Python For Kids For Dummies

PROJECT 4

Set Up Your Coding Environment

Project 3 was kind of brutal, huh? This project is quick and painless. You read about the IDLE Python development environment, which lets you save your code into a file. (No more retyping or cutting and pasting!)

IDLE uses different colors to show the syntax of the Python code you’re writing. It also has tools for commenting and indenting regions in and out. What’s commenting? You read about that, too, along with some editing features that make coding easier.

Use the Default Development Environment

An integrated development environment is a kind of word processor for coding.

Never use a word processor for coding! Don’t cut and paste from your word processor. Characters that work with Python get replaced with heinous ones that Python can’t handle. For example, something like message = 'Don’t use Word!' should create a string literal. If you copy and paste it from Word into Python, you get a syntax error on the first single quote. That’s because ‘ isn’t the same thing as '. These things — “” — are different from what Python uses: "".

The IDLE environment won’t work if you’re using Python on a tablet. Look at an app store for apps that give ...