A Programming Tutorial for my Wife and my Mom (Python)

I love computers and programming, and I’ve always wanted to share that love with the people closest to me. The tricky part is that there’s an experience gap — not because they don’t care, more of a “we haven’t walked the same path yet” gap. It can feel isolating to be excited about something and not really have a way to talk about it with the people you care about most. So I made this tutorial (and this whole site, really) as a way to bridge the gap. I’m hoping this does two things:

Gives my family (and you) a real starting point to explore this stuff alongside me.
Lets me finally share the excitement I’ve been keeping to myself.

I wrote this tutorial with my wife and my mom in mind — love you both! You both have Macs, so that’s what we’ll use for this guide.

Now, enough preamble. Let’s get started!

Step 1. Install Python

Your Mac actually comes with a version of Python already, but it’s there for the operating system’s own use — we don’t want to mess with that one. Instead, we’ll install our own copy. There are two good ways to do it, and I’ll walk you through both (I personally use method 2).

Method 1: The Official Installer

If you want a “download and click” experience, the official installer from the Python Software Foundation is the cleanest method.

Download: Visit Python.org.
The Installer: Download the latest macOS 64-bit universal2 installer (currently Python 3.14.x).
Run it: Open the .pkg file and follow the wizard.
Certificate Fix: Once installed, find the file named Install Certificates.command in the Python folder that pops up in Finder and double-click it. This is crucial for fixing SSL connection errors later.

Method 2: Using Homebrew

If you’re feeling a little adventurous or think you might want to keep exploring after this tutorial, Homebrew is a great tool to have. It’s basically an app store for your Terminal — it makes installing, updating, and removing developer tools really easy.

Terminal: An app that allows you to interact with your computer's command-line. Search for it in your app launchpad, or by hitting cmd+space and searching for "terminal".

1. Install Homebrew

If you don’t have it yet, paste this into your Terminal:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh))"

2. Install Python

Once Homebrew is ready, installing Python is a single command:

brew install python

3. Update Your Path (M1/M2/M3 Macs)

On modern Apple Silicon Macs, Homebrew installs things in /opt/homebrew. To make sure your Mac looks there first, run these commands to add them to your profile:

echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

Verify the Setup

Regardless of which method you chose, restart your Terminal and run:

python3 --version

It should now display the latest version (e.g., Python 3.14.3).

Writing Your First Program

Let’s verify everything is working by writing a classic “Hello World” script.

Create the file:

nano hello.py

This creates a new, blank file called “hello.py” and opens it so we can start editing the file.

Nano is a command-line text editor, similar to notepad. We just used it, but you could use any plain text editor and it would work the same.

Add the code:

print("Hello from my Mac!")

In python, and any programming language, we have "keywords" that tell the script to do certain things. Python is a good language to start with because a lot of the keywords attempt to be intuative. Let's keep going.

Save and Exit:

Press Ctrl + o, then Enter to save. Press Ctrl + X to exit.

Run your script:

python3 hello.py

You should see

python3 hello.py
Hello from my Mac!

Try opening the file with nano again (like we did when we created the file) and changing the text inside the quotes. Then run the script again! Isn’t that fun! You just wrote your first program!

What’s Next?

If you made it this far — I’m proud of you, seriously. You just set up a real programming environment and wrote actual code. That’s not a small thing. From here, there’s a whole world of things you can build, and I’d love to keep walking through it together. Stay tuned for more tutorials, and don’t forget to talk to me about your first program. :)