[Python-ideas] install pip packages from Python prompt

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, Nov 1, 2017 at 4:46 PM, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:
>> Hiding it is not a good idea for anyone.
>
> Tell that to Microsoft, which in Win 10 removed command prompt and other
> 'expert' tools from the regular start menu.

... but also added the Linux subsystem, making it rather more viable
to recommend that people learn bash on all platforms.

Not that bash is exactly a paragon of virtue and beauty, but it does
at least have practicality and proven usefulness.

I'd be all in favour of Windows users being pushed to IDLE rather than
the vanilla REPL, and then taught that IDLE is the gateway to a bunch
of other tools (including pip). But the shell is an important tool to
learn too; I agree with Terry that it shouldn't be a prerequisite to
learning Python, but I wouldn't be against it being the only way to do
the more complicated tasks. For instance, maybe you can install
packages using pip-gui, and you can list installed packages, but
searching, uninstalling, etc are left to the command-line tool. Or
whereever you draw the line. There's no point trying to put
*everything* into the GUI.

ChrisA