anaconda macOS ImportError: cannot import name 'MappingProxyType' - macos

Question

I just installed anaconda with python 3 on my mac (macOS Sierra 10.12.2), and many packages give off errors when importing. It seems this has to do with the typing package, but I can't figure out what's going on.
If I do
python -c 'import sklearn'
(python being Python 3.5.2 :: Anaconda 4.2.0 (x86_64))
I get this error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/site-packages/sklearn/__init__.py", line 57, in <module>
from .base import clone
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/site-packages/sklearn/base.py", line 6, in <module>
import copy
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/copy.py", line 51, in <module>
import types
File "/Users/geromepistre/types.py", line 1, in <module>
import typing
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/typing.py", line 4, in <module>
import contextlib
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/contextlib.py", line 5, in <module>
from functools import wraps
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/functools.py", line 22, in <module>
from types import MappingProxyType
ImportError: cannot import name 'MappingProxyType'
I tried to dig into the packages mentioned in the error, but it gets more confusing.
import types gives the same error, as well as import contextlib. But if I import contextlib first (and get an error), then import types gets me no error. And I get a brand new error on import sklearn:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/site-packages/sklearn/__init__.py", line 57, in <module>
from .base import clone
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/site-packages/sklearn/base.py", line 6, in <module>
import copy
File "/Users/geromepistre/anaconda3/lib/python3.5/copy.py", line 114, in <module>
types.BuiltinFunctionType, type(Ellipsis),
AttributeError: module 'types' has no attribute 'BuiltinFunctionType'

Answer 1

You appear to be running Python from your home directory, which according to the first traceback contains a file named types.py. Since the current directory (. in Unix/Linux parlance) is the first entry in sys.path, Anaconda searches for modules/files there before the standard lib or site-packages.
Try at all costs to avoid naming files for modules in either the standard lib or site-packages, for just this reason. Renaming your file types.py to my_types.py or something should solve the issue.