Hi Sebastian,
Thanks for the reference to "A Byte of Python." I had it downloaded on my computer... on the hard drive that had a fatal crash on the ferry from Montevideo to BsAs. I guess I had better download it again onto the new hard drive. It sounds like it has the info I need to get started. I was hoping I could just use the Khan Academy videos to get a running start on Python. I figured since I used to be pretty good at programming in the old languages (Fortran, BASIC, and Pascal) that it would transfer easily to Python once I got all the terms and syntax down. Then I ran into a wall... the need for an editor. I just need a simple, easy to install and use editor and everyone was very helpful in suggesting things, but none were what I would classify as easy to get started on. Oh well, I kept telling Adam there were no shortcuts to learning a language (Spanish), I guess this applies to computer languages too! Yes, Christofer is pretty amazing. I didn't actually meet him when we were there, but I have followed his progress and accomplishments with interest. Thanks again for the suggestion... now I'm going to download Byte of Python, then I guess I'll go for DrPython. Caryl Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 06:50:42 +0500 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Quick Question I was going to recommend DrPython and found this document, a chapter of the book "A Byte of Python": "Choosing an editor Before we move on to writing Python programs in files, we need an editor to write the 'source' files. The choice of an editor is crucial. You have to choose an editor as you would choose a car that you want to buy. A good editor will help you write Python programs easily, making your journey more comfortable and helps you reach your destination (achieve your goal) in a much faster and safer manner. One of the basic requirements of a good editor is syntax highlighting where all the different parts of your program are colorized so that you can see your program and visualize how it will run. This also means that you should avoid Windows Notepad especially because it doesn't support indentation. Indentation means neatly formatting the program with the use of whitespace (spaces and tabs) at the beginning of the line to make it easy to read the program. We will soon learn why indentation is important in Python. There are various development environments and many editors for Python available. In order to keep things simple, I recommend using the DrPython development environment. It is pronounced as doctor-python. It is called a development environment since you can edit, run and manage Python programs completely within DrPython. An interesting note is that DrPython itself is written in Python. First, we shall install DrPython." He proceeds with instructions to install on all three major platforms: http://dsnra.jpl.nasa.gov/software/Python/byte-of-python/output/byteofpython_html/choosing-editor.html Incidentally, Christofer, the boy I think you and I met in Montevideo, sugarized DrPython, so it works well with the XO as well: http://activities.sugarlabs.org//es-ES/sugar/addon/4427 These uruguayan kids never cease to amaze me. Regards, Sebastian El 06/08/11 05:49, Caryl Bigenho escribió: Hi... I must be doing something wrong: >>> idle Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> NameError: name 'idle' is not defined >>> This is where I am in Terminal: Python 2.7.2 (v2.7.2:8527427914a2, Jun 11 2011, 14:13:39) [GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5493)] on darwin Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. Caryl > Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2011 09:34:25 +1000 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > CC: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [support-gang] Quick Question > > In Terminal, type idle and press enter. You get Python's own editor, > with a Python shell that you can type into as well. > > -- > James Cameron > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ > _______________________________________________ > support-gang mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
_______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
