Data Science with Python
Python: Environment Setup and Essentials
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Explain Anaconda and Jupyter notebook installation
List the important data types supported by Python
Discuss data structures, such as lists, tuples, sets, and dicts
Explain slicing and accessing the four data structures
Discuss basic operators and functions
Outline the important control flow statements
Anaconda: The World's Most Popular Data Science Platform
Quick Recap: Python for Data Science
You know the importance of Python and its libraries in various aspects of Data Science.
Acquire
Wrangle
Explore
Model
Data Science
Visualize
Bokeh
Why Anaconda
To use Python, we recommend that you download Anaconda. Following are some of the reasons why
Anaconda is one of the best Data Science platforms:
Open source Python
distribution
400+ popular Python packages
Enterprise-ready Data
Analytics platform
Modern Data Science analytics
architecture
Multi-workload Data Analytics
Interactive visualizations,
governance, security, and
operational support
Big Data environments support
Installation of Anaconda Python Distribution
Currently, there are two versions of Python. You can download and use 3.7 version, as the course is designed
based on the latest version.
Installation of Anaconda Python Distribution
You can install and run the Anaconda Python distribution on different platforms.
PYTHON 3.7
Windows Mac OS Linux
Website URL:
https://www.continuum.io/downloads
Graphical Installer
• Download the graphical installer.
• Double-click the .exe file to install Anaconda and
follow the instructions on the screen.
Installation of Anaconda Python Distribution
PYTHON 3.7
Windows Mac OS Linux
Website URL:
https://www.continuum.io/downloads
Graphical Installer
• Download the graphical installer.
• Double-click the downloaded .pkg file and follow the instructions.
Command Line Installer
• Download the command line installer.
• In your terminal window, type the command listed below and
follow the given instructions:
Python 3.7:
bash Anaconda2-4.0.0-MacOSX-x86_64.sh
Installation of Anaconda Python Distribution
PYTHON 3.7
Windows Mac OS Linux
Website URL:
https://www.continuum.io/downloads
Command Line Installer
• Download the installer.
• In your terminal window, type the command line
shown below and follow the instructions:
Python 3.7:
bash Anaconda2-4.0.0-Linux-x86_64.sh
Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter is an open source and interactive web-based Python interface for Data Science and scientific computing.
Some of the advantages are:
Python language Content sharing and
support contribution
Big Data platform Built-in interactive
integration widgets
Jupyter Notebook: Installation
To install Jupyter notebook on your system, type the command shown here on Anaconda prompt and press
Enter to execute it.
Getting Started
Variables and Assignment
A variable can be assigned or bound to any value. Some of the characteristics of binding a variable in Python are
listed here:
The variable refers to the memory location
of the assigned value.
The variable appears on the left, while the
value appears on the right.
The data type of the assigned value and
the variable is the same.
Variables and Assignment: Example
Let us look at an example of how you can assign a value to a variable, and print it and its data type.
Assignment
Variable data value
Data type of the object
Multiple Assignments
You can access a variable only if it is defined. You can define multiple variables simultaneously.
Access variable
without assignment
Access variable after
assignment
Multiple assignments
Assignment and Reference
When a variable is assigned a value, it refers to the value’s memory location or address. It does not equal the
value itself.
Ref: <address 1> Ref: <address 12>
Garbage collected
7 7
8
Memory location Memory location
Data Types and Structures
Basic Data Types: Integer and Float
Python supports various data types. There are two main numeric data types:
Numeric
Integer value
Integer Float
Float value
32-bit 64-bit
Basic Data Types: String
Python has extremely powerful and flexible built-in string processing capabilities.
With single quote
With double quote
String Three double quotes
Print string values
Basic Data Types: None and Boolean
Python also supports the None and Boolean data types.
Null value type
Boolean type
Boolean type
Type Casting
You can change the data type of a number using type casting.
Float number
Type cast to integer
Type cast to string value
Data Structure: Tuple
A tuple is a one-dimensional, immutable ordered sequence of items which can be of mixed data types.
Create a tuple
View tuple
Access the data at
index value 1
Try to modify
the tuple
Error: A tuple is immutable
and can’t be modified
Data Structure: Accessing Tuples
You can access a tuple using indices.
Tuple
Access with positive index
Access with negative index
Data Structure: Slicing Tuples
You can also slice a range of elements by specifying the start and end indices of the desired range.
Tuple
Count starts with the first index,
but stops before the second index
Even for negative indices, the count
stops before the second index
Data Structure: List
A list is a one-dimensional, mutable ordered sequence of items which can be of mixed data types.
Create a list
View a list
Modify a list: Add new items
Modify a list: Remove items
Access and remove list data using
element indices
Modify a list: Insert a new item at a
certain index
Data Structure: Accessing Lists
Just like tuples, you can access elements in a list through indices.
New modified list
Access with positive index
Access with negative index
Data Structure: Slicing Lists
Similar to tuples, you can also slice lists through indices.
New modified list
Count starts with the first index,
but stops before the second index
Even for negative indices, the count
stops before the second index
Data Structure: Dictionary (dict)
Dictionaries store a mapping between a set of keys and a set of values.
Key Value
Any
Any data
Dictionary immutable
type
type
Define Modify Lookup Delete
View
Data Structure: View Dictionaries
You can view the keys and values in a dict, either separately or together, using the syntax shown here.
Create a
dictionary
View entire
dictionary
View only
keys
View only
values
Data Structure: Access and Modify dict Elements
You can also access and modify individual elements in a dict.
Access with key
Modify dictionary:
update
Modify dictionary:
delete
Data Structure: Set
A set is an unordered collection of unique elements.
Create a set
View the set
Create a set
View the
object type
View the set
Data Structure: Set Operations
Let us look at some basic set operations.
Create sets
OR – Union
set operation
View the output of the OR
operation
AND – Intersection set operation
View the output of the
AND operation
Basic Operator: in
The in operator is used to generate a Boolean value to indicate whether a given value is present
in the container or not.
Create a list
Test presence of string
with in operator
Create a string
Test presence of substrings
with in operator
Basic Operator: +
The plus operator produces a new tuple, list, or string whose value is the concatenation of its arguments.
Create tuples
Add tuples
Create lists
Add lists
Create strings
Concatenate
strings
Basic Operator: *
The multiplication operator produces a new tuple, list, or string that repeats the original content.
* operator with tuple
* operator with list
* operator with string
The * operator does not actually multiply the values; it only repeats the values for the specified
number of times.
Functions
Functions
Functions are the primary and most important method of code organization and reuse in Python.
Syntax Properties
def <name>(arg1, arg2, ..., argN): • Outcome of the function is communicated by
<statements> return statement
return <value> • Arguments in parenthesis are basically
assignments
Use def to create a function and assign it a name.
Functions: Considerations
Some important points to consider while defining functions:
• A function should always have a return value.
• If return is not defined, then it returns None.
• Function overloading is not permitted.
Functions: Returning Values
You can use a function to return a single value or multiple values.
Create function
Call function
Create function
Multiple return
Call function
Built-in Sequence Functions
The built-in sequence functions of Python are:
enumerate
Indexes data to keep track of indices and corresponding data mapping
sorted
Returns the new sorted list for the given sequence
reversed
Iterates the data in reverse order
Zip
Creates lists of tuples by pairing up elements of lists, tuples, or other sequence
Built-in Sequence Functions: enumerate
Built-in Sequence Functions: sorted
Sort numbers
Sort a string
value
Built-in Sequence Functions: reversed and zip
Create a list of
numbers for range 15
Use reversed function
to reverse the order
Define list of subjects
and count
Zip function to pair
the data elements of
lists
Returns list of tuples
View type
Control Flow Statements: if, elif, else
The if, elif, and else statements are the most commonly used control flow statements.
If condition
Else block
Nested if, elif, and else
Control Flow Statements : for Loops
A for loop is used to iterate over a collection (like a list or tuple) or an iterator.
For loop iterator
The continue statement
The break statement
Control Flow Statements : while Loops
A while loop specifies a condition and a block of code that is to be executed until the condition evaluates to False or
the loop is explicitly ended with break.
While condition
Control Flow Statements : Exception Handling
Handling Python errors or exceptions gracefully is an important part of building robust programs and algorithms.
Create function
Pass wrong argument type
Error
Exception handling with try–except block
Knowledge Check
Knowledge
Check
What is the data type of the object x = 3 * 7.5?
1
a. Int
b. Float
c. String
d. None of the above
Knowledge
Check
What is the data type of the object x = 3 * 7.5?
1
a. Int
b. Float
c. String
d. None of the above
The correct answer is b
Since one of the operands is float, the x variable will also be of the float data type.
Knowledge
Check
Which of the data structures can be modified? Select all that apply.
2
a. tuple
b. list
c. dict
d. set
Knowledge
Check
Which of the data structures can be modified? Select all that apply.
2
a. tuple
b. list
c. dict
d. set
The correct answer is b, c, d
Only a tuple is immutable and cannot be modified. All the other data structures can be modified.
Knowledge What will be the output of the following code?
Check
a. [‘NYC', 'Madrid']
b. [‘London', 'Madrid']
c. [‘Miami', 'Madrid']
d. [‘Miami', ‘Paris']
Knowledge What will be the output of the following code?
Check
a. [‘NYC', 'Madrid']
b. [‘London', 'Madrid']
c. [‘Miami', 'Madrid']
d. [‘Miami', ‘Paris']
The correct answer is b
Slicing starts at the first index and stops before the second index. Here, the element at index 3 is London and the element
before index -1 is Madrid.
Knowledge
Check
Which of the following data structures is preferred to contain a unique collection of values?
4
a. dict
b. list
c. set
d. tuple
Knowledge
Check
Which of the following data structures is preferred to contain a unique collection of values?
4
a. dict
b. list
c. set
d. tuple
The correct answer is c
A set is used when a unique collection of values is desired.
Key Takeaways
You are now able to:
Explain Anaconda and Jupyter notebook installation
List the important data types supported by Python
Discuss data structures, such as lists, tuples, sets, and dicts
Explain slicing and accessing the four data structures
Discuss basic operators and functions
Outline the important control flow statements
Thank You
