Most Basic Question Ever - please help

[John Machin]

On May 3, 7:46 am, Dave Angel <da... at ieee.org> wrote:
> seanm... at gmail.com wrote:
> > I am going to try posting here again with more detail to see if I can
> > finally get my first program to work.
>
> > I am working on a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.4.11. I opened a new window
> > in IDLE to create a file. The file had only one line of code and was
> > saved as module1.py. I saved it to Macintosh HD. The one line of code
> > in the file is copied below:
>
> > print 'Hello module world!'
>
> > I closed the file and tried to run it in IDLE and Terminal, but I have
> > had no success. I'll paste my commands and the error messages below
> > (for IDLE, then Terminal). Any help would be very much appreciated. I
> > feel like the marathon just started and I've fallen flat on my face.
> > Thanks.
>
> > IDLE 2.6.2
>
> >>>> python module1.py
>
> > SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>
> > sean-m-computer:~ seanm$ python
> > Python 2.6.2 (r262:71600, Apr 16 2009, 09:17:39)
> > [GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5250)] on darwin
> > Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>
> >>>> python module1.py
>
> >   File "<stdin>", line 1
> >     python module1.py
> >                  ^
> > SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>
> In both cases, you're already running python.  Why would you expect to
> have to run python inside python?
>
> Once you're at a python prompt (in either of your cases), you use the
> command "import" to load a module.  And you do not put the ".py"
> extension on the parameter.  Specifically, it should look like this, and
> very similar for IDLE.
>
> M:\Programming\Python\sources\temp>c:\ProgFiles\Python26\python.exe
> Python 2.6.2 (r262:71605, Apr 14 2009, 22:40:02) [MSC v.1500 32 bit
> (Intel)] on
> win32
> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>  >>> import module1
> Hello module world!
>  >>>

Dave, importing modules which have side effects like printing is NOT a
good habit to which a beginner should be introduced. He needs to know
how to run a script.

Sean, in Terminal, instead of typing
    python
type
    python module1.py

and I suggest that you give your script (not module) a more meaningful
name.

HTH,
John