Programming project 0

Your first homework is to install Python on your computer, and make sure that you can run Python scripts.

We will be using Python 3 in this class. Make sure you have Python 3 installed—you can check, for instance, like this: 

>>> import sys
>>> sys.version
'3.5.2 (default, Nov 17 2016, 17:05:23) \n[GCC 5.4.0 20160609]'
Any version after 3.4 is fine.

You can download Python for Windows or Python for Mac OSX from the official Python website.

Select "Add Python 3.x to PATH" and install with the default options ("Install Now").

To use the graphics examples, you will need to have the Pillow library. To install it, type the command 

pip3 install pillow
To get a command window on Windows, press Windows+R, then type cmd. On OSX and Linux, open a Terminal window.

Personally, I use Python with an editor, and run scripts from the command line.

You can use any editor of your choice—for Windows we recommend that you use Notepad++. You can download and install it here:

(Both from notepad-plus-plus.org.)

If you have not used the command line before, please read my command line tutorial.

You can also use a development environment of your choice. The official Python download contains an environment called IDLE. You may also like the Wing IDE (which you may have used in CS101), either Wing 101 or Wing Personal. If you have already used the Wing IDE with Python 2, make sure to switch it to Python 3.

If you have any difficulties with the installation, then please come to the TA office hour!