Anaconda is a full distribution of Python and comes with over 1,000 open source packages after installation. Because of this, the total size is over 3 GB. Anaconda is good if we intend to have many packages downloaded and pre-installed. On the other hand, Miniconda contains only Python and other necessary libraries needed to run conda itself. The size for the Miniconda is about 400 MB, much smaller than the full version of Anaconda, so extra packages have to be downloaded and installed as requested.
There are many reasons why a new user might prefer a watered-down version of Anaconda. For example, they might not need so many packages. Another reason is that users might not have enough space. Those users could download Miniconda at https://conda.io/miniconda.html. Again, in Chapter 2, Anaconda Installation, we will discuss in detail how to install Anaconda and run programs written in different languages, such as Python, R, Julia, and Octave.