Ide For Python Mac Os

| 04-03-2021
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I'm going to write some Python 3.2 scripts in Ninja IDE on Mac OS X. However, I quickly found out that the IDE uses the Python 2.7 interpreter that came with the system by default. The preferences' currently specified 'Python Path' is simply 'python'.

Author

Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>

Python on a Macintosh running Mac OS X is in principle very similar to Python onany other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such asthe IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.

  • Platform- QT, Windows, Linux and Mac. It is an open-source IDE that is famous for Python development. Spyder is a very extensible IDE that was mainly developed for scientists and engineers for providing a scientific environment. This IDE also integrates well with popular libraries related to data science such as NumPy, SciPy and Matplotlib.
  • Installers are available for the latest Python 3 and Python 2 releases that will work on all Macs that run Mac OS X 10.5 and later. Python releases include IDLE, Python's built-in interactive development environment. If you download and install Python from the release page, you may also need to download and install a newer version of Tcl/Tk for.

4.1. Getting and Installing MacPython¶

Mac OS X 10.8 comes with Python 2.7 pre-installed by Apple. If you wish, youare invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Pythonwebsite (https://www.python.org). A current “universal binary” build of Python,which runs natively on the Mac’s new Intel and legacy PPC CPU’s, is availablethere.

What you get after installing is a number of things:

  • A Python3.9 folder in your Applications folder. In hereyou find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of officialPython distributions; and PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Pythonscripts from the Finder.

  • A framework /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework, which includes thePython executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shellpath. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. Asymlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/.

The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework and /usr/bin/python,respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they areApple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember thatif you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will havetwo different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it willbe important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do.

IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If youare completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introductionin that document.

If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read thesection on running Python scripts from the Unix shell.

4.1.1. How to run a Python script¶

Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLEintegrated development environment, see section The IDE and use the Help menuwhen the IDE is running.

If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or fromthe Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with anumber of standard Unix command line editors, vim andemacs among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor,BBEdit or TextWrangler from Bare Bones Software (seehttp://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as isTextMate (see https://macromates.com/). Other editors includeGvim (http://macvim-dev.github.io/macvim/) and Aquamacs(http://aquamacs.org/).

To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that/usr/local/bin is in your shell search path.

To run your script from the Finder you have two options:

  • Drag it to PythonLauncher

  • Select PythonLauncher as the default application to open yourscript (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it.PythonLauncher has various preferences to control how your script islaunched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or useits Preferences menu to change things globally.

4.1.2. Running scripts with a GUI¶

With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to beaware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words,anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use pythonwinstead of python to start such scripts.

With Python 3.9, you can use either python or pythonw.

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4.1.3. Configuration¶

Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such asPYTHONPATH, but setting these variables for programs started from theFinder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your .profile or.cshrc at startup. You need to create a file~/.MacOSX/environment.plist. See Apple’s Technical Document QA1067 fordetails.

For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see sectionInstalling Additional Python Packages.

4.2. The IDE¶

MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A goodintroduction to using IDLE can be found athttp://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html.

4.3. Installing Additional Python Packages¶

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There are several methods to install additional Python packages:

  • Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (pythonsetup.pyinstall).

  • Many packages can also be installed via the setuptools extensionor pip wrapper, see https://pip.pypa.io/.

4.4. GUI Programming on the Mac¶

There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python.

PyObjC is a Python binding to Apple’s Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which isthe foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC isavailable from https://pypi.org/project/pyobjc/.

The standard Python GUI toolkit is tkinter, based on the cross-platformTk toolkit (https://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OSX by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed fromhttps://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source.

wxPython is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively onMac OS X. Packages and documentation are available from https://www.wxpython.org.

PyQt is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on MacOS X. More information can be found athttps://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro.

4.5. Distributing Python Applications on the Mac¶

The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac ispy2app. More information on installing and using py2app can be foundat http://undefined.org/python/#py2app.

4.6. Other Resources¶

The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users anddevelopers on the Mac:

Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki:

Python for Mac OS X

Python comes pre-installed on Mac OS X so it is easy to startusing. However, to take advantage of the latest versions ofPython, you will need to download and install newer versionsalongside the system ones. The easiest way to do that is toinstall one of the binary installers for OS X from thePython Download page. Installers areavailable for the latest Python 3 and Python 2 releases thatwill work on all Macs that run Mac OS X 10.5 and later.

Install Python 3 On Mac

Python releases include IDLE, Python's built-in interactivedevelopment environment. If you download and install Pythonfrom the release page, you may also need to download and installa newer version of Tcl/Tk for OS X. See theIDLE and Tkinter on OS X page formore information.

You can run a Python interpreter by double-clicking onApplications / Utilities / Terminal and typing python3 (if you'veinstalled a version of Python 3) or python (to use Python 2) inthe window that opens up. You can also launch IDLE for the Pythonversion you have installed by double-clicking its icon inthe appropriate Python version folder in the Applications folderor you can also just type idle3 or idle in a terminal window.

There are many thousands of additional Python software packagesavailable through PyPI, the PythonPackage Index. We recommend you use thepip tool to simplifyinstalling and managing additional packages. pip is includedwith Python 3.4 releases; for earlier releases, follow the pipinstall instructions.

Among the packages available through PyPI are some that arespecifically for OS X environments. Among these are:

  • pyobjc which providesa bridge between Python and Objective-C, allowing you to writefull-featured native Cocoa applications in pure Python.
  • py2app which allowsyou to make standalone OS X double-clickable application bundlesand plugins from Python scripts.

For more information about Python on OS X, see the mailing list and archivesfor thePython-Macintosh Special Interest Group.

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Alternative Packages for Mac OS X.

  • ActiveState ActivePython(commercial and community versions, including scientific computing modules).
  • Enthought Python DistributionThe Enthought Python Distribution provides scientists with a comprehensive setof tools to perform rigorous data analysis and visualization.

Ide For Python Mac Os Versions

Python and a comprehensive set of third-party packages and libraries are alsoavailable from several open source package manager projects for OS X,including: