Last year Intel became a Python distributor, offering its own edition of the language outfitted with Intel’s Math Kernel Library (MKL). MKL accelerates data-science-related tasks by using Intel-specific processor extensions to speed up certain operations, a fine fit for a language that has become a staple in machine learning and math-and-stats circles.
The Intel Distribution of Python, a repackaging of Continuum Analytics’s Anaconda distribution, incorporated MKL support to give Python data science and machine learning packages a boost. Now ActiveState, producers of an enterprise-grade Python, (as well as Ruby, Node.js, and Golang distributions) has brought MKL into its own Python distro.
The latest versions of ActivePython, for Python 2.7.13 and Python 3.5.3/3.6.0, now use MKL to accelerate NumPy, SciPy, Scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Theano, and other popular Python libraries for number-crunching work and machine intelligence research.
ActivePython, like other third-party distributions, simplifies the process by bundling the most common libraries with the distribution or automating the installation of those libraries.
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