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 7 Python programming on the Mac. It is assumed that the reader is 8 already familiar with Python and, to some extent, with MacOS Toolbox 9 programming. Other readers may find something interesting here too, 10 your mileage may vary. </p> 11 12 <p>As the previous paragraph reveals to the careful observer these examples 13 are dated, most of them were writting before OSX and haven't been updated 14 afterwards. They still show how to use the Carbon wrappers but aren't 15 necessarily the best way to use the Carbon API's in OSX.</p> 16 17 Another set of Macintosh-savvy examples, more aimed at beginners, is 18 maintained by Joseph Strout, at Python Tidbits in <A 19 HREF="http://www.strout.net/python/"> 20 http://www.strout.net/python/</A>. 21 <P> 22 23 The <a href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Top.html">Python Library 24 Reference</a> contains a section on <a 25 href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Macintosh-Specific-Services.html">Macintosh-specific 26 modules</a> that you should also read. Documentation is also available 27 in PostScript and other forms, see the <a 28 href="http://www.python.org/doc/">documentation</a> section on the 29 webserver. <p> 30 31 <p>The W widget set by Just van Rossum, does not have complete documentation as 32 of 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 35 There are also some documentation links, as well as other MacPython-related 36 pages, in the 37 <A HREF="http://dmoz.org/Computers/Systems/Macintosh/Development/Scripting/Python/"> 38 Open Directory</A>. 39 40 41 <H2>Table of contents</H2> 42 43 <blockquote><B>Note:</B> 44 Some of these documents were actually written a long time ago and have seen 45 little maintainance, so use with care. </blockquote> 46 <UL> 47 <LI> 48 <A HREF="example0.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications, 49 part zero</A> whets your appetite by showing you how to ask the user 50 for a filename, and how to display a message. It explains about end-of-line 51 confusion while doing so. 52 53 <LI> 54 <A HREF="example1.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications, 55 part one</A> explains how to create a simple modal-dialog application 56 in Python. It also takes a glance at using the toolbox modules Res and 57 Dlg, and EasyDialogs for simple question-dialogs. 58 59 <LI> 60 <A HREF="example2.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications, 61 part two</A> turns the previous example program into a more complete 62 mac application, using a modeless dialog, menus, etc. It also explains 63 how to create applets, standalone applications written in Python. 64 65 <LI> 66 <A HREF="freezing.html">Freezing Python programs</A> extends on this concept, 67 and shows you how to create applications that can be used on machines without 68 a full Python installed. This one is probably best skipped on first contact 69 with MacPython. 70 71 <LI> 72 <A HREF="textedit.html">Using FrameWork and TextEdit</A> shows you 73 how 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> 78 is meant for the hardcore programmer, and shows how to create an 79 extension module in C. It also handles using Modulator to create the 80 boilerplate for your module, and creating dynamically-loadable modules 81 on 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> 85 is a companion document, written by Corran Webster, which explains how you 86 can 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 90 how to create a Python module interfacing to a scriptable application, 91 and 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 95 introduction to writing CGI scripts in Python and to writing scriptable applications 96 in Python. 97 98 <LI> 99 <A HREF="building.html">Building Mac Python from source</A> explains 100 how 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 104 how to embed Python in other Mac applications. 105 106 </UL> 107 108 The Python distribution contains a few more examples, all unexplained: 109 <UL> 110 <LI> 111 <I>PICTbrowse</I> is an application that locates PICT 112 resources and displays them, it demonstrates some quickdraw and the 113 resource and list managers. In the same folder you will find the very 114 similar scripts ICONbrowse and cicnbrowse. oldPICTbrowse is the same program 115 but form the pre-Appearance era, it uses a dialog with a user item and 116 creates and manages its own List object. 117 118 <LI> 119 <I>Imgbrowse</I> displays image files in 120 many different formats (gif, tiff, pbm, etc). It shows how to use the 121 img 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 129 on using the respective managers. In the <i>Mac:Lib</i> folder you 130 will also find modules that do useful things with the Communications 131 Toolbox, the Finder interface, etc. 132 133 <LI> 134 <I>Printing</I> has an example on using the Printing module to, you guessed 135 it, print from Python. The code is somewhat self-documenting. Donated 136 by Just van Rossum, who also donated the Printing module itself. 137 </UL> 138 139 At some point in the (possibly distant) future, I will add chapters on 140 how to use bgen to create modules completely automatic and how to make 141 your Python program scriptable, but that will have to wait. <p> 142 143 <HR> 144 145 Please let me know if you miss critical information in this 146 document. I am quite sure that I will never find the time to turn it 147 into a complete MacPython programmers guide (which would probably be a 148 400-page book instead of 10 lousy html-files), but it should contain 149 at least the information that is neither in the standard Python 150 documentation nor in Inside Mac or other Mac programmers 151 documentation. <p> 152 153 <HR> 154 <A HREF="http://www.cwi.nl/~jack">Jack Jansen</A>, 155 <A HREF="mailto:jack (a] cwi.nl">jack (a] cwi.nl</A>, 22-Apr-00. 156 </BODY></HTML> 157
