[Pythonmac-SIG] Good way for beginner to get started with Python?

[Terry Simons]

John,

I highly recommend checking the following out (It's how I got into Python,
and it kept me hooked):

http://inventwithpython.com

The Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python book is free web-based or
pdf (or you can buy a print copy) and it starts out with terminal-based
games that do not require Pygame, and will get you some Python Fundamentals.

Later in the book, it does introduce Pygame as well, and gets you started.

His second book, Making Games with Python & Pygame also has a free
online/pdf version.

These books, IMO, are much better for a beginner learner than Dive into
Python, which while still a great book, I feel it's a better reference than
a beginner's learning tool.

I've done a lot with PyGame on OS X.  If you're concerned about MacPorts
cluttering up your system - don't be.  The ports system puts everything in
/opt (which is a directory that doens't exist by default) and so you can
easily remove all of the bits if you decide you want to be rid of ports.

The issue is that a lot of the support libraries simply don't compile
cleanly in OS X.  If you're absolutely averse to doing this, then I'd
suggest trying the Pygame 1.9.1 precompiled binaries on pygame.org... it
looks like they have it already compiled (but I haven't tried it):

pygame-1.9.1release-python.org-32bit-py2.7-macosx10.3.dmg<http://pygame.org/ftp/pygame-1.9.1release-python.org-32bit-py2.7-macosx10.3.dmg>

You might still need to manually install the SDL libraries and such, but
that might be somewhat less painful.

If you want to try going this route and run into any snags, I'd be happy to
help.

When I first started trying to get Pygame working on OS X it was huge pain,
but I've since done it many times without too much trouble.

And since you're interested in games, check out Spine.  It's a 2D skeletal
animation package for making game animations.  I ported the Spine runtime
to Python.

Here's the Spine website (I'm in no way affiliated with the company):

http://esotericsoftware.com

Here's the Python runtime I created:

https://github.com/terrysimons/spine-python

It's still a work in progress, but it mostly works.  There are some
animation glitches that I need to sort out.

- Terry


On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 4:22 PM, John Velman <velman at cox.net> wrote:

> Reply-To:
>
> I'm looking for a way to get a bright (of course) high school student
> started with Python.  He has a recent iMac. He is pretty computer literate,
> and knows the names of some computer languages, but no experience in
> programming, and little experience with text editing per se. He is
> particularly interested in games. Is at a stage of trying to decide what he
> is going to do in college, and was asking me about getting started with
> computer programming.
>
> I recommend Python as a good starting language. It would be nice if there
> was a simple IDE that works with python without a lot of setting up
> options, moving things around in the file system, and so on. I don't want
> to throw him into Vim or Emacs.
>
> I'd like him to get to something interesting (GUI, very simple games) soon.
> I showed him some examples from Pythonista on my iPad, and he was impressed
> at what could be done in ~ 100 lines of Python.
>
> For now, it would be really nice if he could work with the Python already
> on his iMac, and minimal other setup. Maybe the TKInter that comes with the
> iMac would also be a place to start GUI. It looks like installing
> TextWrangler might be a good choice for an editor.  Or just plain TextEdit?
>
> I've looked at PyGames, and done a little other googling, and every place
> I've looked says install this, install that, use Home Brew, use Ports,
> don't use Ports, be sure and set such and such an option, be sure and get a
> version greater than x.y...Things that I might do, but I've been at this,
> at least part time, more or less forever.
>
> We need something than one can just do, and then learn while doing. Well,
> something Mac like.
>
> (I myself haven't used Python much for a while, am trying to develop one
> good app in Objective C on an hour or so a day.  I use the Xcode IDE, Vim
> outside of Xcode. Am personally a dynasaur, am mailing this via Mutt.)
>
> Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
>
> John V.
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