getting started this will get you up and running with pythonfrom downloading it to writing simple programs installing python go to www python org and download the latest version of python (version as of this writingit should be painless to install if you have mac or linuxyou may already have python on your computerthough it may be an older version if it is version or earlierthen you should install the latest versionas many of the programs in this book will not work correctly on older versions idle idle is simple integrated development environment (idethat comes with python it' program that allows you to type in your programs and run them there are other ides for pythonbut for now would suggest sticking with idle as it is simple to use you can find idle in the python folder on your computer when you first start idleit starts up in the shellwhich is an interactive window where you can type in python code and see the output in the same window often use the shell in place of my calculator or to try out small pieces of code but most of the time you will want to open up new window and type the program in there note at least on windowsif you click on python file on your desktopyour system will run the programbut not show the codewhich is probably not what you want insteadif you right-click on the filethere should be an option called edit with idle to edit an existing python file