Installing Python

[elz]

Before you can write code in Python, you'll want to make sure it's installed on your computer. There's a PDF on the assignments page about getting started with Python and IDLE. It also says:

Warning: On the Python homepage, the latest version available for download is actually 3.0. Do not install this! This version is not backwards compatible with the code that you'll be writing in this course (for example, you have to type print("test") instead of print test.)

Here's a direct link to the Python download page - it looks like we'll want to use 2.6.4.

(My notes so far: installing on Windows is a snap. Shall investigate further on OS X and Ubuntu - I know Python is installed, but I'm not sure IDLE is.)

Comment if you run into any problems or have any advice!

Comments

[gchick]

The quick scoop on Mac and Linux:

In both OSes, the language is installed by default, but IDLE isn't. To get it on the Mac, grab the Mac package at http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.6.4/ , which does include IDLE (it's also a more up-to-date version of Python than the one that comes with the system). After installing, IDLE should be in a Python folder in /Applications.

On Ubuntu, again, IDLE isn't installed, but it is in the repositories; from the command line, sudo apt-get install idle, or use Add/Remove Software, whichever you normally use to install stuff. (I'm almost sure the same thing is true for any of the big/well-supported Linux distros, but I don't know their software repositories well enough to be sure.)

[elz]

Awesome, thanks! That should come in handy.

[zing_och]

this is a good resource - I had problems installing IDLE on Ubuntu a while ago, mainly because I was new to Linux and Python and hadn't really grasped the difference between the language and IDLE.

[amaresu]

Thank you. Just found this place and decided it sounded like fun. I'm also very new to Ubuntu so this was most helpful.