# 5. Usando Python en un Mac

Autor:

  Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>

Python on a Mac running macOS is in principle very similar to Python on any other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such as the integrated development environment (IDE) and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.

## 5.1. Getting and Installing Python

macOS used to come with Python 2.7 pre-installed between versions 10.8 and 12.3. You are invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Python website. A current «universal2 binary» build of Python, which runs natively on the Mac’s new Apple Silicon and legacy Intel processors, is available there.

Lo que obtienes después de instalar es una serie de cosas:

- A `Python 3.13` folder in your `Applications` folder. In here you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official Python distributions; and Python Launcher, which handles double-clicking Python scripts from the Finder.

- A framework `/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell path. To uninstall Python, you can remove these three things. A symlink to the Python executable is placed in `/usr/local/bin/`.

Nota

On macOS 10.8-12.3, 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 are Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember that if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do.

IDLE includes a Help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction in that document.

Si está familiarizado con Python en otras plataformas Unix, debe leer la sección sobre cómo ejecutar scripts Python desde el shell de Unix.

### 5.1.1. Cómo ejecutar un script de Python

Your best way to get started with Python on macOS is through the IDLE integrated development environment; see section El IDE and use the Help menu when the IDE is running.

If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. macOS comes with a number of standard Unix command line editors, vim nano among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor, BBEdit from Bare Bones Software (see https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as is TextMate (see https://macromates.com). Other editors include MacVim (https://macvim.org) and Aquamacs (https://aquamacs.org).

Para ejecutar su script desde la ventana Terminal, debe asegurarse de que: `/usr/local/bin` esté en su ruta de búsqueda de shell.

Para ejecutar su script desde el Finder, tiene dos opciones:

- Drag it to Python Launcher.

- Select Python Launcher as the default application to open your script (or any `.py` script) through the finder Info window and double-click it. Python Launcher has various preferences to control how your script is launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use its Preferences menu to change things globally.

### 5.1.2. Ejecutar scripts con una GUI

Con las versiones anteriores de Python, hay una peculiaridad de macOS que debe tener en cuenta: los programas que se comunican con el administrador de ventanas Aqua (en otras palabras, cualquier cosa que tenga una GUI) deben ejecutarse de una manera especial. Utilice pythonw en lugar de python para iniciar dichos scripts.

Con Python 3.9, usted podrá utilizar ya sea python o pythonw.

### 5.1.3. Configuración

Python on macOS honors all standard Unix environment variables such as `PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your `.profile` or `.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file `~/.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple’s Technical Q&A QA1067 for details.

For more information on installation Python packages, see section Instalación de paquetes adicionales de Python.

## 5.2. El IDE

Python ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good introduction to using IDLE can be found at https://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html.

## 5.3. Instalación de paquetes adicionales de Python

Esta sección fue movida al documento Python Packaging User Guide.

## 5.4. GUI Programming

Hay varias opciones para crear aplicaciones GUI en Mac con Python.

PyObjC is a Python binding to Apple’s Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is available from pyobjc.

El kit de herramientas estándar de Python GUI es `tkinter`, basado en el kit de herramientas Tk multi-plataforma (https://www.tcl.tk). Apple incluye una versión nativa de Aqua de Tk, y la última versión puede ser descargada e instalada desde https://www.activestate.com; también se puede instalar con el código fuente.

A number of alternative macOS GUI toolkits are available:

- PySide: Official Python bindings to the Qt GUI toolkit.

- PyQt: Alternative Python bindings to Qt.

- Kivy: A cross-platform GUI toolkit that supports desktop and mobile platforms.

- Toga: Part of the BeeWare Project; supports desktop, mobile, web and console apps.

- wxPython: A cross-platform toolkit that supports desktop operating systems.

## 5.5. Distributing Python Applications

A range of tools exist for converting your Python code into a standalone distributable application:

- py2app: Supports creating macOS `.app` bundles from a Python project.

- Briefcase: Part of the BeeWare Project; a cross-platform packaging tool that supports creation of `.app` bundles on macOS, as well as managing signing and notarization.

- PyInstaller: A cross-platform packaging tool that creates a single file or folder as a distributable artifact.

## 5.6. Otros recursos

The Pythonmac-SIG mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and developers on the Mac:

https://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/

Otro recurso útil es el wiki de MacPython:

https://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython