Note: This article has been updated. Here's the new, updated article from Aug 10, 2017.' How to enable xbox one controller on trove for mac. ________________________________ For those who are learning Python on a Mac, it may be slightly frustrating that Apple doesn't provide the latest version, typically used when learning Python these days. Here's a short and sweet Q&A session on what you need to know to download and install the latest version of Python (3.4.1). Why is Apple only providing Python 2.x? As the Python website says, ' Briefly, in order to move forward technically as a language, the creator, Guido van Rossum, needed to make some significant internal changes. Microsoft excel for mac. To do this, backwards compatibility had to be compromised. As a result, the 3.x version can't be depended on to run 2.x scripts. There are large libraries for Python 2.x and many users still need to use it, so Python 2.7.x is installed in OS X by default. Even OS X 10.10 Yosemite provides Python 2.7.x. So when should you use version 2 and when should you use the latest release, 3.4? Firstly, if you're deploying to an environment you don't control, that may impose a specific version, rather than allowing you a free selection from the available versions. Secondly, if you want to use a specific third party package or utility that doesn't yet have a released version that is compatible with Python 3, and porting that package is a non-trivial task, you may choose to use Python 2 in order to retain access to that package. Alternatively, if you're a newbie to the language and/or your class instructor insists that you begin by learning 3.x, then you'll need to install it on your Mac. It's particularly easy to do because 1) There's an OS X installer package that does all the work and 2) You can still run both versions, so there's no penalty to installing 3.x. Where can I get Python 3.x? It should auto-detect that you're on a Mac and offer you some options. You're probably wanting 3.4.1. The interesting part of the page will look something like this: You'll be downloading an OS X.dmg file called ' python-3.4.1-macosx10.6.dmg' to your downloads folder. (The 10.6 notation means you need at least OS X Snow Leopard to run it.) When you double-click it, it will mount on your desktop as a volume. Open the DMG, and you'll see this: 3. What do I need to know before installing? It's important that you read the file ' ReadMe.txt'. There, you'll discover, along with other things, that you may not be able to just double-click the installer, 'Python.mpkg' because it's not signed by Apple. (Whether you can double-click it will depend on how you have your Gatekeeper settings set in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General.) If you try it, you may see this. Install the Python package manager. The Python package manager, pip, is necessary to install the zmq sockets package for communication with the Python evaluator. You can test if pip is available on your system by evaluating in a terminal.
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