[Python-Dev] Python install layout and the PATH on win32

[Terry Reedy]

On 3/20/2012 12:02 PM, VanL wrote:
> On 3/20/2012 10:52 AM, "Martin v. Löwis" wrote:
>>> In hearing from a couple people who teach python to beginners, this is a
>>> substantial hurdle - the first thing they need to do is to edit their
>>> environment to add these directories to the PATH.
>> This is something I never understood. On Windows, it's custom to launch
>> programs from the start menu, and Python is easy enough to find on the
>> start menu (e.g. by typing "Python"). Why do people want to launch it by
>> opening a shell window, then typing python?

Perhaps as the number of *nix users increases, the number of (*nix & 
windows) developer/users increases.

> 3. Get a shell and run python.
> This requires cd'ing to the directory where my .py file is, but then I
> run/import it and I see the information.

When IDLE crashes, running it from a cmd window is the only way to get a 
traceback to help diagnose the problem.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy