I soon grew tired of listening to the lesson I described yesterday, and I set out to discover how people actually use Python. I’m accustomed to using an IDE, so typing code in notepad and making a call to a saved .py file seemed inefficient. After looking through comments and questions on StackOverflow, I concluded that Python(x,y) would be something worth learning about.

Python(x,y)

I recently came across a conversation about Python(x,y). The Python(x,y) project is self-described as a “Scientific-oriented Python Distribution based on Qt and Spyder”, so I figured I was looking in the right place. I went ahead and downloaded it. Be forewarned, it’s a large download (500+ Mb). Why? Because it includes a lot of packages that aren’t part of the official Python release.

What the Python(x,y) installer gives you, in addition to the original Python shell, is a launcher that includes a bunch of applications and interactive consoles that I genuinely don’t understand one bit yet.

PythonXY’s launcher

However, I did find the replacement for windows command prompt/notepad that I was looking for. The Interactive consoles selector allows you to open a couple different consoldes. Console 2 that feels much nicer to use than the windows command prompt. Coupling this with Notepad++, I was in business to start doing some work!