You develop and upload Python applications for Google App Engine using the App Engine Python software development kit (SDK).

The Python SDK includes a web server application that simulates the App Engine environment, including a local version of the datastore, Google Accounts, and the ability to fetch URLs and send email directly from your computer using the App Engine APIs. The Python SDK runs on any computer with Python 2.7, and versions are available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. (The Python SDK is not compatible with Python 3.)

The Python SDK for Windows and Mac includes Google App Engine Launcher, an application that runs on your computer and provides a graphical interface that simplifies many common App Engine development tasks.

If necessary, download and install Python 2.7 for your platform from the Python web site. Mac OS X 10.7 Lion users already have Python 2.7 installed.

Download and install the App Engine SDK for Python for your operating system.

For this tutorial, you will use two commands from the SDK:

• dev_appserver.py, the development web server
• appcfg.py, for uploading your app to App Engine

These commands are accessible from the command line:

• For Windows users: The Windows installer puts these commands in the command path. After installation, you can run these commands from a command prompt. You may also need to specify the path to your Python installation by going to Edit > Preferences and entering the path to python.exe under Python Path.
• For Mac users: You can put these commands in the command path by selecting "Make Symlinks..." from the "GoogleAppEngineLauncher" menu. Also, you may need to manually approve the execution of the SDK installer and/or the Google App Engine Launcher.

If you are using the Zip archive version of the SDK, you will find these commands in the google_appengine directory.

Note: Alternatively, instead of running commands at the command line, Windows and Mac users can run the Google App Engine Launcher, a GUI for launching applications which is included in the SDK. After starting the Google App Engine Launcher click the Run and Deploy buttons instead of using the commands above.

Next...

The local development environment lets you develop and test complete App Engine applications before showing them to the world. Let's write some code.

Continue to Hello, World!

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