Setting up a Mac to learn Python, the way you'd actually want to

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I bought my dad a MacBook Air for Father’s Day. He joined Sun Microsystems in 1990 and spent two decades there writing Java, at the company that invented it, then moved to Oracle when it bought Sun in 2010. He retired in the summer of 2022. Thirty-two years, and he hasn’t really opened a computer since. The plan is to get him back into it with Python, using Eric Matthes’ Python Crash Course , which is the book I’d hand anyone starting today.

There’s a small joke buried in that. Python Crash Course opens with a dedication: “For my father, who always made time to answer my questions about programming.” I’m running it backwards.

Homebrew on Some Guys Blog

Setting up a Mac to learn Python, the way you'd actually want to