Starting Python development

[Arjen Balfoort]

[Update: 28 May 2014]
ScottQuier recommended this link if you already know something about OO programming:
https://docs.python.org/release/3.4.0/t ... index.html

[Update: 17 May 2014]
RavenLX has created a Linux Development site with information on Python3/Gtk+:
[off-line]

As for my site emphasizing any one thing, right now I have a bit of Python/Glade but I'm hoping to also add stuff for Bash, Perl, C/C++, etc. I do have C/C++ links in the Books and Tutorials section along with links to image editors and 3D rendering (Blender).

The below instructions are not up to date, but still valuable when you need to create a Python2/Gtk project.



[Original post]
You all know that I'm often complaining about the fact that I'm rather short on developers to make SolydXK even better than it already is. I also noticed that there are people interested in starting programming. So, I'd like to share some of the knowledge to get you going.

You have to start somewhere
A link was posted by on4aa where you will find books on Python for both novice and experienced developers.

In that list I saw this on-line book for beginners, sounds scary, but really isn't:
Learn Python the hard way

Elija recommended this tutorial: http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/python

It makes no assumption of programming experience and introduces the concepts in a sensible order.

The IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
An IDE is a program to help you develop your projects.
There are several IDE's out there and some are even specialized Python IDE's, but I'd like to recommend Ninja-IDE.
It helps you structure your code according to standards, and that is important for all developers.

GUI (Graphical User Interface)
Only developing your program in Python is not quite enough. You also need to make it user-friendly.
A lot of software has a GUI, a window with buttons where the user can do whatever he needs to do. The user doesn't need to know about the code that lies behind that.
To build your GUI you can use Glade. I used Glade to build the interfaces for all the SolydXK specific software, like DDM or LightDM manager.

You can simply install glade by running this command:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install glade

There are numerous tutorials about Glade, Python and pygtk (helps Python to interpres the glade file correctly). Just do a search on google, or I will make one if there is enough interest.

References
These are some of the reference sites I regularly use:
Python
PyGTK

And Stack Overflow to ask other developers for help.

GitHub
Last but not least, you can check out the SolydXK's software source at GitHub.
If you don't understand what GitHub is or how it works, don't worry. You can download the source zipped and check it out own your on system. If there is some interest I will write a tutorial on Git. Just let me know.

And remember to never stop asking!

[longtom]

I know about a young man who will be very interested. He is not at home for a week but once he is back he'll appreciate that tutorial on git - I just know it.

[ane champenois]

Thanks for sharing. You turn on the light, it's better when you want to go further.

I'll have a couple of day off ,but with my laptop. I will take a look on it.
About Github, I've already have a look on it, but it's quite confusing: lots of sections, lots of buttons,...
TBH, I admit I understand it's a collaborative platform where you can have the code, the evolutions by date and other things...

If you can help me to better understand Github, I will read you attentively. But you can take your time, this is not urgent for me at least.

Ane

[Evil-K]

Once I move back home to Maine, I actually plan on taking college courses on programming, system maintenance, and repair so I can go into business for myself. Once that's in progress, I'd love to contribute actual code, or at least work on the existing code.

[Arjen Balfoort]

Once I move back home to Maine, I actually plan on taking college courses on programming, system maintenance, and repair so I can go into business for myself. Once that's in progress, I'd love to contribute actual code, or at least work on the existing code.

That's quite some planning, I like it!

[cwwgateway]

If anyone's interested, ninja-ide (version 2.1.1) is in the debian unstable repos:

Code: Select all

christopher@chris-laptop:~$ policy ninja-ide
ninja-ide:
  Installed: 2.1.1+ds1-1
  Candidate: 2.1.1+ds1-1
  Version table:
 *** 2.1.1+ds1-1 0
         -1 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

I'm going to take a closer look at all of the links tomorrow (some work to do right now).

[on4aa]

@Schoelje: Thank you for the honourable mention

Thank you as well for reminding me about glade. I still need to find a good tutorial about it to get started.
I know the Mint team also uses it extensively.

One thing that is still missing is an agreement about what distributive version control we will be using.
I have seen you are using git(hub). However, for Python development I would rather suggest Mercurial because it is easier to learn and use. It is also the de-facto standard for the Python developers. Here is a great tutorial.
Also, bitbucket.org offers more free service.

[Arjen Balfoort]

Github is still a thing inherited from the time SolydXK was still an unofficial.
As soon as I'm not the only dev anymore we will consider the best way of doing things. Until then, I don't want to rock the boat.

[tuktuk22]

i am interested.
but i have no programming background what so ever.
this is gonna take a really long way for me.

...but, i am interested.

[longtomjr]

i am interested.
but i have no programming background what so ever.
this is gonna take a really long way for me.

...but, i am interested.

I started with the "How to think like a computer scientist learning with python... This was realy helpful.

I actually tried Java at first but I soon stopped because I couldn't understand a thing. Then I was given a CD by the IT teacher at my school. The CD was for a Computer Olympiad in South Africa, and there were big money on the line... especially for python because The Shuttleworth Foundation give you extra money if you do good using python. On the CD were the computer scientist book and some other docs... At first I thought about the money... now I think of it as a fun hobby thing... I am not as advanced as Schoelje but I will get there .

After my first steps I did a bit of the Euler problems and write programs to learn more. When I have a question I normaly ask Stack Overflow, but usaly Google provides the awnser... Schoelje Have also helped me a lot by reviewing a little code of mine and helped me when I had questions...

There is nothing to be afraid of, Just start. It is lot of fun...

About Git: I think at the moment Git and Github is the best answer due to limited resources and it is already known by the Dev.... I dont think at the moment there is time to learn something new at the moment... But it is always an option for the future...

Schoelje: Do you have a story on how you started programming... Would you mind sharing if you have some time...

Kind Regards
Longtomjr

[elija]

I'm a Python newbie who would like to help out with some coding. Is there a bug or feature tracker where we can find out what is needed?

Potted history of me:

I started programming when I got my Vic 20 way to many years ago and have never really stopped. I guess my favourite platform was Hisoft Basic on the Atari ST(e) back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Despite programming professionally in many different languages, it never felt fun like it did on my Atari. In the couple of months I've been playing with Python, I have re-discovered fun.

[Arjen Balfoort]

You can check out GitHub: https://github.com/Schoelje?tab=repositories

[jsalpha2]

i am interested.
but i have no programming background what so ever.

I have programming background. I took a class on Fortran, or was it Cobol in 1975. Anyway it's time for the old dog to learn new tricks. The past few months I've been distro hopping and breaking things, then trying to fix them. I'll be a linux guru one day!

[Richard]

I am a self-taught dBaseII / TurboPascal / Delphi programmer.
Several large database apps for small businesses and my own.
But haven't completed any projects during the last several years.
Different focus.

Currently I do have a need and have been dabbling with Python for some time,
although I spent more time looking at FreePascal which is essentially Delphi compatible.
But the most important is to begin to plan and design. The coding will come later.

What are the types of things that you are considering?
What sort of utilities?

[Arjen Balfoort]

If you are asking about Python development: see the OP.

[elija]

You can check out GitHub: https://github.com/Schoelje?tab=repositories

Yeah I've been having a poke around in there but was wondering if you had anything like Mantis BT with a central list of features and bugs. That way I could search for a bug that looked small, unimportant and easy as a place to start

[Arjen Balfoort]

As I am the only developer at the moment, I haven't got around that yet, and I'm afraid it's not going to be high on my priority list for a while.

[elija]

I thought that might be the case, anyway I have had a look through the code on github and it seems my python-fu isn't yet strong enough so I'm going to keep practising with the aim of being able to contribute in the (hopefully not too distant) future.

[Arjen Balfoort]

I know the lightdm manager is missing a feature: let people change their icon.

• Browse for pictures
• Resize to the appropriate size (64x64)
• Preview
• Save the resized image in png format in the user's home directory as .face

Something for you?

[elija]

I'll have a look at that but as I said my Python-fu is limited for the moment so it could take *quite* a while. In the mean time if someone with actual Python skills wants to do this don't let me stop you. I'd be happy to treat this as a learning exercise.