Mac vs. Linux for Python Development
Ned Deily
nad at acm.org
Sat Mar 1 18:07:29 EST 2014
In article <4e741358-ce12-40ac-97b8-3bbbf2d6ddca at googlegroups.com>,
"Mark H. Harris" <harrismh777 at gmail.com> wrote:
> [...]
> The main problem you will see with OSX (if you're not careful) is that IDLE
> will be unstable. To be fair about it, its not IDLE's problem, per se. Its
> about tcl/tk tkinter. DO NOT use the built-in tcl that comes from Apple, nor
> the one that comes through the Apple store! Actually go to the Active TCL
> site and download the version related to your system (yes there is a
> different one depending on 10.5 10.6 etc).
The gory details are here:
http://www.python.org/download/mac/tcltk/
TL;DR You'll need to install newer versions of Python (like those
download from python.org) that link with third-party builds of Tcl/Tk
rather than use the Pythons and Tcl/Tk that Apple ships with OS X 10.6+.
> [...]
> If you want to use terminals on OSX you'll want to install Quartz and run
> the terminal on the emulated X environment. It works better for python IMHO.
> The built-in terminal for OSX need serious configuring (which is possible)
> because its color is bad, and its tiny by default, with a crummy font. All of
> that can be changed, but it just works better to use XQuartz.
That certainly is a matter of preference. There are plenty of drawbacks
to using X11-based apps on OS X. I wouldn't advise new users to OS X to
go that route unless they were really set on using X11 entirely and, in
that case, why use OS X at all? If you don't like Apple's built-in
Terminal.app, another option is to use iTerm 2, an open source native
alternative that has many more features.
http://www.iterm2.com/
It's also available through MacPorts.
--
Ned Deily,
nad at acm.org
More information about the Python-list
mailing list