EPOS workshop: Python for Experimental Psychologists

TL;DR

The EPOS graduate school has invited me to give a Python workshop for Experimental Psychologists. They are generously providing all participants with a copy of my book Python for Experimental Psychologists. This page provides all info you need throughout the workshop.

Installing Python

The following instructions should get Python up and running on your computer. If your run into any issues during this process, stick your hand up to get my attention. I’ll pop by, curse at your Apple product, and we’ll try to get you sorted.

Using a university computer

When using a university computer that runs Windows, you don’t technically have to install anything. Instead, you can download a portable package that comes with all bells and whistles.

  1. Download the PyGaze version of WinPython.
  2. Wait for it… (Downloading might take a short while; you could watch this video to keep you entertained.)
  3. Extract the zipped archive that you just downloaded to a location of your choice. (It will run quicker if you install it on the computer, or on an external hard drive that’s connected via USB 3. You can also extract it to a different external drive, but that might slow down the code editor we will be using.)

Using your own computer

So you decided to be a pain and bring your own computer, with your own operating system, your own preferred settings, and your own crazy customisations? Fine, suit yourself. I suppose I did agree on people doing this… My best advice is to download Anaconda, a Python distribution that includes almost all the external packages you need. There are a few additional packages that aren’t included, so you will have to download those too.

  1. Download the version of Anaconda that suits your operating system. 2017_03_27_EPOS_Python_workshop_LeidenYou need Python 2.7, preferably the 32-bit version. On Mac OS X, just go for the 64-bit one, as there is no other choice. (Downloading might take a short while; you could watch this video to keep you entertained.)
  2. Run the installer.
  3. Open a command prompt (Windows), or a terminal (Linux and OS X).
  4. Type this command, and hit Enter:
  5. Type this command, and hit Enter:
  6. Type the following, and hit Enter. If this does not work, download and run the installer for your operating system on the PyGame downloads page.

All materials

The following ZIP archive contains all the scripts that we worked on during the workshop.

2 Comments:

  1. Hi, are there any workshops like this planned for the coming year?

    Really enjoying your book! Thanks

    • Hi, and thanks for asking! There is a workshop coming up on 19 August, as part of the European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM). It’ll be one day long, and the focus will be on eye tracking. More info here: http://ecem2017.uni-wuppertal.de/workshops.html#Dalmaijer

      The workshop mentioned above was three days of Python for Experimental Psychologists, including the basics, experiments, and analyses. Nothing of that sort is planned yet, but I’m open to invitations :)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code class="" title="" data-url=""> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong> <pre class="" title="" data-url=""> <span class="" title="" data-url="">