Technical requirements
It is important to note that, starting around 2020, Apple came out with its own chips instead of using Intel chips – these are referred to as Apple silicon chips. This change caused issues with older versions of Python and with some Python libraries. We should not encounter these in this book since we are using newer versions, but it is something to keep in mind if you ever run into issues. This book was developed on an Apple M2 Pro chip, which is an Apple silicon chip.
The code in this book was developed and tested on a computer with the following specifications:
- MacBook Pro
- Chip: Apple M2 Pro
- RAM: 16 GB
- OS: Sequoia 15.1
- Python version: 3.12.2
If you do not have a MacBook, there are several options you could explore using cloud workstations. These options will give you a handy alternative where you can set up the appropriate environment.
If you have an AWS account, you can set up a macOS EC2 instance to use as a cloud workstation. They offer an M2 Mac Pro option matching the computer this book was developed on.
Here are some additional sites you can check out if you want to use a Mac workstation on the cloud:
- Mac In Cloud: https://www.macincloud.com/
- Mac Stadium: https://www.macstadium.com/vdi
In the next section, we’ll walk through setting up your system and making sure you have Python and some of the basic libraries you need (we’ll install more libraries as we go).
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