Computer Graphics Tietokonegrafiikka 52493S Winter-Spring 2004

SW

Python

Python links

• Python language website
• Download page for Python 2.3.3  (WinXX & Linux)
  • Documentation is included in the Windows precompiled distribution
  • For using Python from command line, you probably have to add the path manually (C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT in older Windows, Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> System variables in Win2000)
• Learning Python
  • The classic Tutorial . Comes with the documentation. Read it!
  • How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python : A  free book about programming and Python
  • Dive into Python : A  free Python book for experienced programmers
  • Thinking in Python : Another free ebook about Python and patterns
  • Python documentation page  contains many more links
• A collection of Python links

Additional packages you need for the homeworks (download and install in the given order):

• Numeric
  Support for number crunching. For Windows, get Numeric-23.1.win32-py2.3.exe and numarray-0.8.win32-py2.3.exe and install both. PyOpenGL needs at least one of those, maybe both...
• PyOpenGL
  The OpenGL modules. For Windows, download PyOpenGL-2.0.1.07.win32-py2.3.exe
  Note: it is installed to Python23/Lib/site-packages/OpenGL, where you can find interesting directories such as doc and Demo.
• Glut
  Python bindings for glut are included in PyOpenGL, but you still need the actual library.
  Glut for windows  web page has precompiled glut.
  Install the dll into some directory that's on your path (such as windows\system, winnt\system32, etc.).
  For Linux, as usual, get the sources and compile.
• PIL
  Python Imaging Library (the free version, 1.1.4).

Programming environment

• IDLE
  the standard IDE (Integrated Development Environment), comes with the Python distribution
• PythonWin
  A good IDE, but available only for Windows. Try this one first.
• emacs
  yes, emacs is also available for Windows
  and emacs has Python mode  which supports Python-style indentation and syntax highlighting. Download python-mode.el.
  Here's an example .emacs file  that you should put in your home directory to make emacs recognize *.py files as python files.
  You should also create an emacs directory, put the python mode file there, and modify the .emacs for the path name.
  Here are some emacs commands to get started...
  The GNU emacs pages seem to be corrupted, here's a link to a binary distribution .
• A whole list
  Various editors and IDEs to choose from

A great multiplatform GUI for Python (can also use from C++)

• wxPython     Based on wxWindows .