Rev. 30 May 2013
Getting Python Here are instructions for all platforms. We will be using Python 3 in this class. You can also install Python 2 if you wish. Some people use it in their final projects for some special libraries.
- If your lappy is a Windoze machine, go to this link and get the .msi file to install Python on your lappy. Download this program, run it, and reboot your machine.
- If you are a Mac or Linux user, you have a Python installed.
- If you are a Mac user, you can obtain IDLE from the Python site if you wish. Linux users can get IDLE from their repositories. If you are Linux or Mac, you will probably prefer to run Python from the terminal window.
Using Python If you are a mac or linux user, just enter
$ python3
at the command line. You shoud see something like this.
$ python3 Python 3.2 (r32:88452, Feb 20 2011, 11:12:31) [GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5664)] on darwin Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> >>>
If you do, all is well.
If you install Python 2 on Mac or Linux, you can lauch it by typing
$ python
If you use Windoze, select Start → Programs → Python → IDLE. This should bring up a window with some stuff in it that looks like what the unix users see. If so, you are ready.
An Additional Suggestion You should also edit your environment varialbes and add the python exectuable to your search path. You can then use Python in its command line guise in a cmd window. Sadly, cmd lacks the muscle of the bash shell, but it's pretty useful.
Complete instructions are here. By the way, you might want to join stackoverflow. It is extremely useful. As you learn in this class, you can post and answer questions and become part of a very cool community.