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Do NOT install Python 3

The latest version of Python (before Python 3) is Python 2.7. This appears to work OK on Windows and recent versions of Macs and Linux when running IDLE and MyPyTutor. The instructions below are for Python 2.7.

Windows Users

Go to the Python download page http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7.2 and download the Python 2.7.2 Windows installer.

Run the installer.

This should install Python 2.7.2 and IDLE.

Mac Users

Python will already be installed and the installation includes the IDLE libraries. However, you need to be running Python 2.7 (or Python 2.6). You can tell which version of Python you have installed by starting a terminal and running python. This starts the interpreter and displays the version in the startup message. If it is not 2.7 you can install it from the URL above.

To make IDLE a bit more user-friendly look at
http://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython/Leopard

Linux Users

Again, Python should already be installed and includes the IDLE libraries but you may need to install 2.7.
To make life easier use the packet manager for your Linux to get IDLE.
It will add the application to your menus and you can make a desktop icon in order to make running it easy.