diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1f7676d..2b8362a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ programs/pow.exe                // computes and prints 3 ^ (2 + 2) = 81
 ./run.sh programs/pow.wb        // combines both of the above steps
 ```
 
-And a work-in-progress prototype that partially compiles a program, then transpiles it to Python, as a quick way of sanity-checking program logic for more complex programs.
+And a work-in-progress prototype that partially compiles a program, then transpiles it to a minimal subset of Python, as a quick way of sanity-checking program logic for more complex programs.
 ```
-gen_python.sh programs/pow.wb
+./gen_python.sh programs/pow.wb
 ```
 
 
diff --git a/compile.sh b/compile.sh
index dd13424..674b56d 100755
--- a/compile.sh
+++ b/compile.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
     echo ""
     echo "Usage: $0 <filename.wb>    (you may also omit the .wb extension)"
     echo "For example:"
-    echo "  ./compile.sh programs/test_programs/program1.wb"
+    echo "  $0 programs/test_programs/program1.wb"
     echo "  programs/test_programs/program1.exe"
     echo ""
     exit 1
diff --git a/gen_python.sh b/gen_python.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..07ae4d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gen_python.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# compile .wb code -> intermediate representation -> transpile to simple Python
+# outputs to the terminal not a file
+
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo ""
+    echo "Usage: $0 <filename.wb>    (you may also omit the .wb extension)"
+    echo "For example:"
+    echo "  $0 programs/pow.wb > programs/pow.py"
+    echo "  python3 programs/pow.py"
+    echo ""
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+FILEPATH="$1"
+# remove extension if present (will assume .wb)
+FILEPATH=${FILEPATH%.*}
+FILE=$(BASENAME $FILEPATH)
+
+BLUE="\033[1;34m"
+RESETCOLOR="\033[0m"
+
+# echo simplified version of commands run, without all the relative path prefixes
+echo "${BLUE}python3 compile_to_python.py $FILE.wb$RESETCOLOR"
+python3 compiler/compile_to_python.py $FILEPATH.wb
+
+# Versions that write to file directly (not used)
+#echo "${BLUE}python3 compile_to_python.py $FILE.wb > ${FILE}_gen.py$RESETCOLOR"
+#python3 compiler/compile_to_python.py $FILEPATH.wb > ${FILEPATH}_gen.py
+
diff --git a/programs/pow_gen.py b/programs/pow_gen.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..321fcd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/programs/pow_gen.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# original source: programs/pow.wb
+# created by gen_python.py (work in progress)
+def pow(x, n):
+    out = 1
+    i = 0
+    while (i < n):
+        out = (out * x)
+        i = (i + 1)
+    return out
+
+def main():
+    x = pow(3, 4)
+    print(x)
+    return 0
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/run.sh b/run.sh
index e2a2310..95bcc7c 100755
--- a/run.sh
+++ b/run.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
     echo ""
     echo "Usage: $0 <filename.wb>    (you may also omit the .wb extension)"
     echo "For example:"
-    echo "  ./run.sh programs/test_programs/program1.wb"
+    echo "  $0 programs/test_programs/program1.wb"
     echo ""
     exit 1
 fi