What Is Python Used For On Mac



Sep 11, 2020 Python is a diverse programming language. Just pick the right tools, libraries, and you can become a true innovator. Starting to learn any programming language takes guts, will, time, and more than a few energy drinks. Python is commonly used in artificial intelligence projects and machine learning projects with the help of libraries like TensorFlow, Keras, Pytorch and Scikit-learn. As a scripting language with modular architecture, simple syntax and rich text processing tools, Python is often used for natural language processing.

In technical terms, Python is an object-oriented, high-level programming language with integrated dynamic semantics primarily for web and app development. It is extremely attractive in the field of Rapid Application Development because it offers dynamic typing and dynamic binding options.
Python is relatively simple, so it’s easy to learn since it requires a unique syntax that focuses on readability. Developers can read and translate Python code much easier than other languages. In turn, this reduces the cost of program maintenance and development because it allows teams to work collaboratively without significant language and experience barriers.
Additionally, Python supports the use of modules and packages, which means that programs can be designed in a modular style and code can be reused across a variety of projects. Once you’ve developed a module or package you need, it can be scaled for use in other projects, and it’s easy to import or export these modules.
One of the most promising benefits of Python is that both the standard library and the interpreter are available free of charge, in both binary and source form. There is no exclusivity either, as Python and all the necessary tools are available on all major platforms. Therefore, it is an enticing option for developers who don’t want to worry about paying high development costs.
If this description of Python over your head, don’t worry. You’ll understand it soon enough. What you need to take away from this section is that Python is a programming language used to develop software on the web and in app form, including mobile. It’s relatively easy to learn, and the necessary tools are available to all free of charge.
That makes Python accessible to almost anyone. If you have the time to learn, you can create some amazing things with the language.

How is Python Used?

Python is a general-purpose programming language, which is another way to say that it can be used for nearly everything. Most importantly, it is an interpreted language, which means that the written code is not actually translated to a computer-readable format at runtime. Whereas, most programming languages do this conversion before the program is even run. This type of language is also referred to as a “scripting language” because it was initially meant to be used for trivial projects.
The concept of a “scripting language” has changed considerably since its inception, because Python is now used to write large, commercial style applications, instead of just banal ones. This reliance on Python has grown even more so as the internet gained popularity. A large majority of web applications and platforms rely on Python, including Google’s search engine, YouTube, and the web-oriented transaction system of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). You know the language must be pretty serious when it’s powering a stock exchange system.
In fact, NASA actually uses Python when they are programming their equipment and space machinery. Pretty neat, right?
Python can also be used to process text, display numbers or images, solve scientific equations, and save data. In short, it is used behind the scenes to process a lot of elements you might need or encounter on your device(s) – mobile included.

> Next Up: Benefits of Learning Python

Recommended Python Training

For Python training, our top recommendation is DataCamp.

Author
Used

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.

The Mac-specific modules are documented in Mac OS X specific services.

Python on Mac OS 9 or earlier can be quite different from Python on Unix orWindows, but is beyond the scope of this manual, as that platform is no longersupported, starting with Python 2.4. See http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython forinstallers for the latest 2.3 release for Mac OS 9 and related documentation.

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 from the Python website(https://www.python.org). A current “universal binary” build of Python, whichruns natively on the Mac’s new Intel and legacy PPC CPU’s, is available there.

What you get after installing is a number of things:

  • A MacPython2.7 folder in your Applications folder. In hereyou find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of officialPython distributions; PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Pythonscripts from the Finder; and the “Build Applet” tool, which allows you topackage Python scripts as standalone applications on your system.

  • 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.org) 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 2.7, you can use either python or pythonw.

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.

What Is Python Used For On Mac Pro

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 athttps://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/~dyoo/python/idle_intro/index.html.

4.3. Installing Additional Python Packages¶

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¶

Python For Mac Download

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

What Is Python Used For On Mac Keyboard

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://pythonhosted.org/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 http://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 “Build Applet” tool that is placed in the MacPython 2.7 folder is fine forpackaging small Python scripts on your own machine to run as a standard Macapplication. This tool, however, is not robust enough to distribute Pythonapplications to other users.

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.

What Is Python Used For On Mac Computers

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: