Good afternoon all,
My students are starting out with their first Vex VR Python assignment, the castle crasher. A few of the girls are getting the “Loading Python Interpreter” message when they click the run button in the Castle Crasher playground. I’m not sure what that means. Is it a browser issue or something else?
Thank you-
Michelle
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That is a good question. The quick answer is that the message is normal as things are getting processed in the background.
detailed explanation:
For every run of the python projects, we need to restart the python interpreter. This is done so that we can ensure that the project always starts with the same starting values. We don’t want a variable to start with an unexpected value and cause your project to behave in an unexpected way.
To reduce the time required between runs, we try to have 2 instances of the interpreter loaded so that we can switch between them to let the other reset in the background. However that is not possible for all computers/devices due to performance and memory limitations. This also does not help when you are opening the playground as it needs to create both interpreters at that time.
When we do not have an interpreter ready, we display that message. This is because we are unable to start running the project if the interpreter is not ready. so to avoid our users thinking that VEXcode is broken since it is not letting the project run, we display that message to let you know what is happening.
Hopefully that answers your question. If not, let me know what you are unsure about and I will be happy to provide additional information. (or ask one of our education experts to help translate my techno babble…)
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Thank you so much Jacob for both the short and detailed message! So my follow-up to this though is how long should this message run for before the second instance opens? It does seem stuck as the message suns for awhile. Is there anything my students can do on their end to hasten/avoid getting that message?
Thank you again for the quick response.
Michelle
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How long it takes to restart the interpreter will depend on the performance of your computers. I would say if it takes more than 2 minutes then it could be a sign of a problem. If that happens I would recommend submitting feedback from VEXcode with the diagnostic data included so that we can take a look to see what is happening.
One of the best ways to work around the restart times is to stop your project when you find an issue or the end of your code. Do not close the playground window, as then you will need to wait for the interpreter to start again when you open the window again. If the window is in the way, I would recommend hiding the playground area.
Then while the interpreter is restarting you can work on making the changes to your code. This will help hide the time required for the interpreter to restart since you can be thinking about the code while that is happening instead of thinking about how you need to wait for it to restart.
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Hi Michelle,
I’d love to chime in for a bit. Which browser is your student using? If they are using Safari, Python may not work. The following message will pop up if you are using Safari. If this is the case, could you kindly ask your student to use Chrome or Firefox?
Python support in VEXcode VR is currently in an experimental state on Safari for Mac and unexpected errors may occur. We recommend users use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox for a better experience as we continue to improve Safari for Mac support.
And what kind of computer is your student using? This would be helpful for us to understand if it is a computer issue.
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@Michelle_Sherry just wanted to check in if this has been resolved for you? 
