Learn Python Programming

The Definitive Guide

Python is a powerful high-level, object-oriented programming language created by
Guido van Rossum.

It has simple easy-to-use syntax, making it the perfect language for someone trying
to learn computer programming for the first time.

This is a comprehensive guide on how to get started in Python, why you should
learn it and how you can learn it. However, if you knowledge of other programming
languages and want to quickly get started with Python, visit Python tutorial page.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Python Tutorials
 About Python Programming

 Reasons to Learn Python

 Run Python in Your Computer

 Your First Python Program

 Recommended Python Books

What is Python (Programming)? - The

Basics
Before getting started, lets get familiarized with the language first.

Python is a general-purpose language. It has wide range of applications from Web

development (like: Django and Bottle), scientific and mathematical computing
(Orange, SymPy, NumPy) to desktop graphical user Interfaces (Pygame, Panda3D).

The syntax of the language is clean and length of the code is relatively short. It's fun
to work in Python because it allows you to think about the problem rather than
focusing on the syntax.

More information on Python Language:

History of Python

Python is a fairly old language created by Guido Van Rossum. The design began in
the late 1980s and was first released in February 1991.

Why Python was created?

In late 1980s, Guido Van Rossum was working on the Amoeba distributed operating
system group. He wanted to use an interpreted language like ABC (ABC has simple
easy-to-understand syntax) that could access the Amoeba system calls. So, he
decided to create a language that was extensible. This led to design of a new
language which was later named Python.

Why the name Python?

No. It wasn't named after a dangerous snake. Rossum was fan of a comedy series
from late seventies. The name "Python" was adopted from the same series "Monty
Python's Flying Circus".

Release Dates of Different Versions

Version Release Data

Python 1.0 (first standard release) January 1994

Python 1.6 (Last minor version) September 5, 2000

Python 2.0 (Introduced list comprehensions) October 16, 2000

Python 2.7 (Last minor version) July 3, 2010
Version Release Data

Python 3.0 (Emphasis on removing duplicative constructs and module) December 3, 2008
Python 3.5 (Last updated version) September 13, 2015

Features of Python Programming

1. A simple language which is easier to learn

Python has a very simple and elegant syntax. It's much easier to read
and write Python programs compared to other languages like: C++,
Java, C#. Python makes programming fun and allows you to focus on
the solution rather than syntax.
If you are a newbie, it's a great choice to start your journey with
Python.

2. Free and open-source

You can freely use and distribute Python, even for commercial use. Not
only can you use and distribute softwares written in it, you can even
make changes to the Python's source code.
Python has a large community constantly improving it in each iteration.

3. Portability
You can move Python programs from one platform to another, and run
it without any changes.
It runs seamlessly on almost all platforms including Windows, Mac OS
X and Linux.

4. Extensible and Embeddable

Suppose an application requires high performance. You can easily
combine pieces of C/C++ or other languages with Python code.
This will give your application high performance as well as scripting
capabilities which other languages may not provide out of the box.

5. A high-level, interpreted language

Unlike C/C++, you don't have to worry about daunting tasks like
memory management, garbage collection and so on.
Likewise, when you run Python code, it automatically converts your
code to the language your computer understands. You don't need to
worry about any lower-level operations.

6. Large standard libraries to solve common tasks

Python has a number of standard libraries which makes life of a
programmer much easier since you don't have to write all the code
 yourself. For example: Need to connect MySQL database on a Web
server? You can use MySQLdb library using import MySQLdb .
Standard libraries in Python are well tested and used by hundreds of
people. So you can be sure that it won't break your application.

7. Object-oriented
Everything in Python is an object. Object oriented programming (OOP)
helps you solve a complex problem intuitively.
With OOP, you are able to divide these complex problems into smaller
sets by creating objects.

Applications of Python

Web Applications

You can create scalable Web Apps using frameworks and CMS (Content
Management System) that are built on Python. Some of the popular platforms for
creating Web Apps are: Django, Flask, Pyramid, Plone, Django CMS.

Sites like Mozilla, Reddit, Instagram and PBS are written in Python.

Scientific and Numeric Computing

There are numerous libraries available in Python for scientific and numeric
computing. There are libraries like: SciPy and NumPy that are used in general
purpose computing. And, there are specific libraries like: EarthPy for earth science,
AstroPy for Astronomy and so on.

Also, the language is heavily used in machine learning, data mining and deep
learning.

Creating software Prototypes

Python is slow compared to compiled languages like C++ and Java. It might not be a
good choice if resources are limited and efficiency is a must.

However, Python is a great language for creating prototypes. For example: You can
use Pygame (library for creating games) to create your game's prototype first. If you
like the prototype, you can use language like C++ to create the actual game.

Good Language to Teach Programming

Python is used by many companies to teach programming to kids and newbies.

It is a good language with a lot of features and capabilities. Yet, it's one of the
easiest language to learn because of its simple easy-to-use syntax.

Reasons to Choose Python as First

Language

1. Simple Elegant Syntax

Programming in Python is fun. It's easier to understand and write

Python code. Why?The syntax feels natural. Take this source code for
an example:

2. a = 2

3. b = 3

4. sum = a + b

print(sum)

Even if you have never programmed before, you can easily guess that
this program adds two numbers and prints it.
5. Not overly strict
 You don't need to define the type of a variable in Python. Also, it's not
necessary to add semicolon at the end of the statement.

Python enforces you to follow good practices (like proper indentation).

These small things can make learning much easier for beginners.

6. Expressiveness of the language

Python allows you to write programs having greater functionality with

fewer lines of code. Here's a link to the source code of Tic-tac-toe
game with a graphical interface and a smart computer opponent in less
than 500 lines of code. This is just an example. You will be amazed
how much you can do with Python once you learn the basics.

7. Great Community and Support

Python has a large supporting community. There are numerous active

forums online which can be handy if you are stuck. Some of them are:

o Learn Python subreddit

o Google Forum for Python
o Python Questions - Stack Overflow

Run Python on Your Operating System

You will find the easiest way to run Python on your computer (Windows, Mac OS X
or Linux) in this section.

Install and Run Python in Mac OS X

1. Go to Download Python page on the official site and click Download

Python 3.6.0 (You may see different version name).
 2. When the download is complete, open the package and follow the
instructions. You will see "The installation was successful" message
when Python is successfully installed.

3. It's recommended to download a good text editor before you get

started. If you are a beginner, I suggest you to download Sublime Text.
It's free.

4. The installation process is straight forward. Run the Sublime Text Disk
Image file you downloaded and follow the instructions.

5. Open Sublime Text and go to File > New File (Shortcut: Cmd+N).

Then, save (Cmd+S or File > Save) the file with .py extension like:
hello.py or first-program.py

6. Write the code and save it again. For starters, you can copy the code
below:

print("Hello, World!")

This simple program outputs "Hello, World!"

7. Go to Tool > Build (Shortcut: Cmd + B). You will see the output at the
bottom of Sublime Text.Congratulations, you've successfully run your
first Python program.

Install and Run Python in Linux (Ubuntu)

1. Install the following dependencies:

2. $ sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall

$ sudo apt-get install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev

libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-
dev

3. Go to Download Python page on the official site and click Download

Python 3.6.0 (You may see different version name).
4. In the terminal, go to the directory where the file is downloaded and run
the command:

$ tar -xvf Python-3.6.0.tgz

This will extract your zipped file. Note: The filename will be different if

you've downloaded a different version. Use the appropriate filename.
5. Go to the extracted directory.

$ cd Python-3.6.0

6. Issue the following commands to compile Python source code on your

Operating system.

7. $ ./configure

8. $ make

9. $ make install

10.We recommend you to install Sublime Text if you are a newbie. To

install Sublime Text in Ubuntu (on 14.04). Issue following commands.

11. $ sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-2

12. $ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install sublime-text

13.Open Sublime text. To create a new file, go to File > New

File (Shortcut: Ctrl+N).
 14.Save the file with .py file extension like: hello.py or first-program.py

15.Write the code and save it (Ctrl+S or File > Save) . For starters, you
can copy the code below:

print("Hello, World!")

This simple program outputs "Hello, World!"

16.Go to Tool > Build (Shortcut: Ctrl+B). You will see the output at the
bottom of Sublime Text. Congratulations, you've successfully run your
first Python program.

Install and Run Python in Windows

1. Go to Download Python page on the official site and click Download

Python 3.6.0 (You may see different version name).

2. When the download is completed, double-click the file and follow the
instructions to install it.
When Python is installed, a program called IDLE is also installed along
with it. It provides graphical user interface to work with Python.

3. Open IDLE, copy the following code below and press enter.

4. print("Hello, World!")

5. To create a file in IDLE, go to File > New Window (Shortcut: Ctrl+N).

6. Write Python code (you can copy the code below for now) and save
(Shortcut: Ctrl+S) with .py file extension like: hello.py or your-first-
program.py

print("Hello, World!")

7. Go to Run > Run module (Shortcut: F5) and you can see the output.
Congratulations, you've successfully run your first Python program.

 
 Your First Python Program

Often, a program called "Hello, World!" is used to introduce a new programming

language to beginners. A "Hello, World!" is a simple program that outputs "Hello,
World!".

However, Python is one of the easiest language to learn, and creating "Hello,
World!" program is as simple as writing print("Hello, World!"). So, we are going to
write a different program.

Program to Add Two Numbers

 script.py
 IPython Shell

1
2
3
4
5
# Add two numbers
num1 = 3
num2 = 5
sum = num1+num2
print(sum)
Run
Powered by DataCamp

How this program works?

Line 1: # Add two numbers
Any line starting with # in Python programming is a comment.

Comments are used in programming to describe the purpose of the code. This helps
you as well as other programmers to understand the intent of the code. Comments
are completely ignored by compilers and interpreters.

Line 2: num1 = 3

Here, num1 is a variable. You can store a value in a variable. Here, 3 is stored in this
variable.

Line 3: num2 = 5

Similarly, 5 is stored in num2 variable.

Line 4: sum = num1+num2

The variables num1 and num2 are added using + operator. The result of addition is

then stored in another variable sum.

Line 5: print(sum)

The print() function prints the output to the screen. In our case, it prints 8 on the
screen.

Few Important Things to Remember

To represent a statement in Python, newline (enter) is used. The use of semicolon at
the end of the statement is optional (unlike languages like C/C++, PHP). In fact, it's
recommended to omit semicolon at the end of the statement in Python.

Instead of curly braces { }, indentations are used to represent a block.

im_a_parent:

im_a_child:

im_a_grand_child
 im_another_child:

im_another_grand_child

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Final Words
Python is a terrific language. The syntax is simple and code length is short which
makes is easy to understand and write.

If you are getting started in programming, Python is an awesome choice. You will be
amazed how much you can do in Python once you know the basics.

It's easy to overlook the fact that Python is a powerful language. Not only is it good
for learning programming, it's also a good language to have in your arsenal. Change
your idea into a prototype or create games or get started with data Science, Python
can help you in everything to get started.