way better editor setup section

Akuli · Akuli · commit ae3333c631dd · 2017-02-28T19:22:11.000+02:00
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -30,19 +30,20 @@ to learn more about whatever you want after studying it.
 4. [ThinkPython: The way of the program](basics/the-way-of-the-program.md)
 5. [Variables, Booleans and None](basics/variables.md)
 6. [Using functions](basics/using-functions.md)
-7. [If, else and elif](basics/if.md)
-8. [Handy stuff with strings](basics/handy-stuff-strings.md)
-9. [Lists and tuples](basics/lists-and-tuples.md)
-10. [Loops](basics/loops.md)
-11. [Trey Hunner: zip and enumerate](basics/trey-hunner-zip-and-enumerate.md)
-12. [Dictionaries](basics/dicts.md)
-13. [Defining functions](basics/defining-functions.md)
-14. [Writing a larger program](basics/larger-program.md)
-15. [What is true?](basics/what-is-true.md)
-16. [Files](basics/files.md)
-17. [Exceptions](basics/exceptions.md)
-18. [Modules](basics/modules.md)
-19. [Classes](basics/classes.md)
+7. [Setting up an editor](basics/editor-setup.md)
+8. [If, else and elif](basics/if.md)
+9. [Handy stuff with strings](basics/handy-stuff-strings.md)
+10. [Lists and tuples](basics/lists-and-tuples.md)
+11. [Loops](basics/loops.md)
+12. [Trey Hunner: zip and enumerate](basics/trey-hunner-zip-and-enumerate.md)
+13. [Dictionaries](basics/dicts.md)
+14. [Defining functions](basics/defining-functions.md)
+15. [Writing a larger program](basics/larger-program.md)
+16. [What is true?](basics/what-is-true.md)
+17. [Files](basics/files.md)
+18. [Exceptions](basics/exceptions.md)
+19. [Modules](basics/modules.md)
+20. [Classes](basics/classes.md)
 
 ### Advanced
 
diff --git a/basics/editor-setup.md b/basics/editor-setup.md
@@ -0,0 +1,231 @@
+# Setting up an editor for programming
+
+An editor is a program that lets us write longer programs than we can
+write on the `>>>` prompt. Then we can save the programs to files and
+run them as many times as we want without writing them again.
+
+When programmers say "editor" they don't mean programs like Microsoft
+Word or LibreOffice/OpenOffice Writer. These programs are for writing
+text documents, not for programming. **Programming editors don't support
+things like bigger font sizes for titles or underlining bits of text**,
+but instead they have features that are actually useful for programming,
+like automatically displaying different things with different colors.
+
+If you are on Windows or Mac OSX you have probably noticed that your
+Python came with an editor called IDLE. We are not going to use it
+because it's lacking some important features, and most experienced
+programmers (including me) don't use it or recommend it to anyone.
+
+In this chapter we'll download, install, set up and learn to use a
+better editor. The setup part will take some time, but it's worth it and
+correct settings will help you avoid many problems later.
+
+## Which editor should I use?
+
+These instructions are written for an editor called Geany. Its default
+settings are actually not very good for writing Python code, but you
+will learn to change the settings so you won't have trouble with
+switching to another editor later if you need to.
+
+Different programmers have different favorite editors that they use, and
+the choice of editor is a very personal thing. You can use almost any
+editor you want if you make sure that you change its settings the same
+way we change Geany's settings in this tutorial.
+
+## Bad editors
+
+**[Skip this part](#installing-your-new-editor) if you are going to use
+Geany.**
+
+But some editors are not good enough for actually making something with
+them. These editors cannot be set up using these instructions because
+they don't have some of the features we need, so **don't use these
+editors for writing Python**:
+
+- Gedit
+- IDLE
+- Nano
+- Notepad
+- Pluma
+- Wingware
+
+On the other hand, some editors have too many features for getting
+started with programming. They are not bad, but they are not meant for
+beginners. So **I don't recommend using these editors yet**:
+
+- Emacs
+- NetBeans
+- PyCharm
+- Spyder
+- Vim
+
+These lists don't contain all bad editors, but these are editors that
+people often try to use. If you know a bad editor and you think I should
+mention it here, please [let me know](../contact-me.md).
+
+## Installing your new editor
+
+Installing Geany is easy. If you are using Windows or Mac OSX, go to
+[the official Geany download
+page](http://www.geany.org/Download/Releases) and click the correct
+download link. If you are using Linux, just install Geany from the
+package manager like any other program. For example, on Debian-based
+distributions (e.g. Ubuntu) you can type `sudo apt install geany` on a
+terminal.
+
+When you have Geany installed, you can launch it like any other program.
+By default, it has a big sidebar and bottom area, but we don't need them
+so you can start by dragging them away. Geany should look roughly like
+this after that:
+
+![Geany without the sidebar and bottom area.](../images/geany.png)
+
+## Dark background
+
+Geany has a white background by default, but we'll tell Geany to use a
+black background instead. Your eyes will thank you for doing this when
+you have been programming for a few hours.
+
+1. Click *Edit* at top and click *Preferences*.
+2. Click *Editor* at left.
+3. Click *Display* at top right.
+4. Check *Invert syntax highlighting colors*.
+5. Click *OK*.
+
+If you don't like the colors, you can install more [color
+schemes](https://github.com/geany/geany-themes/) and then go to *View*
+at top and click *Change Color Scheme*.
+
+## Opening and saving files
+
+Now it's time to create our first file. Geany creates a new file when
+you open it for the first time, but it doesn't know that it's going to
+be a Python file. We need to tell that to Geany by saving the file
+first. You can use the *File* menu at top or the buttons below the
+menus, just like in most other programs.
+
+Save the empty file on your desktop as `test.py`. The `.py` at the end
+of the name is important, it tells Geany and other programs that it's a
+Python file.
+
+## Automatic tab expanding
+
+Open a Python file in your editor. Then press the tab key, and the
+cursor should move right. Now press the left arrow key. See how the
+cursor jumps over the empty space? The empty space is actually a tab
+character, but Python's style guide recommends using four spaces instead
+of tab characters so we'll need to change Geany's settings.
+
+1. Click *Edit* at top, then click Preferences.
+2. Click *Editor* at left.
+3. Click *Indentation* at top.
+4. Select *Spaces* instead of *Tabs*.
+5. Click *OK*.
+6. Click *Project* at top and click *Apply Default Indentation*.
+
+Delete the whitespace, then press tab and press the arrow left again.
+Now the cursor should move one space at a time.
+
+**TODO:** animated gifs that show what's going on.
+
+## Stripping spaces when pressing Enter
+
+Press Tab and then press Enter, and Geany should add spaces to the new
+line automatically for you. If you are not using Geany, make sure that
+your editor does this too.
+
+Now press the arrow up and then move left and right. You'll notice that
+the previous line has spaces left over on it. Leaving useless spaces to
+ends of lines like this is usually considered bad style, but it's easy
+to tell Geany to get rid of them:
+
+1. Click *Edit* at top and click *Preferences*
+2. Click *Editor* at left.
+3. Click *Features* at top.
+4. Check *Newline strips trailing spaces*.
+5. Click *OK*.
+
+Press tab and Enter again. If you go back to the previous line now there
+is no whitespace on it.
+
+**TODO:** again, animated gifs
+
+## Maximum line length
+
+You have probably noticed that Geany displays a thin, green-ish line at
+right from where you type. The idea is that you should avoid writing
+anything longer than where this line is. Your programs will work if they
+contain lines that go past this marker, but it's not recommended because
+shorter lines are nicer to work with in general. People with small
+screens can work with your code, and people with large screens can have
+multiple files opened at the same time.
+
+By default, there's room for 72 characters before the marker. Staying in
+72 characters is not always easy, and that's why Python's style guide
+recommends 79 instead of 72. Let's move Geany's marker to 79 characters:
+
+1. Click *Edit* at top and click *Preferences*
+2. Click *Editor* at left.
+3. Click *Display* at top.
+4. Change 72 to 79.
+5. Click *OK*.
+
+## Running things from the editor
+
+This setting up stuff is boring! Let's write some code.
+
+We'll use this program to check if our editor is set up correctly.
+Create a new file and type this into it:
+
+```python
+import sys
+print(sys.version)
+```
+
+You don't need to understand this program yet, you'll learn what it does
+later in this tutorial. You can type this program on the `>>>` prompt to
+see what it does if you want to.
+
+Now save the program somewhere as `test.py`. It doesn't matter what the
+name of the file is, but it needs to end with `.py`. This way Geany
+knows that it's a Python file.
+
+Next we'll need to change Geany's settings so that it runs the program
+correctly. You need to have a Python file opened to change these
+settings.
+
+1. Click *Build* at top, then click *Set Build Commands*.
+2. The *Execute* command is probably `python "%f"`. Change it to
+    `py "%f"` if you are using Windows and `python3 "%f"` if you are
+    using Linux or Mac OSX.
+3. Click *OK*.
+
+Note that the first part of our *Execute* is the same thing [we type on
+a PowerShell or terminal](installing-python.md#running-python). Actually
+the whole command means "run this file using my Python".
+
+Now press the F5 key at the top of your keyboard to run the file we
+wrote. It should open up in a terminal or command prompt and print the
+same Python version as the `>>>` prompt prints when we open it. If the
+version starts with 2 it's too old, and you can [ask
+me](../contact-me.md) or some other experienced programmer for help.
+
+## Important notes
+
+Now your editor is ready to go. There are a couple important things that
+you need to keep in mind when reading the rest of this tutorial:
+
+- When a code example starts with `>>>`, type it to the `>>>` prompt. If
+    it doesn't, create or open a `.py` file with your editor, type the
+    code into it and run the file.
+- When we type some code to the `>>>` prompt it [echoes back the
+    result](getting-started.md) [when it's not None](variables.md#none),
+    but code in a file does nothing to the result. For example, typing
+    `1 + 2` to the `>>>` prompt makes it echo `3`, but we need to do
+    `print(1 + 2)` if we want to do the same thing in a file.
+
+## You're done!
+
+This probably felt like a lot of work, but don't worry, there will be no
+more things like this in the future. Now we have installed and set up
+all the tools we need and we can continue learning Python.
diff --git a/images/geany.png b/images/geany.png
