Is a program written in 'python' cross platform compatible?
If I type from a terminal:
to run it on my Linux system, how do I run it on a Windows or Apple computer?

In theory... Of course, you do have to get Python installed first! Have a look at this
http://docs.python.org/2/faq/windows.html

1 members found this post helpful.

That's a "depends" type question. It depends on the dependencies of the python program and how it is installed on windows/mac. If all of the modules are available and installed on all three platforms and the python code isn't using any platform specific code (e.g. search the proc filesystem for stats and info which is only available on Linux) then it is highly possible the script can be run on multiple platforms with little or no modification.

As for how you run that script on the other platforms it depends on how the user installed python. In Windows if there's %PATH% and explorer integration then one could simply double click on the *.py script to run it (though it may disappear right away depending on what it is doing if it doesn't pause to show output). If there's %PATH% integration then one could also open the command prompt and run the script the same way you do on Linux.

With Mac it also depends on the package and how it integrates with the system though most recommended methods for Mac have $PATH integration. It is BSD based and uses bash for the terminal shell so just run it like you would any other.

For a more specific answer you'll need to provide more information or code samples with your question and describe the client environment.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you for the replies. You have given me more information than I knew that I was supposed to ask........

I guess my fishing club will have to do without this membership information.

The short-answer is that languages such as Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby and so-on are generally designed to be, at least, "operating-system agnostic." The core-language will run anywhere on anything. However, the reality is that the operating systems are different-enough to cause problems in the various edge-cases. Therefore, if you are deploying an application that is intended to be "cross-platform," a certain amount of care must be taken. Perhaps your requirements are "nowhere near 'the edge.'" On the other hand, maybe they are.