Question

I am trying to set up Python on Windows 7. I haven’t used this language before so it seems strange to me.

I’ve downloaded lastest Python release 3.2.2 from official site and upadate path variable.

However I still can’t even run simplest program ever like this :

print 'Hello, world!' 

It says that there is a syntax error and the last character ' is highlighted with red.

I don’t know if my path variable has been set properly. Here is where I installed Python :

C:\Software\Python32

So I added such a variable : var name = PYTHONPATH , var value = C:\Software\Python32\Lib

Is there something with auto-completion and with errors/warnings details ( which line, hint what can be wrong ), for example like Eclipse or NetBeans OR should I use this installed Python IDLE GUI for delevoping or stuff like NotePad++ ?

Actually what is this Python shell for ? – I know that I can type in some arithmetic operations here and I will get results, but is it used for something more advanced ? ( Is it used when I am writting something bigger ? )

Could someone describe simple way to write and execute a program ( or script I a total beginner so I don’t really know what it is going on here ) ?

Answer 1

As Venk stated, the print statement in Python 2.x has been replaced with print() in 3.x, so your statement should read

print('Hello World')

Since you’re new, here some things you should know about Python versions:

Python currently comes in two flavors: Python 2.x and Python 3.x.

Python 2.x has been in development since the late ’90s, so most existing codebases, frameworks, and libraries are written in this flavor of Python. Each successive version is backwards compatible, so, for example, all code written in Python 2.4 can be run with Python 2.4+. Its current revision is 2.7.2, which was released last year.

Python 3.x is considered the “future” of Python, and purposefully breaks a lot of the conventions, such as the print statement, in favor of a clearer, more explicit language. Most libraries are working to port over to Python 3.x, but since there are extensive changes in the structure of the language, most library maintainers have not yet been able to release a Python 3.x compatible version with the full features of the Python 2.x version of the library.

If you’re developing now, you should learn Python 2.x; otherwise, it’s recommended you learn Python 3.x.

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To answer your other questions:

Python’s native IDLE is an excellent IDE, but if you’re looking for something more advanced, you may want to try out Eclipse’s PyDev extension or PyCharm. I personally prefer PyCharm, since it doesn’t keep giving me errors when I’m importing/using nonstandard Python libraries/frameworks.

In addition, Python’s shell is used to interpret Python scripts (in the background) and for interactive interpreting (i.e., quick and dirty testing), and can execute code you type into it. The latter, however, is not recommended, as a single syntax error in multiple lines of code can force you to retype all the lines to fix a single bug.

Furthermore, all Python scripts end in .py, so if you can see the file extensions, you can convert a text file into a Python script, and run from shell by typing python path/to/file.py. Note, however, that you still have to write a valid Python script, or it will not run.