Easy way of getting started programming using python
<p><strong>Background</strong>
I'm trying to learn to program a little &amp; python seems like a good choice for my purpose. I have no ambition of ever being a serious programmer.I already know bits and pieces of html, css, javascript (mostly how to cut &amp; paste without understanding what I'm doing). The last time I actually "learned programming" was about ten years ago in, high school, using Pascal. We didn't get all that far. What we did have though was what I think programmers call "an environment" that made some sort of sense. There was someplace to type in the "code" (programs), then a button to "compile," then (if it worked) a button to "run."</p>

<p><strong>A Python Environment (is this the right word at all?)</strong>
Now I have been trying to get a set up where I can put in an hour or two whenever I have time but have utterly failed at setup. Any tutorials or guides that I have tried using seem to jump in with things like Shell, IDE, Interactive Shell, terminal, command line interface. </p>

<p><strong>My Failure So Far</strong>
For example, I just tried to follow diveintopython's setup instructions. I'm using a mac. It tells me that for the fist few chapters I can get buy with python's command line version if I am comfortable with that (I am not) or I can download graphical interactive shell which will also be up to date.  I go to here homepages.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython/download.html where it tells me that for osx10.3 (I'm on 10.5) it's already installed. I just need the "<em>IDE, "the Package Manager" and the waste module on which they depend</em>." They sound important (waste module sounds kind of dubious) because they sound like maybe I can click on something and have it open up a place to type in the code from the tutorial in some way that resembles the way I did it ten years ago in Pascal. Maybe. I hope. </p>

<p>Anyway, since that seems to be the most recent version, I install that. I click on the PythonIDE &amp; nothing happens. Is it because I'm using the osx 10.3 package? </p>

<p>I then figured out that I seem to have macpython2.5 installed. Not sure if this came with the machine or if I installed it at some point (this is not my first failed attempt) which for some reason I assume corresponds to mac osx 10.5 in some way. But, as the instructions on the site above suggest for 2.3, there isn't a PythonIDE or package manager.</p>

<p>Is there an easier way to do this? I know what I wrote sounds comical but I'm really stuck &amp; as you can see, I don't even really know what to ask. I'm not even really sure what it means to "have python installed. "  I'm not sure where I write the program. I'm not sure how I run it. I'm fairly sure that you don't compile python the way we compiled Pascal. </p>

<p>What questions should I be asking? </p>

<p><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/131615/screenshots/Snapshot%202010-01-12%2011-23-23.tiff" rel="nofollow">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/131615/screenshots/Snapshot%202010-01-12%2011-23-23.tiff</a></p>

<p>*<em>Sidestory</em> I once tried to start learning to program with php &amp; made some basic progress. It took a while but I eventually figured out that a php program runs inside a html file that must (unlike normal html files) be run through an apache server. Where I write the program is a text file. Where I "compile &amp; run" the program is in the browser/webserver. I thought that was complicated but I did figure it out and was working my way through php tutorial in about half an hour.   </p>
