Hi ventilator

I downloaded a portable version of Python (PortablePython_1.1_py2.6.1)
It includes the following:

SPE-Portable
PyScripter-Portable
Python Shell-Portable
IPythonShell-Portable

I tried looking for help on the web but there was so much it was overwhelming

Could you very briefly say what each of the above does. All I want to do is make a simple demo game such as Pong or Snake with Python + PyGame

Also, is there a visual GUI you can recommend, I came across 'Eric'. Maybe this is not the place to start ?

Once I get a simple program under my belt, I should be OK.

Thanks

i have never used this portable python distribution.

SPE (stani's python editor) is an IDE.
pyscripter seems to be an IDE too.
a python shell is an interactive python environment. you have a command line where you can enter python commands for doing quick experiments or for debugging.

i think for getting started, IDLE (the editor which comes with python - i am not sure but i think ERIC is a fork of IDLE which is more powerful) and pygame should be enough.



personally most of the time i simply use IDLE and sometimes drpython. there also are python plugins for many popular IDEs like eclipse.

OK, thanks

I've used Python for everything from image processing utilities to web scrapers for the past 12 years, and love it. The Windows version of one of our earlier titles (http://www.dejobaan.com/tapdown_/) was written in Python. Last night, I was up until 2am gleefully hacking together a Twitter-related tool using the Python-Twitter API. If there were a recent 3DGS-Python binding, we'd adopt it in a second.

I'd marry the language if I could, so I'm a fan. But some people have reasons for prefering other langues as well.

yeah, but do you *really* like it ?

More seriously though, could you not have done this in C++ or any other language ?
What is it about Python that distinguishes it from all the other languages.
Any language that doesn't have a semi-colon at the end of a line makes me feel 'kinda' uneasy.
I don't know much about the language and so my question is through academic curiosity rather than anything else.

Thanks

if you want you can put a semicolon at the end of a line in python too. :p doesn't make any sense though.

the difference to c++ is that your code will be shorter and your project will be finished faster because python is a much more high level language. you will be much more productive with it.

edit:
a small example...

c++:

python:

What is it about Python that distinguishes it from all the other languages.

Just like Ventilator says: for us, developing in Python reduces time-to-market, which reduces costs. I also prototype faster in Python than in C/++. But I understand that not everyone loves it as I do. Some people prefer Ruby, Lua, etc.