This is a hands-on setup workshop—no slides or notebooks required. Just bring your laptop!
There are no prerequisites for this workshop. This session is designed for complete beginners.
Check out D-Lab's Workshop Catalog to browse all workshops, see what's running now, and review prerequisites.
This 2-hour session will help you get your Python computing environment set up and introduce you to modern AI-assisted coding tools. The session is conversation-driven—we'll tailor guidance to your specific research goals and create space for questions throughout.
By the end of this workshop, you will have:
- A working installation of Anaconda Python on your computer
- Visual Studio Code configured to run Python
- Access to GitHub Copilot (free for students and educators)
- A clear path forward for continuing your Python learning
After this workshop, you will be able to:
- Install and launch Anaconda Python on your operating system (Mac, Windows, or Linux).
- Understand what Anaconda provides: Python, the conda package manager, and common data science libraries.
- Open Jupyter Notebook and run Python code.
- Create and activate conda environments.
- Navigate Visual Studio Code and run Python scripts.
- Use GitHub Copilot to assist with writing and understanding code.
- Think critically about the benefits and limitations of AI coding assistants.
This workshop does not cover the following:
- Python programming fundamentals. This is covered in Python Fundamentals.
- Advanced prompt engineering techniques. This is covered in Prompt Engineering.
- Machine learning with Python. This is covered in Python Machine Learning Fundamentals.
Please try to download the following before the workshop (but don't worry if you run into issues—that's what we're here for!):
| Software | Download Link |
|---|---|
| Anaconda Python | https://www.anaconda.com/download |
| Visual Studio Code | https://code.visualstudio.com/ |
| GitHub Education Pack | https://education.github.com |
After this workshop, we recommend:
- Python Fundamentals: Learn Python syntax, data types, and control flow.
- LLMs for Exploratory Research: Use AI tools effectively in your research workflow.
- D-Lab Consulting: Get one-on-one help with your specific project.
D-Lab works with Berkeley faculty, research staff, and students to advance data-intensive social science and humanities research. Our goal at D-Lab is to provide practical training, staff support, resources, and space to enable you to use Python for your own research applications. Our services cater to all skill levels, and no programming, statistical, or computer science backgrounds are necessary. We offer these services in the form of workshops, one-to-one consulting, and working groups that cover a variety of research topics, digital tools, and programming languages.
Visit the D-Lab homepage to learn more about us. You can view our calendar for upcoming events, learn about how to utilize our consulting and data services, and check out upcoming workshops.
| Workshop | Description |
|---|---|
| Python Fundamentals | Introduction to Python syntax and programming concepts |
| Python Data Wrangling | Data manipulation with pandas |
| Python Data Visualization | Creating plots with matplotlib and seaborn |
| Python Machine Learning Fundamentals | Introduction to scikit-learn |