[Pythonmac-SIG] Python development on OSX

[Charles Hartman]

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 2:10 PM, Christopher Barker <Chris.Barker at noaa.gov>
 wrote:

>
>
> Do I need/want to use py2app to distribute my app(s)?
>>>
>>
>> Never happens.
>>
>
> fair enough.
>


But this is where Bill J's use-case departs drastically from those of many
users, perhaps most, and certainly the majority of those who need any help.

If you think of Python as yet another handy scripting language, easier to
use than Perl, etc., then you don't care about making apps -- and 60% of the
questions that come to this site are irrelevant, because you're somebody who
already lives inside Darwin/Unix/whatever.

But there are a lot of people who do programming just in order to make user
applications, not to tweak systems from half-inside.  Many of them want to
make cross-platform programs (which scripting geeks never do).  Many of them
-- me for a ready example -- know barely enough about bash to get things
installed properly.  More to the point: *all* of them, if they want to use
Python (because they're sensible people) on the Mac (because they're
sensible people) need to use py2app.

Despite what's sometimes implied here, py2app is not a frill.  From my point
of view, it's essential to the Python community on Mac  -- perhaps a
minority point of view, but representing a minority that I suggest is
crucial to the future of Python and the Mac.


~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Charles O. Hartman
Poet in Residence
Professor, Chair, Department of Literatures in English
oak.conncoll.edu/cohar
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