editing scripts on a mac

[Steve Holden]

I am teaching someone Python by email, and part of our conversation 
recently ran as follows:

him> How do I save a script and run it?

me > Do you have a text editor? If so, edit the script in that, then 
save it
me > in your home directory (the place you can see when you open the 
terminal

him> I do not have a text editor, but here are the answers to
him> questions 1-5.

Now, frankly, I don't think this answer is correct, since I know OS X is 
a UNIX derivative, but I am loathe to involve a programming noob with vi 
or something similar. So I wondered if one of the c.l.py mac users could 
give brief instructions for firing up a visual text editor of some sort 
and saving a file somewhere it can easily be accessed from a terminal 
window (which I presume starts up in his home directory).

regards
  Steve
-- 
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