Owning your own laptop computer will be a significant benefit in this class, as you will be able to do homework, labs, and tests in your own, familiar environment, configured to your liking, with all your old code as well as that from the book to draw on for reference. If you don't have a laptop, then you should invest in a modest-sized flash drive, so you can keep the textbook's source code and your assignments on it as you move from lab machine to lab machine.
All users should copy the source code for the problems in the book from the "PythonTextBookCDContent.zip" archive to your computer (or flash drive).
All: In general, please use python 2.6.x --do not use 2.7.x because that won't work with the later software. Do NOT use 3.1 or any 3.x version of Python.
Mac users running Leopard (10.5.x) or later already have a version of Python installed that is good enough, but installing the main development tool (IDLE) and the modules you will need in the second half of the semester can be a bit challenging, especially on Snow Leopard (10.6.x), so I recommend you do the following:
· Download and install the free academic version of the Enthought Python Distribution. (Be sure to choose the Mac version; the standard 32-bit version is sufficient.)
· Replace the newly installed version of IDLE.app (in /Applications/Enthought) with this version of IDLE.app. The original version works, but this one is a bit better behaved. Also, the first time you run IDLE.app, go into its Preferences and select the "IDLE Classic Mac" built-in key set. You may also wish to change the "remove-selection" key binding from command-r to something else (like option-command-r) and make command-r the key binding for the "run-module" action (which is normally assigned to F5).
· Download and install this version of PyGame. (This will not be used until the second half of the semester.)
· Install the version of LiveWires found in the "PythonTextBookCDContent.zip" download from above, by unzipping it and, from the command line in Terminal.app, typing "python setup.py". (Not used until second half of the semester.)
· Later in the semester it will be convenient to edit files with a free copy of TextWrangler.
Should you prefer to work with the built-in version of Python for some reason, you can install IDLE.app by following the instructions at http://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython/Leopard (or you can invoke IDLE from the command line or you can use a different editor). You will be on your own installingPyGame, as the version available above will probably not work. The LiveWires installation should be the same. (Do not install LiveWires from the web, as the textbook’s version is different and required for the textbook assignments.)
Windows users should install the latest 2.x "standard" (aka "production") release of Python from http://www.python.org/download/. (Do not install a 3.x release, as important syntax changes have taken place in the language that make it incompatible with the textbook examples.) Alternatively, you may also wish to download and install the free academic version of the Enthought Python Distribution. In the first half of the semester you will probably use the IDLE application to edit program files. Later in the semester you may want to use a different editor, so you should be warned that NotePad is not a good choice, but WordPad is perfectly fine, though a more programming-oriented editor might be an even better choice. After the Midterm Exam, you will need to install a recent release of Pygame appropriate to your operating system fromhttp://www.pygame.org/download.shtml. Then install the "LiveWires" packages from the "PythonTextBookCDContent.zip" archive you downloaded above. (Do notinstall LiveWires from the web, as the textbook's version is different and required for the textbook assignments.)
Linux users: Most modern Linux releases probably already have Python and IDLE. For those that do not have at least Python 2.5.1 installed, go tohttp://www.python.org/download/ and download and install a recent 2.x version of Python. You will also need to install PyGame (from the web) and LiveWires (from the "PythonTextBookCDContent.zip" archive you downloaded above) for material in the second half of the semester.
