2.

6 How to talk to a computer

The input() function
We're now going to introduce you to a completely new function, which seems to be a mirror
reflection of the good old print() function.

Why? Well, print() sends data to the console.

The new function gets data from it.

print() has no usable result. The meaning of the new function is to return a very usable
result.

The function is named input(). The name of the function says everything.

The input() function is able to read data entered by the user and to return the same data to
the running program.

The program can manipulate the data, making the code truly interactive.

Virtually all programs read and process data. A program which doesn't get a user's input is
a deaf program.

Take a look at our example:

print("Tell me anything...") anything = input() print("Hmm...", anything,

"... Really?")

It shows a very simple case of using the input() function.

Note:

 The program prompts the user to input some data from the console (most likely
using a keyboard, although it is also possible to input data using voice or image);
 the input() function is invoked without arguments (this is the simplest way of using
the function); the function will switch the console to input mode; you'll see a
blinking cursor, and you'll be able to input some keystrokes, finishing off by hitting
the Enter key; all the inputted data will be sent to your program through the
function's result;
 note: you need to assign the result to a variable; this is crucial - missing out this step
will cause the entered data to be lost;
 then we use the print() function to output the data we get, with some additional
remarks.

Try to run the code and let the function show you what it can do for you.
The input() function with an argument
The input() function can do something else: it can prompt the user without any help from
print().

We've modified our example a bit, look at the code:

anything = input("Tell me anything...")

print("Hmm...", anything, "...Really?")

Note:

 the input() function is invoked with one argument - it's a string containing a
message;
 the message will be displayed on the console before the user is given an opportunity
to enter anything;
 input() will then do its job.

This variant of the input() invocation simplifies the code and makes it clearer.

The result of the input() function

We've said it already, but it must be unambiguously stated once again: the result of the
input() function is a string.

A string containing all the characters the user enters from the keyboard. It is not an integer or
a float.

This means that you mustn't use it as an argument of any arithmetic operation, e.g., you
can't use this data to square it, divide it by anything, or divide anything by it.

anything = input("Enter a number: ")

something = anything ** 2.0
print(anything, "to the power of 2 is", something)

The input() function - prohibited

operations
Look at the code in the editor. Run it, enter any number, and press Enter.
What happens?

Python should have given you the following output:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File ".main.py", line 4, in <module>

something = anything ** 2.0

TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for ** or pow(): 'str' and 'float'

The last line of the sentence explains everything - you tried to apply the ** operator to 'str'
(string) accompanied with 'float'.

This is prohibited.

This should be obvious - can you predict the value of "to be or not to be" raised to the
power of 2?

We can't. Python can't either.

Have we fallen into a deadlock? Is there a solution to this issue? Of course there is.

Type casting
Python offers two simple functions to specify a type of data and solve this problem - here
they are: int() and float().

Their names are self-commenting:

 the int() function takes one argument (e.g., a string: int(string)) and tries to convert it
into an integer; if it fails, the whole program will fail too (there is a workaround for this
situation, but we'll show you this a little later);
 the float() function takes one argument (e.g., a string: float(string))and tries to
convert it into a float (the rest is the same).

This is very simple and very effective. Moreover, you can invoke any of the functions by
passing the input() results directly to them. There's no need to use any variable as an
intermediate storage.

We've implemented the idea in the editor - take a look at the code.

Can you imagine how the string entered by the user flows from input() into print()?

Try to run the modified code. Don't forget to enter a valid number.

Check some different values, small and big, negative and positive. Zero is a good input, too.

anything = float(input("Enter a number: "))

something = anything ** 2.0

print(anything, "to the power of 2 is", something)

answer

Enter a number: 11
11.0 to the power of 2 is 121.0

More about input() and type casting

Having a team consisting of the trio input()-int()-float() opens up lots of new
possibilities.

You'll eventually be able to write complete programs, accepting data in the form of numbers,
processing them and displaying the results.

Of course, these programs will be very primitive and not very usable, as they cannot make
decisions, and consequently are not able to react differently to different situations.

This is not really a problem, though; we'll show you how to overcome it soon.

Our next example refers to the earlier program to find the length of a hypotenuse. Let's
rewrite it and make it able to read the lengths of the legs from the console.

Check out the editor window - this is how it looks now.

The program asks the user twice for both legs' lengths, evaluates the hypotenuse and prints
the result.

Run it and try to input some negative values.

The program - unfortunately - doesn't react to this obvious error.

Let's ignore this weakness for now. We'll come back to it soon.

Note that in the program that you can see in the editor, the hypo variable is used for only one
purpose - to save the calculated value between the execution of the adjoining line of code.

As the print() function accepts an expression as its argument, you can remove the variable
from the code.

Just like this:

leg_a = float(input("Input first leg length: "))

leg_b = float(input("Input second leg length: "))
print("Hypotenuse length is", (leg_a**2 + leg_b**2) ** .5)

String operators - introduction

It's time to return to these two arithmetic operators: + and *.

We want to show you that they have a second function. They are able to do something more
than just add and multiply.

We've seen them in action where their arguments are numbers (floats or integers, it doesn't
matter).

Now we're going to show you that they can handle strings, too, albeit in a very specific way.

Concatenation
The + (plus) sign, when applied to two strings, becomes a concatenation operator:

string + string

It simply concatenates (glues) two strings into one. Of course, like its arithmetic sibling, it
can be used more than once in one expression, and in such a context it behaves according to
left-sided binding.

In contrast to its arithmetic sibling, the concatenation operator is not commutative, i.e., "ab"
+ "ba" is not the same as "ba" + "ab".

Don't forget - if you want the + sign to be a concatenator, not an adder, you must ensure that
both its arguments are strings.

You cannot mix types here.

This simple program shows the + sign in its second use:

fnam = input("May I have your first name, please? ")

lnam = input("May I have your last name, please? ")
print("Thank you.")
print("\nYour name is " + fnam + " " + lnam + ".")

Note: using + to concatenate strings lets you construct the output in a more precise way than
with a pure print() function, even if enriched with the end= and sep= keyword arguments.

Run the code and see if the output matches your predictions.

Replication
The * (asterisk) sign, when applied to a string and number (or a number and string, as it
remains commutative in this position) becomes a replication operator:

string * number number * string

It replicates the string the same number of times specified by the number.

For example:

 "James" * 3 gives "JamesJamesJames"

 3 * "an" gives "ananan"
 5 * "2" (or "2" * 5) gives "22222" (not 10!)

REMEMBER

A number less than or equal to zero produces an empty string.

This simple program "draws" a rectangle, making use of an old operator (+) in a new role:

print("+" + 10 * "-" + "+")

print(("|" + " " * 10 + "|\n") * 5, end="")

print("+" + 10 * "-" + "+")

Note the way in which we've used the parentheses in the second line of the code.

+----------+

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

+----------+

Try practicing to create other shapes or your own artwork!

Type conversion: str()

You already know how to use the int() and float() functions to convert a string into a
number.

This type of conversion is not a one-way street. You can also convert a number into a
string, which is way easier and safer - this operation is always possible.

A function capable of doing that is called str():

str(number)

To be honest, it can do much more than just transform numbers into strings, but that can wait
for later.

The "right-angle triangle" again

Here is our "right-angle triangle" program again:

leg_a = float(input("Input first leg length: "))

leg_b = float(input("Input second leg length: "))
print("Hypotenuse length is " + str((leg_a**2 + leg_b**2) ** .5))

We've modified it a bit to show you how the str() function works. Thanks to this, we can
pass the whole result to the print() function as one string, forgetting about the commas.

You've made some serious strides on your way to Python programming.

You already know the basic data types, and a set of fundamental operators. You know how to
organize the output and how to get data from the user. These are very strong foundations for
Module 2. But before we move on to the next module, let's do a few labs, and recap all that

you've learned in this section.

LAB

Estimated time

5-10 minutes

Level of difficulty

Easy

Objectives

 becoming familiar with the inputting and outputting of data in Python;

 evaluating simple expressions.

Scenario

Your task is to complete the code in order to evaluate the results of four basic arithmetic
operations.

The results have to be printed to the console.

You may not be able to protect the code from a user who wants to divide by zero. That's
okay, don't worry about it for now.
Test your code - does it produce the results you expect?

We won't show you any test data - that would be too simple.

# input a float value for variable a here

# input a float value for variable b here

# output the result of addition here

# output the result of subtraction here
# output the result of multiplication here
# output the result of division here

print("\nThat's all, folks!")

jawab
# input a float value for variable a here
a = float(input("Masukan angka pertama: "))
# input a float value for variable b here
b = float(input("Masukan angka kedua: "))

# output the result of addition here

print("Hasil penambahan dari A dan B adalah", str(a + b))
# output the result of subtraction here
print("Hasil pengurangan dari A dan B adalah", str(a - b))
# output the result of multiplication here
print("Hasil pembagian dari A dan B adalah", str(a / b))
# output the result of division here
print("Hasil perkalian dari A dan B adalah", str(a * b))

print("\nThat's all, folks!")

output

Masukan angka pertama: 4

Masukan angka kedua: 2

Hasil penambahan dari A dan B adalah 6.0

Hasil pengurangan dari A dan B adalah 2.0

Hasil pembagian dari A dan B adalah 2.0

Hasil perkalian dari A dan B adalah 8.0

LAB

Estimated time

20 minutes

Level of difficulty

Intermediate
That's all, folks!

Objectives

 becoming familiar with the concept of numbers, operators and arithmetic operations in
Python;
 understanding the precedence and associativity of Python operators, as well as the proper
use of parentheses.

Scenario

Your task is to complete the code in order to evaluate the following expression:

The result should be assigned to y. Be careful - watch the operators and keep their priorities
in mind. Don't hesitate to use as many parentheses as you need.

You can use additional variables to shorten the expression (but it's not necessary). Test your
code carefully.

Test Data

Sample input: 1

Expected output:

y = 0.6000000000000001

Sample input: 10

Expected output:

y = 0.09901951266867294

Sample input: 100

Expected output:

y = 0.009999000199950014

Sample input: -5

Expected output:

y = -0.19258202567760344

Jawaban

x = float(input("Enter value for x: "))

# put your code here

y = 1 / (x + (1 / (x + (1 / (x + (1 / x))))))

print("y =", y)

LAB

Estimated time

15-20 minutes

Level of difficulty

Easy

Objectives

 improving the ability to use numbers, operators, and arithmetic operations in Python;
 using the print() function's formatting capabilities;
 learning to express everyday-life phenomena in terms of programming language.

Scenario

Your task is to prepare a simple code able to evaluate the end time of a period of time, given
as a number of minutes (it could be arbitrarily large). The start time is given as a pair of hours
(0..23) and minutes (0..59). The result has to be printed to the console.

For example, if an event starts at 12:17 and lasts 59 minutes, it will end at 13:16.
Don't worry about any imperfections in your code - it's okay if it accepts an invalid time - the
most important thing is that the code produce valid results for valid input data.

Test your code carefully. Hint: using the % operator may be the key to success.

Test Data

Sample input: 12 17 59

Expected output: 13:16

Sample input: 23 58 642

Expected output: 10:40

Sample input: 0 1 2939

Expected output: 1:0

Key takeaways

1. The print() function sends data to the console, while the input() function gets data
from the console.

2. The input() function comes with an optional parameter: the prompt string. It allows you
to write a message before the user input, e.g.:

name = input("Enter your name: ") print("Hello, " + name + ". Nice to meet
you!")

3. When the input() function is called, the program's flow is stopped, the prompt symbol
keeps blinking (it prompts the user to take action when the console is switched to input mode)
until the user has entered an input and/or pressed the Enter key.

NOTE

You can test the functionality of the input() function in its full scope locally on your
machine. For resource optimization reasons, we have limited the maximum program
execution time in Edube to a few seconds. Go to Sandbox, copy-paste the above snippet, run
the program, and do nothing - just wait a few seconds to see what happens. Your program
should be stopped automatically after a short moment. Now open IDLE, and run the same
program there - can you see the difference?
Tip: the above-mentioned feature of the input() function can be used to prompt the user to
end a program. Look at the code below:

name = input("Enter your name: ") print("Hello, " + name + ". Nice to meet
you!") print("\nPress Enter to end the program.") input() print("THE END.")

3. The result of the input() function is a string. You can add strings to each other using the
concatenation (+) operator. Check out this code:

num1 = input("Enter the first number: ") # Enter 12 num2 = input("Enter the
second number: ") # Enter 21 print(num1 + num2) # the program returns 1221

4. You can also multiply (* - replication) strings, e.g.:

myInput = input("Enter something: ") # Example input: hello print(myInput *

3) # Expected output: hellohellohello

Exercise 1

What is the output of the following snippet?

x = int(input("Enter a number: ")) # the user enters 2

print(x * "5")

55

Exercise 2

What is the expected output of the following snippet?

x = input("Enter a number: ") # the user enters 2

print(type(x))

<class 'str'>