Re [OT] Snakey Problem

[Mark Wieder]

On 08/13/2018 02:21 AM, Peter W A Wood via use-livecode wrote:

>> Like it or not (and mainly NOT), I have to offer Python to kids this fall . . .

>> Frankly, Python, by using this module system seems to defeat itself to a certain extent: or, maybe I'm just
>> spoilt by LiveCode.

We all are <g>. But python has the best scientific libraries around 
(www.scipy.org). And everything python is free and open source - no 
silly licensing to worry about.

Peter's suggestion of Mu looks good.
Linux already comes with python installed. At a command line, type 
"python --version" and see what happens (then type "python3 --version" 
likewise). Do you need version 3? You've probably already got python 2.7 
installed by default. But since mu contains python3 in its package that 
may answer your question.

Pip is essential for python. Python is a programming language, not an 
environment of itself. So you'll want an IDE (mu would fit the bill) and 
modules (read libraries, plugins, ...) If your python version is 2.7.9 
or greater (or python 3.4 or greater) then you've already got pip.

If not, the apt-get should allow you to install pip.
sudo apt-get install python-pip
or
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Notice that there are two possible versions of pip, depending on which 
version of python you want to run - if you're using python 2 then you 
can just invoke pip. If you're using python 3 then you'll run pip3. They 
coexist well. I have pip 9.0.1 and pip3 1.5.4 installed.

...and lastly I do want to point out that you may find yourself liking 
some things about python. There are some things that are awkward or hard 
to accomplish in LiveCode that are simple in python, and you can mix the 
two easily and let each do what it does best.

YMMV.

-- 
  Mark Wieder
  ahsoftware at gmail.com