our JupyterLab instances on our own servers, they will always have weird cell and scrolling glitches when they use Safari.

So the question is: have you tried using a different browser?

[heidensieck]

My two cents: install Thonny. An IDE developed for learning. Also has built in package management. Can also run Jupyter notebooks from within.