New guy question

[Chris Barker]

Glen Mettler wrote:
> I forgot to ask - what is the purpose of the Python window and the Python
> Shell window?
> 
> Can I NOT run a series of scripts from these windows?  Must I go to the DOS
> window to check my program?

You've gotten your answer, but I'll add one more comment. I mostly use
Linux, and run Python from a shell all the time. Windows does not give
you a decent shell by default, so you will be a lot happier using an
IDE, like IDLE or PythonWin (check out PythonWin, it's pretty nice).
Since you probably aren't going to end up running Python from a DOS
command line, there is little need to add it to your PATH. If you want
to do it occasionally, you can just type in the whole path:

C:\Python\Python20\Python.exe myscript.py

That should work fine.

Also, you can associate all *.py or *.pyw (have I got the .pyw right?)
with Python, and then if you click on them they will run automagically.

By the way, I havn't used windows much since 3.1, Does it really still
have all that "add it to your PATH in autoexec.bat" stuff? Isn't there
any kind of standard directories for executables, and some way to put a
symbolic link in for your application? It makes for a Much cleaner
system! (I suppose the above file association stuff is why they havn't
bothered)


-Chris







-- 
Christopher Barker,
Ph.D.                                                           
ChrisHBarker at home.net                 ---           ---           ---
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Oil Spill Modeling                ------   @    ------   @   ------   @
Water Resources Engineering       -------      ---------     --------    
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