saving issue on homework assignment

[russoj5]

Hi All,

Anyone have any experience with saving a python module on a Mac? I was doing a homework assignment and there were no issues. I saved the file to a location on the Mac for all my homework. I was defining functions in the module, saving it and then running it in IDLE. I stopped last night and everything was functioning fine. When I went back today to finish the assignment, I was adding code to the .py module and saving it but when I hit F5 to run it I kept getting an error saying that I had to save the file first, which I had already done. I tried several times to save the file using several methods as well as closing the file and quitting python. Eventually I saved the text to a word document and deleted the file. Then created a new .py module and pasted the text into it and got it to run after a few tries with new files. The first few attempts at using a new file were not successful.

I also had an instance last week where I was working in a module and completed the assignment. Everything worked. I went to open it the next day and nothing had saved. Even though I had to save is hundreds of times to run the module in IDLE to test the various problems as I was going.

Has anyone else experienced this or know what to do if it happens again?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

[jefsummers]

IDLE _should_ behave better than that. However, if you check around most developers leave IDLE early in learning Python for a better development environment.

My suggestion is to download and install Anaconda. It includes the conda environment manager as well as Jupyter Lab and Jupyter Notebook (for notebook environment programming, commonly used in AI) as well as Spyder (which I like) and the most popular development environment for Python, VSCode. There are Youtubes that do a nice job of telling you how to optimally set up VSCode for Python, and I can post links if you like.

Personally, at this point I use IDLE mainly as a fancy desktop calculator, but not for any serious development.

[russoj5]

IDLE _should_ behave better than that. However, if you check around most developers leave IDLE early in learning Python for a better development environment.

My suggestion is to download and install Anaconda. It includes the conda environment manager as well as Jupyter Lab and Jupyter Notebook (for notebook environment programming, commonly used in AI) as well as Spyder (which I like) and the most popular development environment for Python, VSCode. There are Youtubes that do a nice job of telling you how to optimally set up VSCode for Python, and I can post links if you like.

Personally, at this point I use IDLE mainly as a fancy desktop calculator, but not for any serious development.

Thank you for your response. This is actually my first class and its over the midpoint of the semester so I'm not going to try download, configure and learn a new platform for this class, but will definitely try and set up something else for the next class. I have about a month off between classes so there should be plenty of time to get it done before the spring class starts. IDLE is what the professor uses and is used in all the recorded lecture materials.