[Tutor] Distributing Python Code for Commercial Porpoises?

[Alan Gauld]

"Wayne Watson" <sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net> wrote

> programs w/o him stumbling. I send him a py program written using 
> Windows Python 2.5. He has the same. I've executed it IDLE and it 
> works fine. He executes, and it squawks

IDLE is a development environment. Never, ever test final code in
a development environment, test it as it should be run. Double click
the file in explorer. Better still install a separate copy wherever 
the
file will go on the target system - usually somewhere different to
where you develop it - and run it there.

> same written direction I use. I think he mistakenly installed a 
> different version of numpy. So how can we make sure we or anyone are 
> on the same playing field? Perhaps we should resort to command like 
> execution.

You should definitely not run it from IDLE, that's inefficient and
likely to hide errors. Run it from a command prompt or by double
clicking in explorer, or create a shortcut on the desktop.

To check the versions of your packages you could write a short
test program that simply imports all needed modules and prints
out the version info (if available) and file details xxx.__file__

You could even use the __file__ info to check the size of the files
by using the os module functions.

> Is there a Python tool that provides some thorough description of a 
> Python installation?

I'm not aware of such but it should not be hard to check the basics.
One of the best thins about Python is the high level of portability
of programs across versions and OS. Its most likely a location
or PATH setting

HTH,

-- 
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/