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- <div class="document" id="why-is-python-installed-on-my-computer-faq">
- <h1 class="title">"Why is Python Installed on my Computer?" FAQ</h1>
- <div class="section">
- <h1><a id="what-is-python" name="what-is-python">What is Python?</a></h1>
- <p>Python is a programming language. It's used for many different
- applications. It's used in some high schools and colleges as an
- introductory programming language because Python is easy to learn, but
- it's also used by professional software developers at places such as Google,
- NASA, and Industrial Light & Magic.</p>
- <p>If you're curious about finding out more about Python, start with the
- <a class="reference" href="http://www.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide">Beginner's Guide to Python</a>.</p>
- </div>
- <div class="section">
- <h1><a id="why-is-python-installed-on-my-machine" name="why-is-python-installed-on-my-machine">Why is Python installed on my machine?</a></h1>
- <p>If you find Python installed on your system but don't remember
- installing it, there are several possible ways it could have gotten
- there.</p>
- <ul class="simple">
- <li>Perhaps another user on the computer wanted to learn programming
- and installed it; you'll have to figure out who's been using the machine
- and might have installed it.</li>
- <li>A third-party application installed on the machine might have been written
- in Python and included a Python installation. For a home computer,
- the most common such application is
- <a class="reference" href="http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/pysol/">PySol</a>,
- a solitaire game that includes over 200 different games and variations.</li>
- <li>Some Windows machines also have Python installed. At this writing we're
- aware of computers from Hewlett-Packard and Compaq that include Python.
- Apparently some of HP/Compaq's administrative tools are written in Python.</li>
- <li>All Apple computers running Mac OS X have Python installed; it's included
- in the base installation.</li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- <div class="section">
- <h1><a id="can-i-delete-python" name="can-i-delete-python">Can I delete Python?</a></h1>
- <p>That depends on where Python came from.</p>
- <p>If someone installed it deliberately, you can remove it without
- hurting anything. On Windows, use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the
- Control Panel.</p>
- <p>If Python was installed by a third-party application, you can also
- remove it, but that application will no longer work. You should probably
- use that application's uninstaller rather than removing Python directly.</p>
- <p>If Python came with your operating system, removing it is not
- recommended. If you remove it, whatever tools were written in Python
- will no longer run, and some of them might be important to you.
- Reinstalling the whole system would then be required to fix things
- again.</p>
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