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  1. <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Macintosh Python crash course</TITLE></HEAD>
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  2. <BODY>
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  3. <H1><IMG SRC="html.icons/python.gif">Macintosh Python crash course</H1>
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  4. <HR>
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  5. 

  6. <p>This set of documents provides an introduction to various aspects of
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  7. Python programming on the Mac. It is assumed that the reader is
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  8. already familiar with Python and, to some extent, with MacOS Toolbox
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  9. programming. Other readers may find something interesting here too,
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  10. your mileage may vary. </p>
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  11. 

  12. <p>As the previous paragraph reveals to the careful observer these examples
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  13. are dated, most of them were writting before OSX and haven't been updated
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  14. afterwards. They still show how to use the Carbon wrappers but aren't 
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  15. necessarily the best way to use the Carbon API's in OSX.</p>
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    17. 

  17. Another set of Macintosh-savvy examples, more aimed at beginners, is
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  18. maintained by Joseph Strout, at Python Tidbits in <A
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  19. HREF="http://www.strout.net/python/">
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  20. http://www.strout.net/python/</A>.
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  21. <P>
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  22. 

  23. The <a href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Top.html">Python Library
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  24. Reference</a> contains a section on <a
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  25. href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Macintosh-Specific-Services.html">Macintosh-specific
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  26. modules</a> that you should also read. Documentation is also available
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  27. in PostScript and other forms, see the <a
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  28. href="http://www.python.org/doc/">documentation</a> section on the
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  29. webserver. <p>
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  30. 

  31. <p>The W widget set by Just van Rossum, does not have complete documentation as 
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  32. of this writing, but Corran Webster has documented most of it on his
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  33. <A HREF="http://www.nevada.edu/~cwebster/Python/">Python Page</A>.</p>
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  34. 

  35. There are also some documentation links, as well as other MacPython-related
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  36. pages, in the
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  37. <A HREF="http://dmoz.org/Computers/Systems/Macintosh/Development/Scripting/Python/">
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  38. Open Directory</A>.
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  39. 

  40. 

  41. <H2>Table of contents</H2>
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  42. 

  43. <blockquote><B>Note:</B>
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  44. Some of these documents were actually written a long time ago and have seen
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  45. little maintainance, so use with care. </blockquote>
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  46. <UL>
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  47. <LI>
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  48. <A HREF="example0.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
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  49. part zero</A> whets your appetite by showing you how to ask the user
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  50. for a filename, and how to display a message. It explains about end-of-line
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  51. confusion while doing so.
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  52. 

  53. <LI>
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  54. <A HREF="example1.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
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  55. part one</A> explains how to create a simple modal-dialog application
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  56. in Python. It also takes a glance at using the toolbox modules Res and
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  57. Dlg, and EasyDialogs for simple question-dialogs.
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  58. 

  59. <LI>
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  60. <A HREF="example2.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
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  61. part two</A> turns the previous example program into a more complete
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  62. mac application, using a modeless dialog, menus, etc. It also explains
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  63. how to create applets, standalone applications written in Python.
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  64. 

  65. <LI>
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  66. <A HREF="freezing.html">Freezing Python programs</A> extends on this concept,
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  67. and shows you how to create applications that can be used on machines without
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  68. a full Python installed. This one is probably best skipped on first contact
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  69. with MacPython.
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  70. 

  71. <LI>
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  72. <A HREF="textedit.html">Using FrameWork and TextEdit</A> shows you
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  73. how to use <code>FrameWork</code> application framework and the
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  74. <code>TextEdit</code> toolbox to build a text editor.
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  75. 

  76. <LI>
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  77. <A HREF="plugins.html">Creating a C extension module on the Macintosh</A>
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  78. is meant for the hardcore programmer, and shows how to create an
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  79. extension module in C. It also handles using Modulator to create the
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  80. boilerplate for your module, and creating dynamically-loadable modules
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  81. on PowerPC Macs. It assumes you use CodeWarrior for you development.
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  82. 

  83. <LI>
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  84. <A HREF="mpwextensions.html">Creating C extension modules using MPW</A>
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  85. is a companion document, written by Corran Webster, which explains how you
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  86. can develop Python extensions using Apple's free MPW compiler environment.
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    88. 

  88. <LI>
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  89. <A HREF="applescript.html">Using Open Scripting Architecture from Python</A> explains
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  90. how to create a Python module interfacing to a scriptable application,
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  91. and how to use that module in your python program.
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  92. 

  93. <LI>
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  94. <A HREF="cgi.html">Using python to create CGI scripts</A> is a preliminary
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  95. introduction to writing CGI scripts in Python and to writing scriptable applications
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  96. in Python.
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  97. 

  98. <LI>
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  99. <A HREF="building.html">Building Mac Python from source</A> explains
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  100. how to build a PPC or 68K interpreter from a source distribution.
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  101. 

  102. <LI>
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  103. <A HREF="embed.html">Embedding Python on the Mac</A> is a minimal example of
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  104. how to embed Python in other Mac applications.
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  105. 

  106. </UL>
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  107. 

  108. The Python distribution contains a few more examples, all unexplained:
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  109. <UL>
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  110. <LI>
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  111. <I>PICTbrowse</I> is an application that locates PICT
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  112. resources and displays them, it demonstrates some quickdraw and the
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  113. resource and list managers. In the same folder you will find the very
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  114. similar scripts ICONbrowse and cicnbrowse. oldPICTbrowse is the same program
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  115. but form the pre-Appearance era, it uses a dialog with a user item and
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  116. creates and manages its own List object.
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  117. 

  118. <LI>
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  119. <I>Imgbrowse</I> displays image files in
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  120. many different formats (gif, tiff, pbm, etc). It shows how to use the
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  121. img modules on the mac.
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  122. 

  123. <LI>
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  124. <I>Quicktime</I> has the standard <code>MovieInWindow</code> and
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  125. <code>VerySimplePlayer</code> examples, re-coded in Python.
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  126. 

  127. <LI>
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  128. <I>Resources</I>, <I>Sound</I> and <I>Speech</I> have some examples
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  129. on using the respective managers. In the <i>Mac:Lib</i> folder you
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  130. will also find modules that do useful things with the Communications
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  131. Toolbox, the Finder interface, etc.
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  132. 

  133. <LI>
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  134. <I>Printing</I> has an example on using the Printing module to, you guessed
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  135. it, print from Python. The code is somewhat self-documenting. Donated
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  136. by Just van Rossum, who also donated the Printing module itself.
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  137. </UL>
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  138. 

  139. At some point in the (possibly distant) future, I will add chapters on
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  140. how to use bgen to create modules completely automatic and how to make
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  141. your Python program scriptable, but that will have to wait. <p>
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  142. 

  143. <HR>
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  144. 

  145. Please let me know if you miss critical information in this
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  146. document. I am quite sure that I will never find the time to turn it
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  147. into a complete MacPython programmers guide (which would probably be a
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  148. 400-page book instead of 10 lousy html-files), but it should contain
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  149. at least the information that is neither in the standard Python
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  150. documentation nor in Inside Mac or other Mac programmers
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  151. documentation. <p>
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  152. 

  153. <HR>
    154. 

  154. <A HREF="http://www.cwi.nl/~jack">Jack Jansen</A>,
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  155. <A HREF="mailto:jack@cwi.nl">jack@cwi.nl</A>, 22-Apr-00.
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  156. </BODY></HTML>
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