It’s probably worth discussing more general reasons why Python is an appropriate engine for fMRI analysis.
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Firstly, Python is free.
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Python is also a default installation on many modern computers – it doesn’t need to be downloaded or installed in many cases.
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Next, it is obviously important for our practices to be future-proof. The future looks quite bright for python as it is becoming increasingly popular. Recently, google search queries for ‘learn python’ have overtaken those for 'learn java' and other popular languages. Python is also the most popular introductory programming language at many Universities.
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Python is also a very intuitive, easy to learn language. Python programs are on average 3-5 times shorter than the equivalent java program. If you know a bit of R or MATLAB scripting then you should be able to pick up python quite quickly.
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It is very easy to share Python scripts with other researchers.