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1<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Macintosh Python crash course</TITLE></HEAD>
2<BODY>
3<H1><IMG SRC="html.icons/python.gif">Macintosh Python crash course</H1>
4<HR>
5
6<p>This set of documents provides an introduction to various aspects of
7Python programming on the Mac. It is assumed that the reader is
8already familiar with Python and, to some extent, with MacOS Toolbox
9programming. Other readers may find something interesting here too,
10your mileage may vary. </p>
11
12<p>As the previous paragraph reveals to the careful observer these examples
13are dated, most of them were writting before OSX and haven't been updated
14afterwards. They still show how to use the Carbon wrappers but aren't
15necessarily the best way to use the Carbon API's in OSX.</p>
16
17Another set of Macintosh-savvy examples, more aimed at beginners, is
18maintained by Joseph Strout, at Python Tidbits in <A
19HREF="http://www.strout.net/python/">
20http://www.strout.net/python/</A>.
21<P>
22
23The <a href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Top.html">Python Library
24Reference</a> contains a section on <a
25href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Macintosh-Specific-Services.html">Macintosh-specific
26modules</a> that you should also read. Documentation is also available
27in PostScript and other forms, see the <a
28href="http://www.python.org/doc/">documentation</a> section on the
29webserver. <p>
30
31<p>The W widget set by Just van Rossum, does not have complete documentation as
32of this writing, but Corran Webster has documented most of it on his
33<A HREF="http://www.nevada.edu/~cwebster/Python/">Python Page</A>.</p>
34
35There are also some documentation links, as well as other MacPython-related
36pages, in the
37<A HREF="http://dmoz.org/Computers/Systems/Macintosh/Development/Scripting/Python/">
38Open Directory</A>.
39
40
41<H2>Table of contents</H2>
42
43<blockquote><B>Note:</B>
44Some of these documents were actually written a long time ago and have seen
45little maintainance, so use with care. </blockquote>
46<UL>
47<LI>
48<A HREF="example0.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
49part zero</A> whets your appetite by showing you how to ask the user
50for a filename, and how to display a message. It explains about end-of-line
51confusion while doing so.
52
53<LI>
54<A HREF="example1.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
55part one</A> explains how to create a simple modal-dialog application
56in Python. It also takes a glance at using the toolbox modules Res and
57Dlg, and EasyDialogs for simple question-dialogs.
58
59<LI>
60<A HREF="example2.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
61part two</A> turns the previous example program into a more complete
62mac application, using a modeless dialog, menus, etc. It also explains
63how to create applets, standalone applications written in Python.
64
65<LI>
66<A HREF="freezing.html">Freezing Python programs</A> extends on this concept,
67and shows you how to create applications that can be used on machines without
68a full Python installed. This one is probably best skipped on first contact
69with MacPython.
70
71<LI>
72<A HREF="textedit.html">Using FrameWork and TextEdit</A> shows you
73how to use <code>FrameWork</code> application framework and the
74<code>TextEdit</code> toolbox to build a text editor.
75
76<LI>
77<A HREF="plugins.html">Creating a C extension module on the Macintosh</A>
78is meant for the hardcore programmer, and shows how to create an
79extension module in C. It also handles using Modulator to create the
80boilerplate for your module, and creating dynamically-loadable modules
81on PowerPC Macs. It assumes you use CodeWarrior for you development.
82
83<LI>
84<A HREF="mpwextensions.html">Creating C extension modules using MPW</A>
85is a companion document, written by Corran Webster, which explains how you
86can develop Python extensions using Apple's free MPW compiler environment.
87
88<LI>
89<A HREF="applescript.html">Using Open Scripting Architecture from Python</A> explains
90how to create a Python module interfacing to a scriptable application,
91and how to use that module in your python program.
92
93<LI>
94<A HREF="cgi.html">Using python to create CGI scripts</A> is a preliminary
95introduction to writing CGI scripts in Python and to writing scriptable applications
96in Python.
97
98<LI>
99<A HREF="building.html">Building Mac Python from source</A> explains
100how to build a PPC or 68K interpreter from a source distribution.
101
102<LI>
103<A HREF="embed.html">Embedding Python on the Mac</A> is a minimal example of
104how to embed Python in other Mac applications.
105
106</UL>
107
108The Python distribution contains a few more examples, all unexplained:
109<UL>
110<LI>
111<I>PICTbrowse</I> is an application that locates PICT
112resources and displays them, it demonstrates some quickdraw and the
113resource and list managers. In the same folder you will find the very
114similar scripts ICONbrowse and cicnbrowse. oldPICTbrowse is the same program
115but form the pre-Appearance era, it uses a dialog with a user item and
116creates and manages its own List object.
117
118<LI>
119<I>Imgbrowse</I> displays image files in
120many different formats (gif, tiff, pbm, etc). It shows how to use the
121img modules on the mac.
122
123<LI>
124<I>Quicktime</I> has the standard <code>MovieInWindow</code> and
125<code>VerySimplePlayer</code> examples, re-coded in Python.
126
127<LI>
128<I>Resources</I>, <I>Sound</I> and <I>Speech</I> have some examples
129on using the respective managers. In the <i>Mac:Lib</i> folder you
130will also find modules that do useful things with the Communications
131Toolbox, the Finder interface, etc.
132
133<LI>
134<I>Printing</I> has an example on using the Printing module to, you guessed
135it, print from Python. The code is somewhat self-documenting. Donated
136by Just van Rossum, who also donated the Printing module itself.
137</UL>
138
139At some point in the (possibly distant) future, I will add chapters on
140how to use bgen to create modules completely automatic and how to make
141your Python program scriptable, but that will have to wait. <p>
142
143<HR>
144
145Please let me know if you miss critical information in this
146document. I am quite sure that I will never find the time to turn it
147into a complete MacPython programmers guide (which would probably be a
148400-page book instead of 10 lousy html-files), but it should contain
149at least the information that is neither in the standard Python
150documentation nor in Inside Mac or other Mac programmers
151documentation. <p>
152
153<HR>
154<A HREF="http://www.cwi.nl/~jack">Jack Jansen</A>,
155<A HREF="mailto:jack@cwi.nl">jack@cwi.nl</A>, 22-Apr-00.
156</BODY></HTML>
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