[Microbit-Python] Can't get MU to run on MACbookAir
Robert Humphrey
humphrey.robert at orange.fr
Wed Aug 3 12:25:30 EDT 2016
Great - thanks for the reply. I am hoping that my daughter brings me over my Microbit in a week or twos time.
Bob
> On 03 Aug 2016, at 16:46, Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll at ntoll.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Bob,
>
> Comments in-line below. :-)
>
> N.
>
> On 03/08/16 14:55, Robert Humphrey wrote:
>> Yes, sort of. The Microbit has 32K memory. Are you saying that a
>> Python 3.6 19Mb zip file expands into 32K on the Microbit ?? That
>> can’t be right - can it?
>>
>
> The 19mb 3.6 version of Python you downloaded from python.org <http://python.org/> is not the
> same as the version of Python on the micro:bit. Python 3.6 for your
> computer comes with a bunch of libraries and tools. Python on the
> micro:bit is, in fact, MicroPython - an amazing project since it
> reimplements Python 3 but for constrained computing environments like
> the micro:bit. However, MicroPython doesn't come with all the libraries
> and tools, it's only just large enough to fit on the micro:bit..!
>
> Having said that, MicroPython is still Python and remarkably powerful.
> I'm sure you'll have fun working through the tutorials!
>
>>
>> Regarding Python 3.6 on a MAC. I think you are saying that I should not
>> have Python 3.6 on the MAC at all, but MU on the MAC
>
> Having Python on your Mac is a good idea since you'll be able to play
> with Python. However, a Mac is not a micro:bit and, as a result, the
> version of Python on the Mac won't include the micro:bit libraries we
> use in our documentation.
>
>> My Microbit has not arrived yet - I am just trying to understand Python
>> (or something) pre arrival. MUST I always have the microbit attached to
>> the MAC to write code?
>
> You can write code without the device being plugged in. However, you
> still need a device upon which to run the code. Hence, once you plug it
> in, you simply click "flash" to put your code on the device.
>
>> If not then why when I write a line of code
>>
>> from microbit import * do I get the message IMPORT error ‘No module
>> named microbit’ Please see the attached screen shot on last E-mail. If
>
> As I think I may have mentioned - these are not errors. These are style
> guides. I think, in future, I'll follow some advice that Radomir
> suggested: colour error messages in red and stylistic messages in blue
> so they don't look so problematic.
>
>> I use the web based interactive version, my Python code doesn’t seem to
>> have errors
>>
>
> Writing code in an editor is not the same as running it. Mu is simply
> trying to help you write stylistic Python so that it's easy for others
> to understand. The web based editor (which I also wrote) is rather
> limited so doesn't check your code for style.
>
> To be clear, what you're seeing are not errors - just style guidance.
>
>> As regards MU, the screen shot shows “errors" on every line or are
>
> Nope... they're not errors! :-)
>
>> these some form of helpful comments? Yes, it does produce a .hex file
>> (which has data in it).
>
> Great, these are helpful comments.
>
> If you get a .hex file then everything is ready for when you plug in
> your micro:bit. At that point, when you click "flash" Mu will detect
> where your device is and copy over your code for you. If it can't find
> it, it'll simply ask you where it is (you choose from a file system
> dialogue).
>
>>
>> What is syntactically incorrect with the statement:-
>> from microbit import *
>>
>> When I click the CHECK button, I get
>> ‘ from microbit import * ‘ used; unable to detect undefined names [In
>> English we would understand that ‘If you say words I don’t understand, I
>> can’t help you’]
>>
>
> OK... I've just read Radomir's reply. He's nailed it. I can't improve on
> his explanation of this message.
>
>> Please
>> Bear with this old duffer - remember that in my day, hard drives were
>> only 25Mb, dates were held as compressed ASCII 5 byte strings (years ran
>> from 0-9 and A-Z), Lowercase and fonts had not arrived and TELEX was new
>> and FAX hadn’t arrived. Input was by paper tape or punched card and
>> VDUs - (Screens to you) were for the computer operator. ROM was made
>> from diode arrays and memory was magnetic core. My first home computer
>> has 256 bytes of data and Binary had 3 states - Off, On and don’t know
>> (Voltage region between -0.3 to +0.3 volts) and programmed in Hex
>> machine code.
>
> Oh boy! That sounds amazing. You should write up your experiences from
> "back in the day" (as it were) and compare / contrast them to your
> experience with MicroPython on the micro:bit. I'd love to read something
> like that!
>
> Here I was thinking I was old because I remember the old 8-bit machines
> I used as a kid in the 1980s (such as the original BBC micro).
>
> So, please don't worry about old-duffer-hood. :-)
>
> Happy to help in any way that I can, and, as I think you're finding out,
> the Python community is friendly, helpful, well organised and full of
> opportunity to learn. Just dive in and ask!
>
> Best wishes,
>
> N.
>
>>
>> Thanks Bob
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On 03 Aug 2016, at 13:12, Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll at ntoll.org <mailto:ntoll at ntoll.org>
>>> <mailto:ntoll at ntoll.org <mailto:ntoll at ntoll.org>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Bob,
>>>
>>> From the screenshots, it appears that Mu is working fine on your
>>> Macbook. I'm trying to work out what it is that *isn't* working for you.
>>>
>>> Please bear with me if any of the following is obvious ~ I just want to
>>> make sure you've set yourself up properly.
>>>
>>> 1) Mu is working.
>>> 2) Plug in a micro:bit device to your Macbook via USB.
>>> 3) Click on the flash button and your script (in the Mu editor) will be
>>> transferred (flashed) onto the micro:bit (should take around 6 seconds).
>>> If there are any errors they'll scroll across the micro:bit's display.
>>> 4) Click on the REPL button to get access to the interactive prompt for
>>> the version of Python running on the micro:bit.
>>>
>>> You don't need to install Python 3.6 onto your Macbook - you should be
>>> using the version of Python *on* the actual device itself. For this to
>>> work you flash the device with the MicroPython runtime as I described in
>>> step 3 above. Following that, you get access to the Python prompt by
>>> clicking the REPL button.
>>>
>>> Does this make sense?
>>>
>>> Best of luck,
>>>
>>> N.
>>>
>>> On 02/08/16 16:35, Robert Humphrey wrote:
>>>> Thanks for the response. I find it hard work trying to install Micro
>>>> Python, and thanks for bearing with me. The attached screen shot is
>>>> typical. It appears that there in’t a library to import.
>>>>
>>>> I followed your link via Pep-8, installed Python 3.6, installed Active
>>>> tcl 8.6. Ran Python 3.6 and get errors. I re-tried MU and again it
>>>> appears that there are no libraries to import. Is there a simple way to
>>>> get all this working as I can get Python to work interactively from the
>>>> net at W3. microbit.Pythonanywhere.com <http://microbit.pythonanywhere.com/>
>>>> <http://microbit.pythonanywhere.com/ <http://microbit.pythonanywhere.com/>>
>>>> <http://microbit.pythonanywhere.com <http://microbit.pythonanywhere.com/>
>>>> <http://microbit.pythonanywhere.com/ <http://microbit.pythonanywhere.com/>>>, but no luck locally.
>>>> Bob
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> ote:
>>>>>
>>>>> On 02/08/16 13:37, Robert Humphrey wrote:
>>>>>> I have installed MU from GitHub latest MU-3 30/07/2016 but it
>>>>>> errors out on every statement. What haven’t I loaded?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Op Sys OSX El Capitaine
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Example code:-
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Microbit mailing list
>>>>>> Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org>
>>>>>> <mailto:Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org>> <mailto:Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org>>
>>>>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Robert,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the feedback.
>>>>>
>>>>> In future, please just attach the PNG image file rather than sticking
>>>>> the screen shot in a PDF - it's just simpler and I don't have to twist
>>>>> my neck to see what you're up to (I sprained it trampolining over the
>>>>> weekend). :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> So, I'm trying to work out what exactly you mean. Do you mean that Mu
>>>>> has an error in it and crashes OR that Mu is reporting errors for every
>>>>> line in your code? Looking at your screenshot, I believe you're
>>>>> reporting the latter.
>>>>>
>>>>> If so, these are not errors!
>>>>>
>>>>> Rather, they are code quality feedback annotations. Your code probably
>>>>> will still work, but it has stylistic problems. For example, I can see
>>>>> from lines 5-8 you use a comment "#" without following it with a space
>>>>> (to aid readability). If you click on the red arrow next to each line a
>>>>> little post-it note will appear to explain why the line has been
>>>>> flagged.
>>>>>
>>>>> Such code quality checking is advisory! Unless you get syntax errors
>>>>> your code will run (although it may still contain bugs because it
>>>>> doesn't work as you expect).
>>>>>
>>>>> If you're interested in the conventions Mu uses for checking the quality
>>>>> of your code you should read up on PEP-8 - the style guide for Python
>>>>> programming (it's like the style guide newspapers use to guide their
>>>>> journalists in writing in an idiomatic and "house" style).
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/
>>>>>
>>>>> PEP-8 was written by Python's creator Guido van Rossum and a couple of
>>>>> other collaborators (including Nick Coghlan, who may be subscribed to
>>>>> this list). It's their vision of well written, idiomatic Python. Many
>>>>> Python programmers, myself included, use it for guidance when writing
>>>>> code.
>>>>>
>>>>> You are free to ignore it though. As PEP-8 itself says, "a foolish
>>>>> consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".
>>>>>
>>>>> :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> Hope this helps, and more than happy to answer any questions you may
>>>>> have.
>>>>>
>>>>> N.
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Microbit mailing list
>>>>> Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org>
>>>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit <https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Microbit mailing list
>>>> Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org> <mailto:Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org>>
>>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit <https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Microbit mailing list
>>> Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org> <mailto:Microbit at python.org <mailto:Microbit at python.org>>
>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit <https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit>
>>
>>
>>
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>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit <https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/microbit>
>>
>
>
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