<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Macintosh Python crash course</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1><IMG SRC="html.icons/python.gif">Macintosh Python crash course</H1>
<HR>

This set of documents provides an introduction to various aspects of
Python programming on the Mac. It is assumed that the reader is
already familiar with Python and, to some extent, with MacOS Toolbox
programming. Other readers may find something interesting here too,
your mileage may vary. <p>

There is a companion document <a href="using.html">Using Python on the Mac</a>
which you should read before starting here: it explains the basics of using
python on the Macintosh. <p>

Another set of Macintosh-savvy examples, more aimed at beginners, is
maintained by Joseph Strout, at <A
HREF="http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/python/">
http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/python/</A>.
<P>

The <a href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Top.html">Python Library Reference</a> contains a section on
<a href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/Macintosh-Specific-Services.html">Macintosh-specific modules</a>
that you should also read. Documentation is also available in PostScript and other
forms, see the <a href="http://www.python.org/doc/">documentation</a> section
on the webserver. <p>

Some of these documents were actually written while I was working on a "real"
project: creating a single-button application that will allow my
girlfriend to read her mail (which actually pass thry <EM>my</EM>
mailbox, so I get to read it too, but don't tell her:-) without her
having to worry about internet connections, unix commands, etc.  The
application, when finished, will connect to the net using InterSLIP,
start a (pseudo-)POP server on unix using rsh and use AppleScript to
tell Eudora to connect to that server and retrieve messages.  <p>

These examples were all built using Python 1.3.3, which can be downloaded
from <a href="ftp://ftp.cwi.nl/pub/jack/python/mac">ftp.cwi.nl, directory
/pub/jack/python/mac</a>, and possibly from the <a href="ftp://ftp.python/org">
ftp.python.org</a> server and its mirrors as well. Some examples may work
with earlier versions of Python, some will definitely not.
<H2>Table of contents</H2>

<UL>
<LI>
<A HREF="example0.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
part zero</A> whets your appetite by showing you how to ask the user
for a filename, and how to display a message. It explains about end-of-line
confusion while doing so.

<LI>
<A HREF="example1.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
part one</A> explains how to create a simple modal-dialog application
in Python. It also takes a glance at using the toolbox modules Res and
Dlg, and EasyDialogs for simple question-dialogs.

<LI>
<A HREF="example2.html">Using python to create Macintosh applications,
part two</A> turns the previous example program into a more complete
mac application, using a modeless dialog, menus, etc. It also explains
how to create applets, standalone applications written in Python.

<LI>
<A HREF="textedit.html">Using FrameWork and TextEdit</A> shows you
how to use <code>FrameWork</code> application framework and the
<code>TextEdit</code> toolbox to build a text editor.

<LI>
<A HREF="waste.html">Using WASTE</A> expands on this editor by using
WASTE, an extended TextEdit replacement.

<LI>
<A HREF="plugins.html">Creating a C extension module on the Macintosh</A>
is meant for the hardcore programmer, and shows how to create an
extension module in C. It also handles using Modulator to create the
boilerplate for your module, and creating dynamically-loadable modules
on PowerPC Macs.

<LI>
<A HREF="applescript.html">Using Open Scripting Architecture from Python</A> explains
how to create a Python module interfacing to a scriptable application,
and how to use that module in your python program.

<LI>
<A HREF="cgi.html">Using python to create CGI scripts</A> is a preliminary
introduction to writing CGI scripts in Python and to writing scriptable applications
in Python.

<LI>
<A HREF="building.html">Building Mac Python from source</A> explains
how to build a PPC or 68K interpreter from a source distribution.
</UL>

The Python distribution contains a few more examples, all unexplained:
<UL>
<LI>
<I>PICTbrowse</I> is an application that locates PICT
resources and displays them, it demonstrates some quickdraw and the
resource and list managers.

<LI>
<I>Imgbrowse</I> displays image files in
many different formats (gif, tiff, pbm, etc). It shows how to use the
img modules on the mac.

<LI>
<I>Quicktime</I> has the standard <code>MovieInWindow</code> and
<code>VerySimplePlayer</code> examples, re-coded in Python.

<LI>
<I>Resources</I>, <I>Sound</I> and <I>Speech</I> have some examples
on using the respective managers.
</UL>

At some point in the (possibly distant) future, I will add chapters on
how to use bgen to create modules completely automatic and how to make
your Python program scriptable, but that will have to wait. <p>

<HR>

Please let me know if you miss critical information in this
document. I am quite sure that I will never find the time to turn it
into a complete MacPython programmers guide (which would probably be a
400-page book instead of 5 lousy html-files), but it should contain
at least the information that is neither in the standard Python
documentation nor in Inside Mac or other Mac programmers
documentation. <p>

<HR>
<A HREF="http://www.cwi.nl/~jack">Jack Jansen</A>,
<A HREF="mailto:jack@cwi.nl">jack@cwi.nl</A>, 09-September-1996.
</BODY></HTML>