Getting Set Up

Getting Set Up#

You will need the software and the accounts below for every homework in this course. All of it is free for students.

Do this first: apply for a WRDS account#

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is where most of the data in this course comes from. Apply today. Your request has to be approved by a person, and that can take several days. HW 1 cannot be started without it.

Apply through the University of Chicago using the registration form.
If anything goes wrong, contact the WRDS representative for UChicago’s Mathematics department, John Zekos, zekos@math.uchicago.edu.

Accounts#

GitHub. Use an account you are happy to show an employer. Your work in this course can become part of your portfolio. Once you have it, fill out the GitHub username survey on Canvas. Your private copies of the graded homework are created from your answer.
WRDS, as described above.

Software#

Install the following on your laptop:

Anaconda distribution of Python
Visual Studio Code (not Visual Studio, which is a different program)
Git
GitKraken. You will need GitKraken Client Pro, which is free for students.
TeX Live. This is a large download. You will not need it until week 3, so start it and let it run.

See the Appendix for a video tutorial on setting up Python and Visual Studio Code.

Check your installation#

Open a terminal (on Windows, open “Anaconda Prompt”) and run:

conda --version
git --version
code --version

Each command should print a version number. If one of them is “not found,” that program is either not installed or not on your system’s path. Post on the discussion board and include the exact command and the exact error message.