Python packages on OS X vs Windows

[Scott David Daniels]

BartlebyScrivener wrote:
> I'm curious about this part of the post. Any fluent Pythoners actually
> happy using Windows XP and, if so, do they use ipython as a kind of
> bash shell substitute? Other alternatives to compensate for the widely
> derided command line in windows?
The widely derided command line in Windows is largely widely derided by
people who are used to a different command line and wish windows matched
the one they were used to.  I have moved between a number of different
"shells" in my programming career, and Windows "cmd.exe" is not at all
the worst (though I had to do a lot of "help" command to learn how to
use it).  The tough part on Windows (for the Linux/Unix/*ix bigots) is
that each program scans the command line that invoked it in its own
inimitable way.  This is not really the fault of the windows command
line processor; this comes from allowing flexibility to individual
programs.  The Windows model is big programs that do everything; the *ix
model is small independent processes that connect in interesting ways.
I like the latter, but there is something to be said for the former.

--Scott David Daniels
scott.daniels at acm.org