Anonymous user
Boston Python Workshop 5/Friday/Windows Python scripts: Difference between revisions
Boston Python Workshop 5/Friday/Windows Python scripts (view source)
Revision as of 08:25, 18 August 2013
, 10 years agorestoring more complete version of page
imported>Brittag (restoring more complete version of page) |
|||
(One intermediate revision by one other user not shown) | |||
Line 1:
We are going to practice writing and running Python scripts.
===Start your text editor===
# Launch the Notepad++ text editor. See the [[Boston Python Workshop 5/Friday/Windows_text_editor|Windows text editor setup]] instructions for the steps to do this.
# Start a new, blank text file.
===Write and save a short Python script===
Line 13 ⟶ 16:
# Save the script as <code>hello.py</code> in your Desktop directory. The <code>.py</code> extension indicates that this file contains Python code.
===Run the script===
# Start a new command prompt. See the [[Boston Python Workshop 5/Friday/Windows terminal navigation|terminal navigation on Windows]] instructions for the steps to do this. Recall that a terminal prompt will look like <code>C:\</code> and a Python prompt will look like <code>>>></code>. Make sure you are at a terminal prompt and not a Python prompt; if you are at a Python prompt, you can type <code>exit()</code> on a line by itself and then hit enter to exit Python and return to a terminal prompt.
# Navigate to your Desktop directory from a command prompt, using the <code>dir</code> and <code>cd</code> commands. See the [[Boston Python Workshop 5/Friday/Windows terminal navigation|terminal navigation on Windows]] instructions for a refresher on using these commands. Don't hesitate to get help from a staff member on this step if you need it -- it's a new way of navigating your computer, so it may be unintuitive at first!
# Once you are in your Desktop directory, you'll see <code>hello.py</code> in the output of <code>dir</code>.
# Type
<pre>
python hello.py
</pre>
and hit enter. Doing this will cause Python to execute the contents of that script -- it should print "Hello World!" to the screen. What you've done here is run the Python application with an argument -- the name of a file, in this case "hello.py". Python knows that when you give it a file name as an argument, it should execute the contents of the provided file. You get the same result as if you typed
<pre>
print "Hello World!"
</pre>
at a Python prompt and hit enter.
===Success===
|