The scikit-learn project aims to provide an API for machine learning. What I like the most about it is the amazing documentation. We can install scikit-learn with the package manager of our operating system. This option may or may not be available, depending on the operating system, but it should be the most convenient route.
Windows users can simply download an installer from the project website. On Debian and Ubuntu, the project is called python-sklearn. On MacPorts, the ports are called py26-scikits-learn and py27-scikits-learn. We can also install from source or using easy_install
. There are third-party distributions available from Python(x, y), Enthought, and NetBSD.
You need to have SciPy and NumPy installed. Go back to Chapter 1, Winding Along with IPython, for instructions if necessary.