Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Agree with you about using conda. And since no one has mentioned Jake Van der Plas' review of conda vs the alternatives, myths, etc., here it is:

https://jakevdp.github.io/blog/2016/08/25/conda-myths-and-mi...




I read that page and looked for the reason I don't use Conda (because I already have virtualenvs and I'm not prepared to burn them all down):

> Myth #5: conda doesn't work with virtualenv, so it's useless for my workflow

> Reality: You actually can install (some) conda packages within a virtualenv, but better is to use Conda's own environment manager: it is fully-compatible with pip and has several advantages over virtualenv.

> [...] the result seems to be fairly brittle – for example, trying to conda update python within the virtualenv fails in a very ungraceful and unrecoverable manner, seemingly related to the symlinks that underly virtualenv's architecture.

Doesn't sound like much of a myth then, if Conda's take on virtualenv is "you can technically do this, but everything will break ungracefully and unrecoverably, so please don't".


He's not saying that you _should_ install conda within a virtualenv, but that some have tried with some success.

At the end, one of his conclusions is: "If you want to install Python packages within an Isolated environment, pip+virtualenv and conda+conda-env are mostly interchangeable". So don't change if you don't have to.

But he does give reasons why conda may be superior to virtualenv -- managing different version of Python, tracking non-Python dependencies, true isolation of environments, etc.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2025 batch! Applications are open till May 13

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: