On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 5:28 PM, Irv Kalb <i...@furrypants.com> wrote:
> 1) What does the error message associated with the: "python3 -m pip > install pygame -- user " mean? > Exactly what it says. It's not recognized as a program. This means that it can't find "python3.exe", "python3.bat", or anything else named "python3" on your PATH. > Obviously it is not recognizing 'python3' - what do I do to fix that? > Since you clicked the add-to-path option in the installer, probably Python is already on your PATH. I think the issue is, on Windows, it's "python.exe", not "python3.exe". Does using "python" instead of "python3" work? > Is fixing that important if I don't intend to use the command line for > development? > Not really, no. If you want to "fix" it, you can make a symlink to the "python.exe" named "python3.exe", or something. Something like: cd C:/Python36 mklink /D python3.exe python.exe I personally have it set up a little differently, with subversions for testing: I have e.g. "python27.exe", "python35.exe", etc.. > 2) Why do the instructions on the official pygame site tell users to use > this command, which generates an error, when the "pip install pygame" or > "pip3 install pygame" commands seem to do the job? > I don't know, but I suspect that these are UNIX-compatible commands, instead of Windows-. 3) (Suggestion) Perhaps the wording for Windows installations could be > modified to include the extra step that tell users how to bring up the > command line (for people like me and my students who might now have a clue > about this). The documentation for the Mac installation could also be > modified to say that you need to bring up the terminal program to enter > commands. > I think it's a bit trivial (although for absolute newbies, I understand perhaps not), but I don't see any reason why not. > 4) Finally, is running Python 3.6.1 in 32 bit mode appropriate with > pygame? > On a 64-bit OS, it's not ideal, but it's probably fine, so long as it works. The important thing to note is that the Python bitiness and the PyGame (or any other package) bitiness need to *match*, or you'll get cryptic errors at runtime. > Since I have a 64 bit operating system, should I really go through the > steps again and find and install the 64 bit version of python instead? > Ideally, yes. Probably, you want to uninstall the 32-bit version first. > Why would default download default to a 32 bit version? (I understand > that these questions are out of the control of the pygame area, but I want > to make sure that I have the correct environment, and that I tell my > college how to get the correct environment for all the computers at the > school.) > Unsure. 32-bit will work on 64-bit (but not vice-versa), so it's a safer default in some sense. Still, 32-bit computers are pretty old today, and people who have them usually know about it. I'd make the user actively choose, without a default available—but it's sortof a UI question. > Sorry for the length of the post, but I expected that getting this > environment set up would be a lot easier. If my students were to face > these problems trying to install it themselves, they would be completely > lost and complain bitterly. > > Irv > Ian
