Fwd: Installation hell

[Mats Wichmann]

On 12/18/22 04:50, Jim Lewis wrote:
> I'm an occasional user of Python and have a degree in computer science.
> Almost every freaking time I use Python, I go through PSH (Python Setup
> Hell). Sometimes a wrong version is installed. Sometimes it's a path issue.
> Or exe naming confusion: python, python3, phthon311, etc. Or library
> compatibility issues - took an hour to find out that pygame does not work
> with the current version of python. 

It's usually best to wait a bit after a new Python releases, until the 
myriad packages developed externally which depend on the binary ABI 
catch up. *Some* carefully follow the beta release cycle and are ready 
on or close to day 1, some feel like they have enough other work to do 
and are not. Can understand both viewpoints.  You can check - search for 
something that's important to you on pypi.org and see if binary wheels 
are available.

e.g. https://pypi.org/project/pygame/#files

New Python releases are only once a year, so this shouldn't be too huge 
a burden, Python 3.10 works just fine in the meantime.

> Then the kludgy PIP app and using a DOS
> box under Windows with command prompts which is ridiculous. 

Why? Python is a command-line tool to process a language, Similar to 
many other languages - Go, for example.  Or a C/C++ compiler.  *Or* you 
can choose to use someone's wrapping of that process inside an 
Integrated Development Environment. There are tons that support Python 
and let you run your code from within the editor environment without 
having to go open a cmd.exe or powershell box. Most of those are 
external, but the comes-with-Python IDLE works well, too.

> God only knows
> how many novice users of the language (or even intermediate users) were
> lost in the setup process. Why not clean the infrastructure up and make a
> modern environment or IDE or something better than it is now. Or at least
> good error messages that explain exactly what to do. Even getting this
> email to the list took numerous steps.
> 
> -- A frustrated user