Using conda from the  `command line`
====================================

conda is used from the `command line`. The command line is a text interface for
your computer. It's a program that takes in text commands, which it passes on to
the computer's operating system to run.

- *Windows* users should open the `Miniforge prompt` (search in the start menu)
- *macOS* and *linux* users open a shell (Konsole or terminal)

You should now have a window showing the following text (or similar):

.. code:: bash

   (base) username@computer:~$

Especially the ``(base)`` part is required. If this is not present try to open the
command line again.

.. note::

   There are several names for a `command line interface`, such as `Terminal`, `Konsole`,
   (or `Console`), `Shell`, `Prompt`. In the context of this course they all mean the same.


.. _base_environment:

The `base` environment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The base environment contains conda itself and some other packages. We
*do not* conduct our project in `base` but will create a dedicated
environment for this. For our course we need to install two additional packages into
the base environment:

.. code:: bash

   conda install jupyterlab nb_conda_kernels

again confirm the dialog with :kbd:`y`. Once this runs successfully we have installed the
required addition packages into the base environment: `jupyterlab` and `nb_conda_kernels`
(and its dependencies). We will mostly use `jupyter lab` to run python code - this will
be discussed in the :doc:`05_running-python` exercise.