Issues installing python3.8 to mac...help!

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I’ve posted about this issue before but the problem still stands. I am a recent graduate who took a class in python coding but want to further advance my skills. I am trying to follow the “KidsCanCode” videos available on YouTube in hopes of creating a basic video game. I followed the download instructions for python 3.8.2 (Mac version) but am having trouble opening up the shell. When I try to open my IDLE application within the python 3 folder to access the shell, it bounces on my dock but then nothing happens. I am able to get the python 2 shell to come up when I type “idle” into the terminal but not the 3. I’ve tried deleting it and re-downloading it but the issue remains. I’ve tried changing the default python version from 2 to 3 in the launcher by putting “/use/local/bin/python3” in the interpreter but still nothing happens. I’ve tried installing a new tack/tk but am not sure how to run it with the python package to get it to work. Does anyone know how to get this running or who I can contact? The only way I have been able to run any python codes/commands is through the terminal. Here I can type “python3” and the run some print codes. What am I doing wrong? How do I open the IDLE application within the python 3 folder so that the shell will appear? Thanks for the help and if you need clarification I can for sure answer so that this problem can be solved.

What I have tried:

I tried changing the default python version from 2 to 3 by putting "/use/local/bin/python3"in the terminal. Ive tried downloading a newer version of tcl/tk however, I think I did not get it working. I tried updating the pip but was unsuccessful and running a old version.

Posted 14-Jun-20 14:16pm

Ria_Grilliot

Updated 14-Jun-20 19:50pm

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Garth J Lancaster · Answer 1 · 2020-06-14T19:51:00

well, Im not sure what you've read, but the first two links I found are

4. Using Python on a Macintosh — Python 3.8.3 documentation[^] and Hello World in Python 3 on Mac OS X[^]

Quote:
when I type “idle” into the terminal

... have you tried typing 'idle3' ? I thought that was how IDLE was started in a 'mixed' Python version environment

Another thing that may be worth trying is, if you do a 'python --help' you should see

Quote:
Other environment variables:
PYTHONSTARTUP: file executed on interactive startup (no default)
PYTHONPATH : ':'-separated list of directories prefixed to the
default module search path. The result is sys.path.
PYTHONHOME : alternate <prefix> directory (or <prefix>:<exec_prefix>).
The default module search path uses <prefix>/pythonX.X.

So you may need to set PYTHONHOME to point to your /usr/local/bin/python3 bin folder - that is to say, vi ~/.bashrc and add

export PYTHONHOME=/usr/local/bin/python3

under any statements or replace if there's one already set (there isnt on my Mac, but Ive only got the original Python 2 version anyway)

I hope there's something useful here - when the world wakes up someone else may have more knowledge and chip in