So there is some confusion about jsonrpc vs. bitcoinrpc. Seems like jsonrpc is now for backwards-compatiblity. (There is even some forward compatibility, from what I've heard, but I don't know if it's true.)
So follow the instructions on
https://github.com/jgarzik/python-bitcoinrpc
His instructions are sparse. You 'git clone http://above bitcoinrpc' and it will put all the files in a folder called bitcoinrpc. Then you
'python setup.py build'
and then
'python setup.py install'
Ok, so now you have to be running the daemon. Something like
bitcoind -server -rpcpassword=
Then you are ready for hello world. Run
python
and in the shell you
>>>import bitcoinrpc
>>>import jsonrpc
>>>b = jsonrpc.ServiceProxy("http://username:password@localhost:8332")
>>>balance = b.float(b.getbalance())
>>>balance
Decimal('0.00120000')
>>>
Yay!
Could you please tell me if this works for python 3.4 or only for 2.7?