Sunbelt Computer Software

Go to webvpython.org and create a free account.

You should see the sentence “You are signed in as <yourusername> and your programs are here." Click on "here”.

You will see two empty folders, "MyProgams" and "Private", and you are in the MyPrograms folder. If you want a program to not be viewed or run by others, choose the Private folder.

Click on “Create New Program”. Name it “test”. You will see this line:

 GlowScript 3.2 VPython

Click in the edit area and add this statement on the second line:

 box()

Click "Run this program". You will see a white box on a black background.

Use the right mouse button (or Ctrl-drag left button) to rotate the camera to view the scene from different angles.

To zoom in and out use two buttons (or Alt/Option-drag or scroll wheel).

To pan, Shift-drag.

Touch screen: swipe or two-finger rotate; pinch/extend to zoom.

While at glowscript.org, click "Help" for full documentation of VPython.

Important keyboard shortcuts:
 Ctrl-1 (Cmd-1 on Mac) runs the program.
 Ctrl-2 (Cmd-2 on Mac) runs in a separate window;
 pressing again reruns the program in the separate window.
 Ctrl-/ (Cmd-/ on Mac) toggles commenting the selected lines in or out.
 Use Tab or Shift-Tab to indent or unindent selected lines.

You can share links to programs in a Public folder, and you can export compiled programs to insert into your own web pages.

At webvpython.org, your programs are stored in the cloud and are accessible from anywhere. However, there are times when you might need to write and run programs even when disconnected from the internet.

Go to this download site and click the download icon.

Unzip the package to any convenient place on your computer.

Inside the folder, read the README file to learn how to use the package.

Using tools at trinket.io it is easy to create web pages that include both editing and execution of VPython. Rhett Allain in his physics blog for Wired magazine has shown examples of this. It is possible at glowscript.org to export a compiled program and insert it in your own web page, but trinket.io lets you create and store web pages which can include editing of VPython programs as well as execution.

Go to trinket.io and create a free account. (There also exist for-pay accounts with enhanced capabilities.)

On your Home page, click "New Trinket" and choose GlowScript. Follow the instructions given for GlowScript, but to run the program click the triangle icon.

The program runs in the right panel. You can drag the vertical divider to change how much space is given to the left and right panels.