I envy newbies

[Ivan Van Laningham]

Hi All--

Tim "The Insufferably Right" Peters wrote:
> 
> [Ivan Van Laningham, making an IDLE desktop shortcut under Windows]
> > ...
> > (I quote from _Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours_ (forthcoming from
> > SAMS)):
> 
> Monday <wink>?
> 

Sure.  I just won't guarantee you what month or year;-)

> > ``The first thing you need to do is to find where IDLE lives, and to do
> > that you need to know where Python lives;
> > [instructions for navigating the directory tree in Explorer until
> >  finding idle.pyw]
> 
> Try this:  Start -> Programs -> Python 1.5 then rightclick+drag the IDLE
> entry to the desktop.  Everything else:
> 

But it _is_ a good idea to know where Python lives!

> > Right click ... and select "Create Shortcut" on the popup menu ...
> 
> is the same, but this avoids any mucking with Explorer.  Could be you need
> the Active Desktop enabled for this to work (but it's your book, so I'm not
> going to take the time to disable the Active Desktop to check that out for
> you <wink>).
> 

I suspect you do need the Active Desktop enabled, because it sure don't
work for me.  The Active Desktop is a metaphor best left unexplored ...
although I admit that every time I see one of these things "working," I
tend to think of Korak the Killer's interminable journey through the
endless quagmires surrounding the land of Pal-ul-Don. ... ;-)

> > The installer does modify your autoexec.bat to include the Python path
> > on W95/98.
> 
> Eh?  It never touched autoexec.bat on my Win95 -- and darned glad it didn't.
> That's a dangerous thing for any installer to presume to do.
> 

Oh, poo, Timmy.  Everything else under the M$ sun mucks with your
autoexec.bat file, why shouldn't Python?  "Backups are for p'takh!"
--Klingon Programmer Aphorism;-)

Besides, I don't think IDLE will work if you don't have Tcl in your
path, and if you have to add that, why not add Python?  Well, obviously
I should go forth and re-format my hard drive and re-install W98 and
then re-install Python. ...  But I really don't feel like a little root
canal today, so I'll take your word for it that my autoexec.bat file is
left virgin and pristine by Python's installer.

> The good news is that new users introduced via IDLE have no immediate need
> to worry about the DOS path -- the IDLE shortcut knows how to invoke Python
> regardless.  In fact, I've been known to use Python from time to time
> <wink>, and
> 

Gee, not even a *qualified* wink!

> C:\temp>python
> Bad command or file name
> 
> C:\temp>
> 
> That is, I still haven't bothered to put python.exe on my PATH!  Although I
> do have an MS-DOS desktop shortcut with D:\PYTHON as its working directory
> and "doskey /INSERT" as its "batch file".
> 

I still maintain that the installer *ought* to modify your path; really,
that should be safe enough, and, if you don't want to put all your
pythons in one basket, necessary.

> can-just-feel-the-linux-folks-melting-with-jealousy<wink>-ly y'rs  - tim

"Yearning for NT when you're running Linux is like lusting for a Big
Wheel when you're driving a BMW." --Harrison Picot.

<peddling-like-mad>-ly y'rs,
Ivan
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Ivan Van Laningham
Callware Technologies, Inc.
ivanlan at callware.com
ivanlan at home.com
http://www.pauahtun.org
See also: 
http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/proceedings.html
Army Signal Corps:  Cu Chi, Class of '70
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