[vtkusers] VTK and Python on OS X El Capitan

[Sturla Molden]

David Gobbi <david.gobbi at gmail.com> wrote:

> You say "standard advice" and then point to a page you wrote yourself ;)
> I'm torn between agreeing with the advice and disliking the fact that the
> system can't just "get along" with us.  Before you know it, our workstations
> will just be iPads with a keyboard, and maybe a little sandbox for writing
> toy programs.

As long as scientistis need programmable computers there will be
programmable computers. It might not be a Mac, but there will always be
hardware we can program to do what we need.

As for iPads, as long as Apple needs us to build apps for iOS and OSX,
there will be developer tools available.

The system can "get along" with us. We can use the system Python. We cannot
modify it. That is because a random user cannot know the consequences of
tempering with an operating system component. To ensure the integerity of
the computer, a product for which Apple has responsibility and liability,
this requires thorough testing by Apple's own engineers. Therefore it now
comes with temper protection. There is nothing wrong with this. We can
still use the system Python as a runtime and we can still install our own
Python interpreter if it is insufficient. Apple has just taken steps to
ensure the integrity of the system components they have installed, which is
perfectly ok. 


Sturla