PythonCard on OS X Moves Closer to Reality
Well, my favorite new app development environment, PythonCard, is about to meet up with my favorite new operating system, Mac OS X. I have been waiting for this time for quite a few months and at times I despaired that the Open Source model on which PythonCard and its underpinnings are built would be up to the task of tackling the migration. Not that I had any doubts about the technical expertise or dedication of the crew doing the port, but given the relative lack of penetration of OS X, it wouldn't have surprised me if it had been had to marshal enough resources to get the job done.
Well, it's not done yet but boy is it ever getting close! I was able yesterday to download and install the infrastructure pieces on which PythonCard is constructed, install them, and then install PythonCard itself. The first time a minimalist PythonCard "stack" came up and ran on OS X, I have to say that I was as excited as I've been by an insensate object in quite some time!
Mac developers looking for cross-platform development and deployment strategies in Open Source are about to get their hands on what I have come to believe is one of the most powerful potential dev tools avaiilable. And while PythonCard is still a prototype in many respects, it's a very solid one. Doing real work on it doesn't break stuff. There's functionality planned that isn't there yet, but that's the state of the product. The good news: you can jump in and influence this development process now that it's available on OS X.
See for details of where to get the files and basically how to load them up. I'm working on a detailed instruction set and screen shots which I hope to upload to the PythonCard site tonight or tomorrow.
Hang on! It's going to get very interesting right soon now!
You can talk about PythonCard on the product's Wiki site.
6:25:33 PM 
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