[Tutor] Getting Started

[Amit Saha]

Hello Chris,

On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 5:47 AM, Chris Acreman <cacreman at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> I have programming experience using Fortran, Pascal, Modula 2, and some
> training in C++.  My nephew told me about Python and it sounded intriguing.
> I downloaded Python 3.3.0 from this website (www.python.org) and installed
> it with no apparent difficulty.
>
> To learn the language I bought a book from Amazon.com, Python Programming
> for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson.  The book said the program
> could be downloaded from a particular website, but that website does not
> seem to be offering that service any more.
>
> Everything went well until I got to page 11 and the instruction “To save
> your program, Select File, Save As.”

Does the book by chance use IDLE?

>
> That is when I realized there are NO pull-down menus in the Python screen.
> No file commands such as Save, Save As, Open, or Print.  No operational
> commands such as Compile, Run, etc.

Can you be more specific about the "Python screen" ?

>
> What else do I need to do to make this version of Python an actually usable
> programming environment?

Usually, you could start using Python's IDLE
(http://docs.python.org/2/library/idle.html), but you will yourself
find it not the best of environments to program in. You may use a
"real" IDE or you may use your favorite text editor to write the
programs and "hand" execute them. A lot will depend on what you would
prefer.

All the best,
Amit.



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