# 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)](https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/) 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](https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/register/).
- If anything goes wrong, contact the WRDS representative for UChicago's
  Mathematics department, John Zekos, zekos@math.uchicago.edu.

## Accounts

- [GitHub](https://github.com/). 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](https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/), as described above.

## Software

Install the following on your laptop:

- [Anaconda distribution of Python](https://www.anaconda.com/download)
- [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) (not Visual Studio, which
  is a different program)
- [Git](https://git-scm.com/)
- [GitKraken](https://www.gitkraken.com/). You will need GitKraken Client Pro,
  which is
  [free for students](https://www.gitkraken.com/github-student-developer-pack).
- [TeX Live](https://tug.org/texlive/). This is a large download. You will not
  need it until week 3, so start it and let it run.

See the [Appendix](../appendix.md) 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:

```bash
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](https://github.com/orgs/finm-32800/discussions) and include
the exact command and the exact error message.