How to install Vowpal Wabbit python interface
Question: VW recently added a [python
interface](https://github.com/JohnLangford/vowpal_wabbit/tree/master/python),
however I am having trouble finding instructions for how to install it. If I
install VW from homebrew (brew install vowpal-wabbit) and I open python, and
call

`import pyvw`

I get an ImportError.


Answer: I was able to successfully install the Python interface to VW using the
following steps. Note that this is on an Ubuntu 14.04 machine with Anaconda
Python 2.7.10.

  1. Prerequisites: Boost & miscellaneous Python development libraries: 
    
        sudo apt-get install libboost-all-dev   
    sudo apt-get install python-dev libxml2-dev libxslt-dev   
    

  2. `git clone` the [Vowpal Wabbit repo](https://github.com/JohnLangford/vowpal_wabbit) & enter the `python` directory. 
  3. `make` Vowpal Wabbit & test your installation using `python test.py`.

`import pyvw` should work from within a Python console as well.

