useful addition for windowswhere many (and probably mostnewcomers get their first exposure to the language although it is not without potential pitfalls--including failures on unrecognized unix #lines and puzzling default--it does allow for more graceful coexistence of and files on the same machineand provides rational approach to version control in command lines for the complete story on the windows launcherincluding more advanced features and use cases 'll either condense or largely omit heresee python' release notes and try web search to find the pep (the proposal documentamong other thingsthe launcher also allows selecting between and -bit installsspecifying defaults in configuration filesand defining custom #command string expansion windows launcher tutorial some readers familiar with unix scripting may find the prior section enough to get started for othersthis section provides additional context in the form of tutorialwhich gives concrete examples of the launcher in action for you to trace through this section also discloses additional launcher details along the waythoughso even wellseasoned unix veterans may benefit from quick scan here before ftping all their python scripts to the local windows box to get startedwe'll be using the following simple scriptwhat pywhich can be run under both and to echo the version number of the python that runs its code it uses sys version-- string whose first component after splitting on whitespace is python' version number#!python import sys print(sys version split()[ ]first part of string if you want to work alongtype this script' code in your favorite text file editoropen command prompt window for typing the command lines we'll be runningand cd to the directory where you've save the script ( :\code is where ' workingbut feel free to save this wherever you wishand see for more windows usage pointersthis script' first-line comment serves to designate the required python versionit must begin with #per unix conventionand allows for space before the python or not on my machine currently have pythons , and all installedlet' watch which version is invoked as the script' first line is modified in the following sectionsexploring file directivescommand linesand defaults along the way step using version directives in files as this script is codedwhen run by icon click or command linethe first line directs the registered py exe launcher to run using the latest installeda windows launcher tutorial