# Installing build dependencies

## Setting up Python virtual environment

A good practice is to create a separate Python virtual environment for each project. If you don’t have virtualenv yet, install and activate it using:

    curl -O https://raw.github.com/pypa/virtualenv/master/virtualenv.py
    python virtualenv.py <name_of_the_venv>
    . <name_of_the_venv>/bin/activate

## Installing Cython

Use `pip` (http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip) to install Cython:

    pip install Cython>=0.16

## Installing numpy

Use `pip` to install numpy:

    pip install numpy

Numpy can also be obtained via scientific python distributions such as:

- Anaconda

- Enthought Canopy

- Python(x,y)

Note

You can find binaries for 64-bit Windows on http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/.

## Installing Sphinx

Sphinx is a documentation tool that converts reStructuredText files into nicely looking html documentation. Install it with:

    pip install Sphinx

numpydoc is used to format the API docmentation appropriately. Install it via:

    pip install numpydoc