Intel has released the second beta of their Python distribution. If you haven’t tried it because you are using Continuum’s Anaconda Python then you no longer have an excuse. I was impressed with the first beta and put up a blog post about it with a quick test against my system default Python. The performance of that first beta was very good but comparing it against the system default is not all that interesting, comparing it against Anaconda Python is probably more interesting. Actually using it within Anaconda Python is perhaps the most interesting aspect of this new beta!
I recommend that you go to Intel’s landing page for Python, register for the beta, and check it out.
You have a couple of options for installing this beta release, using Intel’s install script or, their new Intel channel at anaconda.org https://anaconda.org/intel. This new beta of the Intel Python comes with an install script that loads everything in the usual Intel fashion, putting stuff in /opt/intel by default.
[ Note: Intel Python is packaged with rpm’s in this release but don’t be concerned if you are using a distro that uses deb packaging. The install script will do the right thing. ]
The biggest surprise I had when looking at the release docs was to see that you can install from within Anaconda using the conda package/environment utility. Nice!
**You can install and run Intel Python from within Anaconda Python wtih conda!**
Anaconda.org has an Intel channel
You can see what all Intel has up on their channel at https://anaconda.org/intel As of this writing there are 81 packages there, Including numpy, scipy, pydaal, scikit-learn and pandas. Some good stuff!
Setting up Intel Python using conda
I’m assuming you have Anaconda installed and you are at least somewhat familiar with using conda. [ I’m just beginning to explore it myself ].
First you will want to add the Intel channel to your config. This is done with,
conda config --add channels intel
Now you can see the Intel Python is available as a new Python flavor,
conda search --full-name python
...
2.7.11 intel_py2.7_1 intel [intel]
. 3.5.1 intel_py3.5_1 intel [intel]
...
You will probably want to setup your Intel Python in a clean environment for your testing. You can do something like,
conda create --name intelpy3test --channel intel --override-channels intelpython3_core
That will create a new environment with a nice set of packages to get you started. You can now source that environment name and start working with the Intel Python build.
source activate intelpy3test
From within that environment you can add packages from the Intel channel by doing, for example,
conda install scikit-learn --channel intel --override-channels
If you leave out the “channel” part you will get the latest version from your configured channels. Things should still work OK in that case (???) but I haven’t tested much and, well, you know how sometimes versioning issues can be a headache.
You should read the recent Intel documents about the new beta and be sure to read the pdf about using conda.
Try this new Intel Python and let Intel (and me) know how it goes. I’m still not sure what the “big picture” is for this but I expect that it’s significant. I will be heading to ICF this year and will for sure spend time talking with Intel’s Python group to see what their vision is.
Happy computing! –dbk