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![]() ![]() Python DistributionAt the time of this writing, the last official version of Python is version 2.0, released on October 16, 2000. Prior to that, we had version 1.6 final released on September 5, 2000, and version 1.5.2 released on April 13, 1999. After release 2.0, Guido plans to work on two more 2. x releases that might be available by the end of 2000 or January 2001. After that, all his attention will be dedicated to a total Python redesign, a future project called Python 3000. Despite many rumors that have been spread in the Python community, Guido affirms that this mythical version is "not as incompatible as people fear." This book was planned to be a Python 1.5.2 book. But it turned out to cover the migration from 1.5.2 to 2.0. That's why you will see much of the text focusing on release 1.5.2, and special notes about release 2.0. The latest Python source codes for your UNIX, Windows, or Mac system are maintained under the CVS revision control system. CVS (Concurrent Version System) is a version control system that stores and manages the code that is in process of development. Remember! The source code available through CVS might be slightly different from the one released along with the last official release. If you want to download the source code from CVS, go to http://www.python.org/download/cvs.html and check out the instructions that show how to get the appropriate CVS client for your system. The Python CVS tree is currently hosted by SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/python/. It is normal to have more than one Python installation in your system. You can install the official version in one location and build the CVS source code in some other location. Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python, maintains high-quality Python documentation at Python's official Web site. You can download Python's documents from http://www.python.org/doc/. There are versions in HTML, PostScript, and PDF. Part of this documentation is included in the distribution packages. The 1.5.2 distribution comes with five tutorials that you should wisely go through:
The new release 2.0 also contains the following manuals:
The first two manuals above cover how to setup the the Python Distribution Utilities ("Distutils") in order to create source and built distributions. The former uses the module developer's point-of-view, and the latter uses the end-user's point-of-view. The last manual shows how to follow some standard guidelines for documenting Python. Python's current documentation is also available for download at http://www.python.org/doc/current/download.html. More information about Python 2.0 documentation and downloading can be found at http://www.PythonLabs.com. System RequirementsPython runs on many platforms. Its portability enables it to run on several brands of UNIX, Macintosh, Windows, VMS, Amiga, OS/2, Be-OS, and many others. Most all platforms, which have a C compiler, support Python. You can try to compile Python yourself in any architecture you want because the source code is distributed along with the binaries. You should also have a text editor because sometimes it is easier to use an application like emacs, pico, notepad, or other similar one, instead of using the interpreter or the graphical development environment. If you are using emacs, make sure that python-mode is installed because it makes it a lot easier to develop Python code. See Chapter 17, "Development Tools," for details. After downloading the source code at http://www.python.org/download/download_source.html, you can carefully play around with it and if you want to go one step further, port it to another platform. If you are using UNIX, it's going to be necessary to have tar and the GNU gzip programs in-hand in order to unpack the downloaded files. If you are using Windows, you must have WinZip available for the task. GNU gzip is available at http://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/gzip.html and WinZip is available at http://www.winzip.com. Depending on the system that you are using, you might need to get a C compiler in case you have need to download the source code instead of the binary distribution. Right now it is okay to use the binary distributions (whenever they are available), but when you become more confident with the language, you might want to build a Python version that uses your own extensions. So, you will need to have a C compiler. Remember that you are free to use Python's source code any way you want. The full C source code is freely available for download.
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Index terms contained in this section1.5.2 release (Python)tutorials 2.0 release (Python) manuals 2nd code source Concurrent Version System (CVS); downloading Python;downloading Concurrent Version System (CVS) CVSÓ ? |
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