Python
Python is an interpreted language with familiar syntax. It's a great language to use for parsing text files and rapid application development. Rather than the time-consuming write-compile-test-rewrite-recompile-retest-etc. cycle of languages like C and C++, Python scripts run through an interpreter. This eliminates the compile step and speeds up the development process.
Contents
Getting Started
Installing Python
yum install python
should do the trick. Make sure that python is in your path with
which python
and modify your path if necessary.
Using Python
Python programs can be run in several ways. Two of the most common ways are through the python shell and in .py files. To enter the python shell, simply type
python
into your shell. Interactive mode should start up, and you can type commands to be directly executed. You can exit interactive mode with ctrl+d or with
quit()
To run a .py file, simply use:
python <filename> <args>
Syntax
Since the online documentation for Python is quite extensive and helpful, the online Python tutorial is definitely the place for any and all of your Python-related needs. Be sure to read the data structures page to understand how they work in Python.
Installing Python Modules
If there isn't a yum package or rpm available for the desired module, then most likely the module will be distributed according to the python standard described here, so you can simply unpack the archive, cd into the resulting directory, and execute the following command:
python setup.py install
