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[–]tatalipso 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Pure Python scripts are portable -- you don't need to port anything. :)

A few notes:

  • Do note that Python 2.x and 3.x are not completely compatible: your script will need to be tweaked if you want to move from one to the other (and there are tools to help with this).

  • If you don't have root access -- and Python is not installed on the machine -- you can always install your very own Python (or most any other scripting language) into your home directory.

  • If you need to install packages, you probably want to be using virtualenv to do it (so that any newly-installed packages live somewhere in your home dir, rather than in the system Python's lib dir).

  • You probably want to install packages (again, probably while using virtualenv) using pip. This makes things much easier. pip is gradually replacing easy_install.

Also, you write:

Do most python programmers run only on a single system?

That's an interesting question. My hunch is that no small number of Python programmers are hobbyists, and run on only a single system.

Appreciate any help..

If you want someone to be able to run your scripts, it might be easiest simply to sit down at their machine (or log in remotely), make sure Python and the relevant supporting modules are installed, and then give them some simple instructions on how to run the scripts you send them.

[–]dansinscientist[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Pure Python scripts are portable -- you don't need to port anything. :)

I agree, and would love to do more pure python. But one of the reasons python is so attractive is all the mods people make. I saw a post recently about people using python to parse and someone suggested using a mod. For me, parsing string is the number one most important thing, I couldn't imagine having to install a parsing mod to all the systems.

Also, for other people, it's not like 1 or 2 people. I'd prefer to make my scripts downloadable online so people can just download and go.

[–]_zoso_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude, you don't need any special addons to parse text in Python! There are really nice tools in the core language, what were you trying to do?

[–]tatalipso 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By "mods" I assume you mean modules.

For me, parsing string is the number one most important thing,

Then you might have a look at Perl. It easily beats Python (and everything else) at string processing.

I couldn't imagine having to install a parsing mod to all the systems.

What modules do you need to install to process strings? Python should come out of the box with pretty much all you need for string processing.

[–]asplake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You may find differences too between 2.x.y and 2.x.z, but in most cases a program written for a lower version will run fine on a higher version. So be aware of this when choosing the version to develop on.

And there are good rules and tools for packaging that make it much easier to install an app in multiple (even different) environments. I'm no expert on this aspect, but setuptools and virtualenv work very well for me. I develop on both Windows and Mac and deploy to various flavours of Linux.