[Pythonmac-SIG] Python development on OSX

Bill Janssen janssen at parc.com
Thu Jan 20 18:19:38 CET 2011


Christopher Barker <Chris.Barker at noaa.gov> wrote:

> > and certainly the majority of those who need any help.
> 
> I think that's key -- Bill's approach is fine one for some users, but
> not what I"d recommend to newbies that aren't sure how to set a PATH.

Hmmm.  My experience is that those are exactly the folks who get into
trouble by using the python.org installer on their macs -- those who
don't understand how PATH influences their usage experience.

> The fact that there are a lot of ways to install Python on the Mac has
> really been a pain for the community to support (and pretty ironic,
> considering how the Mac platform usually is!). I'm not sure there is
> much that can be done about it

Yep.

By the way, Python is more than "just another good scripting language".
I build large systems with it.  I do (rarely) write Mac "applications"
with Python.  I use Xcode and Cocoa-Python, and IMO it works great.  Is
that using py2app "under the covers"?  This is another reason not to
install a non-system Python; it sometimes screws up apps built using
Xcode and Python.

Bill


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