In this course you will be using the programming language Python. Like many languages, there are actually multiple implementations of Python; we will be using the ActiveState version called ActivePython. You can download the ActivePython installer from this URL. Download and run this program, and you should be presented with a window like this:
Go through the installer, using the default settings all the way through. Your options should look like this:
When the installer is finished, the last screen will look like this:
When you close the installer, it will pop up a browser window with the installation notes for ActivePython. Feel free to read through this information if you like, or you can just close the window if you want.
Next, we'll try a simple program to see if the ActivePython graphics are set up properly. Download this program square.py, and double-click on the file once you have saved it. If ActivePython is set up correctly, you should see a window pop up like this:
If you see this window, congratulations! You have set up Python
properly. You can click in the window to make it go away, or you
can click on the red button to close the window as well.
An IDE is an Integrated Development Environment, a special program that helps you write programs. Usually an IDE includes a text editor for writing the program text, a way to run the program you are writing, and possibly other tools as well, such as features to debug your program, view documentation, and so forth.
For this course we will be using Wing IDE. You can download the installer from this URL. Download and run this program, and you should be presented with a window like this:
Go through the installer, using the default settings all the way through. When the installer is finished, the last screen will look like this:
When you close the WingIDE installer, it will launch WingIDE for the first time. You will be presented with a user agreement, which you should accept, and then you will get a screen like this:
If this is what you see, congratulations! You are all done with setup.