Apologies for top posting - my phone seems unable to do otherwise.

Here's my view - which may not be popular.

1. Py.exe is an awful idea.

2. Installing python in %PROGRAMFILES% is not a good idea

3. Installing Python from a Microsoft shop or server is a bad idea

4. Shebang lines are pretty much redundant now that most python interpreters are run from venvs

5. Shebang lines have never had a place in Windows

TL;DR

1. Py.exe is not a standard python thing and learning to rely on it is following Microsoft's marketing strategy. That strategy has served them brilliantly since the 1980s. They make their environment just different enough to force users to invest
brainspace to make it work and thereby lock-in their users with their own muscle-memory. Very subtle. Not.

2. Installing Python in Microsoft's preferred location wasn't always "standard". Python downloaded from python.org always defaulted to C:\PythonXXX. I'm not saying that was a perfect location but at least it was (in my case still is) nicely visible for
researching multiple different pythons. Putting deep in Program files does nothing other than hide it.

3. You cannot trust Microsoft. You can trust Python Software Foundation. Python from PSF works the same in all environments - or if not it is a bug. Python from Microsoft is tweaked to satisfy their aforementioned strategy of locking in users to Windows.

4. Shebang lines are a fallback if you don't wish to type the interpreter location before typing your script name. You must know your interpreter location to get the shebang line right. Shebangs were never intended as primary devices. They are linux/unix
things.

5. Shebangs on Windows are a new opportunity for Microsoft to plough its own furrow. They are difficult to handle simply because of 4 above.

To finish this rant, I believe it is far better to aim for standardisation rather than subtle and annoying differences deliberately designed to supplant standards in favour of market dominance.

Merry Christmas all

Cheers

Mike




On 24 December 2023 3:35:42 am AEDT, Michael Torrie via Python-list <python-list@python.org> wrote:

On 12/22/23 20:56, Thomas Passin via Python-list wrote:

It's just better not to make assumptions about which version of Python
will be running. Just specify it yourself when you can, and then you can
be sure.

Precisely, which is why the shebang is so useful, even on Windows with
py launcher. For example, set the shebang to:

#!/usr/bin/python3.6

And py launcher will always try to run it with Python 3.6.

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