Repository for CMSI 3630: Data Structures & Algorithms for Engineers
You should download and install the Python environment from the Python downloads site. The latest version at this writing is Python 3.13.1. If you are working on a Mac computer, you may have Python installed already; however, it is likely not the latest version and the versions are quite different. The version that is shipped with the Mac O/S is usually 2.7 — much has changed! PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING NOTES PARAGRAPHS!
NOTES: On windows computers, you'll need to download the installation package and do the whole self-install thing. That will usually put the python executable into your operating system search path. If it doesn't we'll work through it in class or in office hours, whichever makes more sense for how much time it will take in class. I'll explain all this in class as well.
NOTES: On Mac computers, there is a very easy way to install using homebrew. There are very explicit directions available at this web page. I walked through this set to install homebrew and then install python on a mac mini and it works great. BE SURE TO FOLLOW ALL THE DIRECTIONS, even the steps that show up in the terminal window after brew is installed. Otherwise, brew won't be in your search path. I'll explain all this in class as well.
You will also need to install and use some sort of text editor into which you can type your code in ASCII/Unicode text-only form. You cannot use a word processor such as Microsoft Word or Mac's TextEdit [unless you configure it properly] or other word-processing software which puts in special characters that Python won't recognize [like those slanted quotes]. Several possible free tools are available, such as the following:
Visual Studio Code [VSCode or just 'code'] IDLE Python IDE Sublime Text Notepad++ TextPad Atom You can certainly use Notepad {on Windows] or TextEdit {on Mac, if properly configured for plain text] to edit your source code, but it can be difficult to collaborate with these tools due to the lack of line numbers at the left margin. Also, there is no syntax coloring in those editors. On Mac, in the terminal window you can use the vi or vim or gvim editors, but they take some getting used to and are rather an acquired taste unless you are going to be doing a great deal of programming on UNIX or Linux.
Another helpful tool is a testing framework. While test code, or at least skeletons for test code, will be provided to you for some projects, there is a very nice free test framework called Pytest that can help you a lot. It is available for free download from this site, which also has complete instructions for setup and use, and some sample code to help you make sure it works. After youhave downloaded both files, follow the Getting Started instructions at this location.