Print "hello world"

[Pilate]

Hello python world, this is my first post
I type print "hello world" into IDLE, hit return but it returns nothing
also the pull down menus were HUGE.
After reading and attempting to fix them they are nothing but --- now.
actually not even as clear as ---
1 more thing, every time I close IDLE I get Microsoft Visual C++ runtime error
I had Microsoft Visual C++ loaded but may have uninstalled it, do I need it?
I programmed 22 years ago in Basic, cobol and fortran so have a basic understanding
thanks

ps print "hello world" does not work in cmd line either, the >>> are there but the print command doesnt work

[linux]

Try opening notepad, and typing:

print "Hello, World!"

Save it as helloworld.py and run it as python helloworld.py .

Your Python install may be either outdated, insanely, or just broken. If this doesn't work, try reinstalling Python.

[ZZucker]

What you did will work if you are in IDLE's Python Shell (in the editor click on run then Python Shell), it's the one with the >>> prompt. If you are in the IDLE editor (no >>> prompts) you need to save your code first like 'linux' said. Then use key F5 to run it.

The PythonShell is for simple tests. If you have to type several lines of code, it is better to use the editor and save the code as something like mytest2.py so you can modify it easily.

Editors like IDLE are nice for beginners, since they highlight your code and help with builtin functions. For instance type int( in the editor, and a suggestion what this function expects as arguments and will return pops up.

If you instal Python from the source files, you need MS C++ on windows during installation. I recommend that on Windows you install from the ready made binary .msi file.

[Pilate]

Thanks for the replys!
I uninstalled 3.0a3 because it was beta
and installed the 2.5.2 because it is officially the current stable version
and that solved the problems
and I learned a little about the editor and the shell
all my fonts are nice now so
thanks again

[sneekula]

Python30 introduces quite a number of major changes to the Python code syntax. I would not use it at this point until it is the official release (end of 2008 projected release date).