
.. quickstart

QuickStart
==========

Install RocketCEA
-----------------

The easiest way to install RocketCEA is::

    pip install rocketcea
    
        OR on Linux
    sudo pip install rocketcea
        OR perhaps
    pip install --user rocketcea


Getting Help
------------

After installing with ``pip``, there will be a launch command line program called **rocketcea** or, on Windows, **rocketcea.exe**. 

From a terminal or command prompt window simply type::

    rocketcea

Your browser will launch with these RocketCEA help pages.

Running RocketCEA
-----------------

Any use of RocketCEA begins with an import statement and an instance of CEA_obj::

    from rocketcea.cea_obj import CEA_Obj
    C = CEA_Obj( oxName='LOX', fuelName='LH2')

In the above example, LOX and LH2 are called out, but any propellants on the :ref:`Propellants <propellants_link>` page can be used.

There are a large number of examples included in this document

For instance, look at :ref:`LOX/LH2 Performance <example_1_link>` on the :ref:`Standard Examples <std_examples_link>` page. 

Highlight the source code with your mouse, right click the highlighted code and select **Copy**. 

Paste that code into your text editor and save it to a python file.(for example D:/rocketcea/example_1.py).


At a command prompt, navigate to that subdirectory (D:/rocketcea in the example above) and give the command::

    python.exe example1.py

In many text editors, hitting the **F5** key will execute the code.

