how python runs programs this and the next take quick look at program execution--how you launch codeand how python runs it in this we'll study how the python interpreter executes programs in general will then show you how to get your own programs up and running startup details are inherently platform-specificand some of the material in these two may not apply to the platform you work onso more advanced readers should feel free to skip parts not relevant to their intended use likewisereaders who have used similar tools in the past and prefer to get to the meat of the language quickly may want to file some of these away as "for future reference for the rest of uslet' take brief look at the way that python will run our codebefore we learn how to write it introducing the python interpreter so fari've mostly been talking about python as programming language butas currently implementedit' also software package called an interpreter an interpreter is kind of program that executes other programs when you write python programthe python interpreter reads your program and carries out the instructions it contains in effectthe interpreter is layer of software logic between your code and the computer hardware on your machine when the python package is installed on your machineit generates number of components--minimallyan interpreter and support library depending on how you use itthe python interpreter may take the form of an executable programor set of libraries linked into another program depending on which flavor of python you runthe interpreter itself may be implemented as programa set of java classesor something else whatever form it takesthe python code you write must always be run by this interpreter and to enable thatyou must install python interpreter on your computer