I am interested in learning a programming language, so I downloaded Python, I installed it successfully, apart from noting one Error, but, everything seems to be there. Except, I can't find any way to start up Python! I know where the files were placed, in /usr/local/python and in /usr/lib/bin and in the original download folder. How can I find the right file to start it I installed the tarball version, not the RPM. But all I really want to know is where'd it go? If there's a Python loose in my computer, I have to find it!
Thanx eva so much!
~Safyre

try

whereis python

why not use the rpm version with rh9.0, which works for me and if you got one error then that could be serious

type 'python' from a term window. you should be greeted with the >>>prompt. thats interactive mode. or you can write the script and save it with the .py extention then start it with 'python filename.py' at a term window. or if you installed IDLE(it would be in the 'tools' subdirectory) it includes its own editor that will allow you to open 2 or more windows (write code in one, execute it and watch the output in the other window. depending on your path layout you may be able to start it with just 'idle' from a term.

Ok, what you said about python starting the >>> prompt worked like a charm. Now, I've found that I have a directory called /usr/local/lib/python2.3/idlelib and it contains a file called idle, as well as many others. I tried to run idle in the term window, but it doesn't do anything but flash and disappear. I tried just putting idle in the window, but that doesn't work. What should I do now?

Thanks again, w/o ya I couldn't have made python run without spending a week tearing my hair out (not a pretty sight)

~Safyre

with the rpm there is a script file in /usr/bin called idle. It contains the following:

#!/bin/bash
exec /usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/idle/idle.py

Does this script work if you change the directory to the directory that you have idle.py in?

Another thing to try is to invoke idle through the python interpreter. Such as this (of course changing your directory to the one that idle.py is in):

python /usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/idle/idle.py

I've have just finished installing eric3 an ide for python, which looks quite nice, but took a lot of effort to install, mainly because I didnt follow the instrucitons. If you follow the instruction precisely then it should work, but be aware that after installing pyqt there are some new libraries which the system doesnt seem to be aware of. Fixed this problem by doing an ldconfig.

http://www.die-offenbachs.de/detlev/eric3.html

Just a thought to fix your idle problem perhaps after compiling and installing python you may need to do an ldconfig as root.

you can also get the latest version of idle here: http://idlefork.sourceforge.net/