symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/using/mac.rst
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+
+.. _using-on-mac:
+
+***************************
+Using Python on a Macintosh
+***************************
+
+:Author: Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>
+
+
+Python on a Macintosh running Mac OS X is in principle very similar to Python on
+any other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such as
+the IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.
+
+The Mac-specific modules are documented in :ref:`mac-specific-services`.
+
+Python on Mac OS 9 or earlier can be quite different from Python on Unix or
+Windows, but is beyond the scope of this manual, as that platform is no longer
+supported, starting with Python 2.4. See http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython for
+installers for the latest 2.3 release for Mac OS 9 and related documentation.
+
+
+.. _getting-osx:
+
+Getting and Installing MacPython
+================================
+
+Mac OS X 10.5 comes with Python 2.5.1 pre-installed by Apple.  If you wish, you
+are invited to install the most recent version of Python from the Python website
+(http://www.python.org).  A current "universal binary" build of Python, which
+runs 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 :file:`MacPython 2.5` folder in your :file:`Applications` folder. In here
+  you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official
+  Python distributions; PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Python
+  scripts from the Finder; and the "Build Applet" tool, which allows you to
+  package Python scripts as standalone applications on your system.
+
+* A framework :file:`/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the
+  Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell
+  path. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. A
+  symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/.
+
+The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in
+:file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`,
+respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are
+Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software.  Remember that
+if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have
+two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will
+be 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 you
+are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction
+in that document.
+
+If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the
+section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell.
+
+
+How to run a Python script
+--------------------------
+
+Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLE
+integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu
+when the IDE is running.
+
+If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from
+the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with a
+number of standard Unix command line editors, :program:`vim` and
+:program:`emacs` among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor,
+:program:`BBEdit` or :program:`TextWrangler` from Bare Bones Software (see
+http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.shtml) are good choices, as is
+:program:`TextMate` (see http://macromates.com/). Other editors include
+:program:`Gvim` (http://macvim.org) and :program:`Aquamacs`
+(http://aquamacs.org).
+
+To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that
+:file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path.
+
+To run your script from the Finder you have two options:
+
+* Drag it to :program:`PythonLauncher`
+
+* Select :program:`PythonLauncher` as the default application to open your
+  script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it.
+  :program:`PythonLauncher` has various preferences to control how your script is
+  launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use
+  its Preferences menu to change things globally.
+
+
+.. _osx-gui-scripts:
+
+Running scripts with a GUI
+--------------------------
+
+With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to be
+aware 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 :program:`pythonw`
+instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts.
+
+With Python 2.5, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`.
+
+
+Configuration
+-------------
+
+Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such as
+:envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the
+Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your :file:`.profile` or
+:file:`.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file :file:`~
+/.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple's Technical Document QA1067 for details.
+
+For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section
+:ref:`mac-package-manager`.
+
+
+.. _ide:
+
+The IDE
+=======
+
+MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good
+introduction to using IDLE can be found at http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/
+dyoo/python/idle_intro/index.html.
+
+
+.. _mac-package-manager:
+
+Installing Additional Python Packages
+=====================================
+
+There are several methods to install additional Python packages:
+
+* http://pythonmac.org/packages/ contains selected compiled packages for Python
+  2.5, 2.4, and 2.3.
+
+* Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (``python
+  setup.py install``).
+
+* Many packages can also be installed via the :program:`setuptools` extension.
+
+
+GUI Programming on the Mac
+==========================
+
+There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python.
+
+*PyObjC* is a Python binding to Apple's Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is
+the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is
+available from http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net.
+
+The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`Tkinter`, based on the cross-platform
+Tk toolkit (http://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OS
+X by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from
+http://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source.
+
+*wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on
+Mac OS X. Packages and documentation are available from http://www.wxpython.org.
+
+*PyQt* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on Mac
+OS X. More information can be found at
+http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/pyqt/.
+
+
+Distributing Python Applications on the Mac
+===========================================
+
+The "Build Applet" tool that is placed in the MacPython 2.5 folder is fine for
+packaging small Python scripts on your own machine to run as a standard Mac
+application. This tool, however, is not robust enough to distribute Python
+applications to other users.
+
+The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is
+:program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found
+at http://undefined.org/python/#py2app.
+
+
+Application Scripting
+=====================
+
+Python can also be used to script other Mac applications via Apple's Open
+Scripting Architecture (OSA); see http://appscript.sourceforge.net. Appscript is
+a high-level, user-friendly Apple event bridge that allows you to control
+scriptable Mac OS X applications using ordinary Python scripts. Appscript makes
+Python a serious alternative to Apple's own *AppleScript* language for
+automating your Mac. A related package, *PyOSA*, is an OSA language component
+for the Python scripting language, allowing Python code to be executed by any
+OSA-enabled application (Script Editor, Mail, iTunes, etc.). PyOSA makes Python
+a full peer to AppleScript.
+
+
+Other Resources
+===============
+
+The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and
+developers on the Mac:
+
+http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/
+
+Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki:
+
+http://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython
+