is usually referred to as an integrated development environment (ide)because it binds together various development tasks into single view in shortidle is desktop gui that lets you editrunbrowseand debug python programsall from single interface it runs portably on most python platformsincluding microsoft windowsx windows (for linuxunixand unix-like platforms)and the mac os (both classic and os xfor manyidle represents an easy-to-use alternative to typing command linesa less problem-prone alternative to clicking on iconsand great way for newcomers to get started editing and running code you'll sacrifice some control in the bargainbut this typically becomes important later in your python career idle startup details most readers should be able to use idle immediatelyas it is standard component on mac os and most linux installations todayand is installed automatically with standard python on windows because platforms specifics varythoughi need to give few pointers before we open the gui technicallyidle is python program that uses the standard library' tkinter gui toolkit (named tkinter in python xto build its windows this makes idle portable --it works the same on all major desktop platforms--but it also means that you'll need to have tkinter support in your python to use idle this support is standard on windowsmacsand linuxbut it comes with few caveats on some systemsand startup can vary per platform here are few platform-specific tipson windows and earlieridle is easy to start--it' always present after python installand has an entry in the start button menu for python in windows and earlier (see figure - shown previouslyyou can also select it by right-clicking on python program iconand launch it by clicking on the icon for the files idle pyw or idle py located in the idlelib subdirectory of python' lib directory in this modeidle is clickable python script that lives in :\python \lib\idlelibc:\python \lib\idlelibor similarwhich you can drag out to shortcut for oneclick access if desired on windows look for idle in your start tilesby search for "idle,by browsing your "all appsstart screen displayor by using file explorer to find the idle py file mentioned earlier you may want shortcut hereas you have no start button menu in desktop mode (at least todaysee appendix for more pointerson mac os everything required for idle is present as standard components in your operating system idle should be available to launch in applications under the macpython (or python mprogram folder one note heresome os ver idle is officially corruption of idebut it' really named in honor of monty python member eric idle see if you're not sure why how you run programs