Why is that an issue? In the first instance, do the sorts of
"beginner" we're discussing here have multiple python installs? Would
they need per-interpreter configuration of UTF-8 mode?
yes -- many, many tutorials, particularly about web frameworks, start with "make a new virtual environment". To the point that many of my students have thought that was a requirement to use, e.g. flask.
Personally, I do not start out with environments with my beginning students -- they really only need one at the early stages. But other instructors do.
Others have to work with a locked down system provided by their employer that might be an older version of Python, or need some particular configuration that they don't want to override.
And all the examples given here of how to set environment variables and shortcuts, etc on Windows is EXACTLY the kind of information I don't want to have to provide for my students :-( -- I'm teaching Python, not Windows administration.
> I don't want to recommend env vars and registry for conda and portable
> Python users...
and a lot of newbies learning Python for data science are starting out with conda as well ...
I'm not sure what you mean here. Why is this different from (say)
PYTHONPATH? How would conda and portable python users configure
PYTHONPATH? Why is UTF-8 mode any different?
It's not -- using PYTHONPATH is a "bad idea" I never recommend it to anyone. It was a nightmare when folks have Python 2 and 3 on the same machine, but now, in the age of environments, it's still a really bad idea.
It's really important to support configuration per environment these days. Ideally with any of the "environment" tools.
-CHB
Christopher Barker, PhD (Chris)
Python Language Consulting
- Teaching
- Scientific Software Development
- Desktop GUI and Web Development
- wxPython, numpy, scipy, Cython