part igetting started with python the leopard version of os ( uses really old version of python this particular version lacks direct access to the idle application as resultyou may find that some book exercises won' work properly the article at about how to overcome this particular issue the newest version of os at the time of this writing (mavericksor comes with python which is just fine for working through the examples in the book depending on how you use pythonyou might want to update your installation at some point part of this process involves installing the gnu compiler collection (gcctools so that python has access to the low-level resources it needs the following steps get you started with installing new version of python on your mac os system navigate to with your browser you see information regarding the latest version of pythonas shown in figure - click the appropriate link for your version of os xa python mac os -bit/ -bit - / installer for -bit or -bit versions on the intel processor python mac os -bit /ppc installer for -bit versions on the power pc processor the python disk image begins downloading be patientthe disk image requires several minutes to download most browsers provide method for monitoring the download process so that you can easily see how long the download will take when the download is completeyour mac automatically opens the disk image for you the disk image actually looks like folder inside this folderyou see number of filesincluding python mpkg the python mpkg file is the one that contains the python application the text files contain information about the buildlicensingand any late-breaking notes double-click python mpkg you see welcome dialog box that tells you about this particular python build click continue three times the installation program displays late-breaking notes about pythonlicensing information (click agree when asked about the licensing information)andfinallya destination dialog box