By default in Eclipse you only have to press Ctrl-space for autocomplete. Then select the desired method and wait 500ms for the javadoc info to pop up. If this doesn't work go to the Eclipse Windows menu- Preferences- Java- Editor- Content assist and check your settings here. It's not under the application menu? The word 'Eclipse' next to the Apple logo.) I don't have Eclipse installed on my Mac, but I'd think that's where it'd be (as with most Mac applications). – Benjamin Oakes Mar 26 '10 at 13:23.
This file address to integrate Python and Eclipse (or other IDEs). Check the box next to Add Python 3.7 to PATH, then click Install Now. If a follow up control window asks you to allow changes to the computer, click Yes. We will install Python with default settings, so no need to change anything else right now. In this handout we will download Eclipse Standard 4.4 for Mac OS. The version you should download is Eclipse IDE for Eclipse Committers. It is critical that Java, Python, and Eclipse are either all 32 Bit or are all 64 Bit (and only if your Machine/OS supports 64 Bit).
Install Python before installing Eclipse.
You may want to print these instructions before proceeding, so that you can refer to them while downloading and installing Eclipse. Or, just keep this document in your browser. You should read each step completely before performing the action that it describes. This document shows downloading and installing Eclipse (Luna). You should download and install the latest version of Eclipse. The current latest (as of Fall 2018) is Eclipse 2018-09.
Eclipse: Luna
The Eclipse download requires about 200 MB of disk space; keep it on your machine, in case you need to re-install Eclipse. When installed, Eclipse requires an additional 200 MB of disk space.
Downloading
- Click Eclipse
The following page will appear in your browser. In this handout we will download Eclipse Standard 4.4 for Mac OS. The version you should download is Eclipse IDE for Eclipse Committers.
It is critical that Java, Python, and Eclipse are either all 32 Bit or are all 64 Bit (and only if your Machine/OS supports 64 Bit): I think it easiest on Macs to use 64 Bit for everything.
- Click the 64-bit after Mac Cocoa for your machine, to the right of Eclipse Standard 4.4 (right under Eclipse Luna R Packages).
You will see the following page (don't worry about the name of the institution to the right of the big downward pointing arrow).
- Click the big downward pointing arrow underneath the Download eclipse-standard-luna-R-macosx-cocoa-x86_64.tar.gz from: The site named here, in purple to the right of the arrow: [United States] ibiblio (http) is the random one chosen by the download page this time; yours may differ.
If you see the following pop-up window
ensure the Save File radio button is depressed and click OK.
This file should start downloading in your standard download folder. This file is about 200 Mb so it might take a while to download fully if you are on a slow internet connection (it took me a few minutes over a cable modem). Don't worry about the exact time as long as the download continues to make steady progress.
After the download has finished, terminate the window browsing the Eclipse download.
- Move this file to a more permanent location, so that you can install Eclipse (and reinstall it later, if necessary).
- Start the Installing instructions directly below.
Installing (for Python)
Python and Java should be installed before installing Eclipse- Unzip eclipse-standard-luna-R-macosx-cocoa-x86_64.tar.gz by double-clicking it.
Unzipping this file creates a folder named eclipse; unzipping 200 MB can take a few minutes. You can leave this folder here or move it elsewhere on your hard disk.
- Create an alias on the desktop to to the eclipse file in this eclipse folder:
On the Mac, you can- Control-click the file eclipse.exe
- Select the Make Alias option.
- Move it to the desktop.
Now you are ready to perform a one-time only setup of Eclipse on your machine.
- Double-click the alias to Eclipse that you just created above.
If the following pop-up window appears
click Open.
The following splash screen will appear
and then a Workspace Launcher pop-up window will appear.
In the Workspace text box, your name should appear between /Users and /Documents, instead of ellenolshansky (I did this on my wife's Mac).
Leave unchecked the Use this as the default and do not ask again box. Although you will use this same workspace for the entire quarter (checking projects in and out of it), it is best to see this Workspace Launcher pop-up window each time you start Eclipse, to remind you where your workspace is located.
In fact, it is a good idea to create on your desktop an alias to your workspace folder; but you must click OK (see below) before Eclipse creates this folder and you can alias it.
- Click OK.
Progress bars will appear as Eclipse loads.
Eventually the Eclipse workbench will appear with a Welcome tab covering it.
- Terminate (click X on) the Welcome tab.
You will not see the Welcome tab when you start Eclipse again, after this first time.
- Click Help (on the far right of the top toolbar) and then click Install New Software... in its pull-down menu, as shown below.
The Install pop-up window will appear.
- Enter the text (or cut/paste from this document) http://pydev.org/updates into the Work with text box and press Enter (if that doesn't work, try http://www.pydev.org/updates).
In a few seconds the information under Name should change from
There is no site selected to Pending toSelect only the top PyDev checkbox; do NOT select the PyDev Mylyn Integration (optional) box.
Check before proceeding that the Install pop-up window appears as - Click Next >
A new Install pop-up window will appear.
- Click Next >
A new Install pop-up window will appear.
Selecet the I accept the terms of the license agreement radio button, so the window appears as
- Click Finish
An Installing Software pop-up window will appear. During installation, it will show the various operations it is performing and a progress bar for each one. Because the installer is fetching various files online, this process might take a few minutes.
The installation will pause, and a Selection Needed pop-up window appears.
- Check the box labeled Brainwy Software; Pydev; Brainwy.
Check before proceeding that the Install pop-up window appears as
- Click OK
The installation will finish (showing the final progress bars).
A Software Updates pop-up window will appear.
- Click Yes
Eclipse will terminate and restart. As you did in step 3, click OK to the Workspace Launcher pop-up window.
- Click Eclipse (to the right of Apple logo on the far left of the top tool bar), and then click Preferences in its pull-down menu, as shown below.
- Drill down to select the interpreter:
- Disclose PyDev by clicking the triangle in front of PyDev or double-clicking PyDev (after the triangle).
- Disclose Interpreters by clicking the triangle in front of Interpreters or double-clicking Interpreters (after the triangle).
- Select Python - Interpreter.
- Click New... at the top-right of the top window
A Select Interpreter pop-up window appears.
Type python34 in the Interpreter Name text box.
Type (or cut/paste) //usr/local/bin/python3 in the Interpreter Executable text box (or browse to this file).
The Select Interpreter pop-up window should appear as - Click OK.
A Selection needed pop-up window will appear.
Ensure that a check appears in all four checkboxes.
- Click OK.
The Preferences pop-up window will be changed to
- Click OK.
A Progress Information pop-up window will appear.
During installation, it will show the various operations it is performing and a progress bar for each one. Eventually the installation will terminate.
- Click Window (to the left of Help on the far right of the top tool bar), hover over Open Perspective in the pull-down menu and then click Other... in the next pull-down menu.
The Open Perspective pop-up window will appear.
- Double-click PyDev (third from the bottom)
The label on Eclipse will change from Java - Eclipse to PyDev - Eclipse, and the Package Explorer in the upper-left tab will change to PyDev Package Explorer, and a PyDev icon will appear to the right of the Java icon.
- Right-click the Java icon to the left of the PyDev icon and select close
The Eclipse workbench will now have only the PyDev icon here and will look like
- Download the courselib.zip file.
In the pop-window that appears
ensure the Save File radio button is depressed and click OK.
- Locate the workspace folder created in step 3 (see /Users/yourname/Documents/workspace) and copy the courselib.zip file into this workspace and unzip it there, producing the courselib folder; it should should contain a bunch of Python module files (ending in .py). From time to time you will be asked to put other course-specific Python module files into this courselib folder; these modules will be usable in all Python projects in Eclipse.
- Inform Eclipse to use the courselib folder in all Python projects.
- Select Eclipse | Preferences.
- Disclose PyDev by clicking the triangle in front of PyDev or double-clicking PyDev (after the triangle).
- Disclose Interpreters by clicking the triangle in front of Interpreters or double-clicking Interpreters (after the triangle).
- Select Python - Interpreter.
- Click the Libraries tab (leftmost, above the bottom pane)
- Click the New Folder button (topmost, right of the bottom pane)
- Browse to the courselib folder (added above) in the Browse for Folder pop-up window (/Users/yourname/documents/workspace/courselib).
- Click the courselib folder selected, and then click OK
- Click Apply (you will see some progress bars)
The < />< />< b=' /> pop-up window should now appear asNotice a fifth entry (ending in courselib appears at the bottom of the bottom pane named System PYTHONPATH
< />< /> - Cick OK
- Terminate (click X on) the Eclipse window.
Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>
Python on a Macintosh running Mac OS X is in principle very similar to Python onany other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such asthe IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.
4.1. Getting and Installing MacPython¶
Mac OS X 10.8 comes with Python 2.7 pre-installed by Apple. If you wish, youare invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Pythonwebsite (https://www.python.org). A current “universal binary” build of Python,which runs natively on the Mac’s new Intel and legacy PPC CPU’s, is availablethere.
What you get after installing is a number of things:
A
Python3.9
folder in yourApplications
folder. In hereyou find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of officialPython distributions; and PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Pythonscripts from the Finder.A framework
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework
, which includes thePython executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shellpath. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. Asymlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/.
Python Eclipse Pydev
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 areApple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember thatif you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will havetwo different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it willbe 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 youare completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introductionin that document.
If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read thesection on running Python scripts from the Unix shell.
4.1.1. How to run a Python script¶
Your best way to get started with Python on Mac OS X is through the IDLEintegrated development environment, see section The IDE and use the Help menuwhen the IDE is running.
If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or fromthe Finder you first need an editor to create your script. Mac OS X comes with anumber of standard Unix command line editors, vim andemacs among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor,BBEdit or TextWrangler from Bare Bones Software (seehttp://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as isTextMate (see https://macromates.com/). Other editors includeGvim (http://macvim-dev.github.io/macvim/) and Aquamacs(http://aquamacs.org/).
To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that/usr/local/bin
is in your shell search path.
To run your script from the Finder you have two options:
Drag it to PythonLauncher
Select PythonLauncher as the default application to open yourscript (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it.PythonLauncher has various preferences to control how your script islaunched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or useits Preferences menu to change things globally.
4.1.2. Running scripts with a GUI¶
With older versions of Python, there is one Mac OS X quirk that you need to beaware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words,anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use pythonwinstead of python to start such scripts.
With Python 3.9, you can use either python or pythonw.
4.1.3. Configuration¶
Python on OS X honors all standard Unix environment variables such asPYTHONPATH
, but setting these variables for programs started from theFinder 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 Document QA1067 fordetails.
For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see sectionInstalling Additional Python Packages.
4.2. The IDE¶
MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A goodintroduction to using IDLE can be found athttp://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html.
4.3. Installing Additional Python Packages¶
There are several methods to install additional Python packages:
Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (
pythonsetup.pyinstall
).Many packages can also be installed via the setuptools extensionor pip wrapper, see https://pip.pypa.io/.
4.4. GUI Programming on the Mac¶
There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python.
PyObjC is a Python binding to Apple’s Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which isthe foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC isavailable from https://pypi.org/project/pyobjc/.
The standard Python GUI toolkit is tkinter
, based on the cross-platformTk toolkit (https://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with OSX by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed fromhttps://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source.
wxPython is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively onMac OS X. Packages and documentation are available from https://www.wxpython.org.
PyQt is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on MacOS X. More information can be found athttps://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro.
4.5. Distributing Python Applications on the Mac¶
Python Eclipse Download
The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac ispy2app. More information on installing and using py2app can be foundat http://undefined.org/python/#py2app.
4.6. Other Resources¶
The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users anddevelopers on the Mac:
Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki: