No shortcut Icon on Desktop

[Grant Edwards]

On 2022-04-15, Mats Wichmann <mats at wichmann.us> wrote:
> On 4/14/22 18:06, Grant Edwards wrote:
>> On 2022-04-14, Richard Damon <Richard at Damon-Family.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> I think the issue is that the 'python' interpreter/compiler isn't the 
>>> sort of program that makes sense to make a desktop icon for, as it is a 
>>> command line utility.
>> 
>> Yes, it is a command line utility. Why does that mean you shouldn't
>> have a desktop shortcut for it?
>> 
>> I start up a python REPL prompt in a terminal often enough that were I
>> a windows users, I would probably want a desktop shortcut for it.
>> 
>> It would at least let people know that something got installed and
>> show them what a Python is. If they don't want/use that shortcut, it's
>> trivial to delete it.
>
> easy to add - it's a windows thing, not a python thing.  you can
> navigate to the install directory and create a shortcut and drag
> that out of that directiory in explorer and drop it on the desktop.

Of course it's easy to add. But, we're talking about people who have
no idea how to do that. They have no clue how to "navigate to the
install directory". They don't even realize anything _was_ installed.

The problem is that people run the installer, don't see a desktop
icon, and think nothing has been installed. Or they think the
installer "is python", and run it over and over again trying to "run
Python". Then they post the exact same plea for help that has been
posted coutless times.

If the installer, by default, created an IDLE desktop shortcut and a
cmd.exe shortcut that ran Python, I believe it would eliminate most of
those problems.

--
Grant