Question

I am starting Pset 0. How do I write a program in IDLE. As in, I want to be able to write more than one line of code before IDLE runs my code.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can either use an editor to write your code and IDLE to run it, or grab a program called PyScripter, http://code.google.com/p/pyscripter/, lovely little ide for python that is free.

Answer 2

from the IDLE shell window you can open an editor window with menu item File | New Window

after you have written code in the editor, F5 will run it with the results displayed in the shell window. be sure to save files with a .py extension to preserve the syntax highlighting.

Answer 3

thanks guys! so it's a blank page. Do I need to add anything before getting started?

Answer 4

Just the comments for the assignment are the only thing I can think of until you start importing things.

Answer 5

i tried running this:

x = raw_input('Please enter your birthdate (mm/dd/yyyy): ')
y = raw_input('Please enter your last name: ')
print x + y

but it doesn't work.. am i missing something?

Answer 6

also are we encouraged to asked questions, or look up previous questions? if the latter, how do i do so?

Answer 7

For looking up questions you can use the codeacademy forum or google.

Answer 8

When you say that your code didn't work, what "did" it do?

Answer 9

it didn't prompt me for anything, and it gives back whatever i type

Answer 10

You are typing in the editor and using F5 to run it?

Answer 11

ah... that's why

Answer 12

nice it works!

Answer 13

Thank you so much. I'll keep working on it.

Answer 14

You're welcome. Check out PyScripter if you have some free time. I personally prefer that over the IDLE editor.

Answer 15

could you explain that to me a bit? like the difference between terminal and editor etc?

Answer 16

so i downloaded python, and then idle. did i need idle?

Answer 17

IDLE comes with Python, once you download and install the package you will have all you need to write in Python.

Answer 18

The PyScripter is an IDE for Python, basically the same as the IDLE editor, just with a better user interface.

Answer 19

The difference between an editor and terminal, is that in the terminal your commands are processed as soon as you hit the enter key.

Answer 20

so what's the difference between command line and GUI?

Answer 21

i just noticed that one is black and one is white

Answer 22

Command line typically refers to a terminal, like if you were to open the "command prompt" in windows. GUI stands for Graphical User Interface, and typically refers to a "windowed" environment.

Answer 23

but idle is terminal, right? and it's GUI?

Answer 24

Technically IDLE is a GUI for the terminal.

Answer 25

so GUI is basically just a better looking terminal, and the editor is where we actually write a program

Answer 26

and then what's IDE?

Answer 27

Well a GUI is a graphical representation for many interfaces, most likely you are using a GUI web browser to view this page. :)

Answer 28

An IDE is and Integrated Development Environment. It brings together many of the tasks associated with programming into a nice user interface. You are presented with buttons to build your program, vs having to run a command on the command line.

Answer 29

got it! thnx!

Answer 30

You're welcome.

Answer 31

hey when does print need parenthesis after it? i saw an example where if the variable is called x, no parentheses are used, and another where the variable is "changing," and parenthese were used...?

Answer 32

The parenthesis aren't necessary. They most likely give away that the person writing the program was a 'C' programmer.

Answer 33

i see..

Answer 34

so for pset 0 that was it right? three lines? no loops?

Answer 35

version 3+ of Python requires parens for the print function

Answer 36

@bwCA beat me to it, I started playing with 3.x last night and discovered that the parenthesis were in fact required. There are some other changes as well that can create a learning speed-bump, so I'd suggest you stick with 2.7.x until you are more familiar with the language.

Answer 37

And yes, that was it for your ps0, the bulk of the assignment was getting Python installed and familiarizing you with entering code.