</td>
<td>
<p>This document gives a very basic introduction to the
- MacPython Integrated Development Environment on Mac OS. It was
+ MacPython <b>I</b>ntegrated <b>D</b>evelopment <b>E</b>nvironment (IDE) on Mac OS. It was
written specifically for MacPython 2.3 on Mac OS X, but most of
it is applicable to MacPython-OS9 too. It is based on
<a href="http://www-hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/~dyoo/python/idle_intro/">"One
<p>This is the interactive window to the IDE, it allows us to enter
commands directly into Python, and as soon as we enter a command,
-Python will execute it and spit out its result back to us. We'll be
+Python will execute it and spit its result back to us. We'll be
using this interactive window a lot when we're exploring Python: it's
very nice because we get back our results immediately. If it helps,
we can think of it as a very powerful calculator.</p>
neat, but if we close down Python and start it up again, how do we get
the computer to remember what we typed?</p>
-<p>The solution is a little subtle: we can't directly save what's on
+<p>The solution is a little subtle: we can't directly save what's in
the interpreter window, because it will include both our commands and
the system's responses. What we'd like is to make a prepared file,
with just our own commands, and to be able to save that file as a
<p>What we wanted to do before was save some of the stuff we had
tried out on the interpreter window. Let's do that by typing (or
-copy/pasting) those commands into our Program window.</p>
+copy/pasting) those commands into our edit window.</p>
<p><img src="entering_in_new_window.gif" border=1></p>
<p>Ok, we're done with copying and pasting.
One big thing to notice
is that we're careful to get rid of the "<tt>>>></tt>"
-prompts because there's not really part of our program. The
+prompts because they're not really part of our program. The
interpreter uses them just to tell us that we're in the interpreter,
but now that we're editing in a separate file, we can remove the
artifacts that the interpreter introduces.
<hr><br style="page-break-after: always">
-<p>Let's save the file now. The Save command is located under the File menu:
+<p>Let's save the file now. The Save command is located under the <tt>File</tt> menu:
<p><img src="saving_edited_file.gif" border=1></p>
<p>Python is often perceptive enough to direct us toward the problem,
and in this case, it's telling us that we forgot to put something at
-the end of this line. In this case, we need to add an additional
-quotation mark. Let's add that in now.</p>
+the end of this line. In this case, we need to add a
+quotation mark at the end. Let's add that in now.</p>
<p>Other errors, which usually occur later, when your program has
already done something, result in a different dialog that allows you
-to look at variables and such in addition to only showing you where
+to look at variables and such in addition to showing you where
the error occurred. </p>
<hr><br style="page-break-after: always">
<hr><br style="page-break-after: always">
<p>As we play with Python, we'll find ourselves "switching modes"
-between the Interpreter window and the Program window. However,
+between the Interpreter window and the edit window. However,
if we try anything more complicated than two or three lines it
-is often a good idea to work in an edit window, and align
+is often a good idea to work in an edit window. Align
your edit and output window such that you can see them at the same time.</p>
<p>This is pretty much all we need to know about the MacPython IDE to actually do
<ul>
<li>All sorts of edit commands such as find and replace can be
- used in the editor windows. See the edit menu.</li>
+ used in the editor windows. See the <tt>Edit</tt> menu.</li>
<li>The bottom of the edit window has the scrollbar, but at the
- left are two navigation devices: a line number box that you can also type
+ left are two navigation devices: a line number box that you can type
numbers into to quickly go to a specific place, and a popup menu
that lists all classes, functions and methods in your file.</li>
projects / python / commitdiff