top of page
Search
katjascott79

Python Get Running Mac Apps: A Comparison of Different Methods and Tools



Python on a Mac running macOS is in principle very similar to Python onany other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such asthe IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.


The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework and /usr/bin/python,respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they areApple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember thatif you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will havetwo different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it willbe important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do.




Python Get Running Mac Apps




With older versions of Python, there is one macOS quirk that you need to beaware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words,anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use pythonwinstead of python to start such scripts.


Python is also powerful and multi-purpose. You can use it to write simple scripts and automate everyday tasks, you can create web apps, you can do research, you can use it in design, and you can experiment with machine learning as well.


Best of all, CodeRunner, Whisk, and Dropzone are available to you absolutely free through the seven-day trial of Setapp, a platform with more than 210 top-of-the-line Mac apps for any task, from writing prose (Ulysses) to controlling your network traffic (TripMode). Try every Setapp app right now at no cost and find your new favorites to improve your daily productivity.


This tutorial is not intended to teach you Python itself. Once you are familiar with the basics of VS Code, you can then follow any of the programming tutorials on python.org within the context of VS Code for an introduction to the language.


The system install of Python on macOS is not supported. Instead, a package management system like Homebrew is recommended. To install Python using Homebrew on macOS use brew install python3 at the Terminal prompt.


Windows Subsystem for Linux: If you are working on Windows and want a Linux environment for working with Python, the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is an option for you. If you choose this option, you'll also want to install the WSL extension. For more information about using WSL with VS Code, see VS Code Remote Development or try the Working in WSL tutorial, which will walk you through setting up WSL, installing Python, and creating a Hello World application running in WSL.


Note You can use the py -0 command in the VS Code integrated terminal to view the versions of python installed on your machine. The default interpreter is identified by an asterisk (*).


Note: If you select an interpreter without a workspace folder open, VS Code sets python.defaultInterpreterPath in User scope instead, which sets the default interpreter for VS Code in general. The user setting makes sure you always have a default interpreter for Python projects. The workspace settings lets you override the user setting.


Let's now run an example that's a little more interesting. In Python, packages are how you obtain any number of useful code libraries, typically from PyPI. For this example, you use the matplotlib and numpy packages to create a graphical plot as is commonly done with data science. (Note that matplotlib cannot show graphs when running in the Windows Subsystem for Linux as it lacks the necessary UI support.)


Due to the way most Linux distributions are handling the Python 3migration, Linux users using the system Python without creating a virtualenvironment first should replace the python command in this tutorialwith python3 and the python -m pip command with python3 -m pip --user. Do notrun any of the commands in this tutorial with sudo: if you get apermissions error, come back to the section on creating virtual environments,set one up, and then continue with the tutorial as written.


On Windows you can find the user base binary directory by running py -msite --user-site and replacing site-packages with Scripts. Forexample, this could returnC:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Python36\site-packages so you wouldneed to set your PATH to includeC:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Python36\Scripts. You can set your userPATH permanently in the Control Panel. You may need to log out for thePATH changes to take effect.


Moshe Zadka cautions that doing this wrong could result in an unreliable idea of which Python is running that depends too closely on shells loading aliases. I knew Moshe was familiar with Python, but what I didn't know is that he is an author of many Python tutorials as well as an upcoming book on Python development on macOS. He helped 40 colleagues develop Python safely and consistently on macOS systems following one core principle:


Now we know for certain that we're using Python 3.7.3 and pip will update alongside it without any manual aliasing between versions. Using Moshe's recommendation to use a version manager (pyenv) enables us to easily accept future upgrades without getting confused about which Python we are running at a given time.


Many users have dozens of Python interpreters on their computer already, but have no idea how to manage them effectively. Too often, people just download the latest Python release, move it to their path, and call it a day (or use brew install python3, which would do something similar). This can cause breakages down the line in frustrating ways that can be difficult to troubleshoot.


I did all the steps as mentioned and they showed everything with python 3.7, except when in the end I do a python -V, it still shows the version as 2.7. Any idea how I could override the python version?


Hey Sauav! When you run `which python` does it show a shim pathway or a direct pathway to /usr/bin/python? If it's the latter, make sure you have the `eval "$(pyenv init -)"` statement in your .bashrc or .zshrc depending on your shell.


An update on realpython.com/intro-to-pyenv/ I had issues with pyenchant not being able to find enchant C library when I used pyenv installer as suggested in this link. However, when I used brew install for all packages including pyenv, pyenv-virtualenv - I was able to have multiple python virtual environments on 2.7.18, 3.9.9 on latest Monterey using M1 silicon 14" pro.


Came across this post/thread with a problem I'm having. I'm simply trying to run a .py script on macos Monterey 12.5.1, that I found online, to see why my current/active window I'm working in loses focus. When I go to run the script, it returns an error 'ImportError: cannot import name 'NSWorkspace' from 'AppKit'. Anyone know why appkit won't import in python3, and what I need to do to rectify this error?Thanks!


To start the function locally, press F5 or the Run and Debug icon in the left-hand side Activity bar. The Terminal panel displays the Output from Core Tools. Your app starts in the Terminal panel. You can see the URL endpoint of your HTTP-triggered function running locally.


With Core Tools still running in Terminal, choose the Azure icon in the activity bar. In the Workspace area, expand Local Project > Functions. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl - click (macOS) the new function and choose Execute Function Now....


Bring your creativity to life by building apps directly in Swift Playgrounds on iPad and Mac. As you edit your code, see the results instantly in the side-by-side App Preview. Then take your app full screen for a rich experience.


Note that we said install Python 3, not update to Python 3, because how this will work is installing Python 3 while simultaneously maintaining Python 2 on the Mac. This is essential because apparently some Mac apps rely on Python 2 support, so if you attempt to upgrade Python 2.x to Python 3.x in Mac OS you will eventually find that something is broken, perhaps critically so. With that in mind you should not attempt to update the existing preinstalled Python release on a Mac, instead you will just have a co-installation of Python 3 for full compatibility.


Constructs (and also stacks and apps) are represented as classes (types) in your programming language of choice. You instantiate constructs within a stack to declare them to AWS, and connect them to each other using well-defined interfaces.


The AWS CDK includes the CDK Toolkit (also called the CLI), a command line tool for working with your AWS CDK apps and stacks. Among other functions, the Toolkit provides the ability to do the following:


We have taken pains to make AWS CDK app development in each language follow that language's usual conventions. This way, writing AWS CDK apps feels natural, not like writing TypeScript in Python, for example. Take a look at the following examples:


Mac App Store apps must be code-signed. This means you must go through some extra hoops to generate signing certificates, download them to your dev machine, and alter your build script to sign the final app package with it.


The good news is there are tools available to help you do just that with your Python applications which work well with apps built using PyQt5. In this tutorial we'll look at the most popular tool for packaging Python applications: PyInstaller.


PyInstaller works out of the box with PyQt5 and as of writing, current versions of PyInstaller are compatible with Python 3.6+. Whatever project you're working on, you should be able to package your apps.


You'll see a number of messages output, giving debug information about what PyInstaller is doing. These are useful for debugging issues in your build, but can otherwise be ignored. The output that I get for running the command on my system is shown below.


You can try running your app yourself now, either by double-clicking on the app bundle, or by running the executable file, named app.exe from the dist folder. In either case, after a short delay you'll see the familiar window of your application pop up as shown below. 2ff7e9595c


0 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page