Introduction
Arithmetic Readings
Variables Python
Conclusion
Expressions, types, variables
Python basics
Michael Burrell
August 25, 2023
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic Readings
Variables Python
Conclusion
Readings
Chapter 1 — 1.5, 1.6, 1.7
Chapter 2 — 2.2, 2.3, 2.4
Chapter 3 — 3.1
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic Readings
Variables Python
Conclusion
Python
Python is a programming language created by Guido von
Rossum (originally just in his spare time)
It was first released in 1994
Python is relatively simple for beginners and is
multi-paradigm (mixes in a variety of programming
disciplines)
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Values and types
4 + (2 ** 2 + 7) / 2
Expressions in Python follow the usual algebraic order of
operations
Python will evaluate the entire expression, one operation
at a time
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Values and types
4 + (2 ** 2 + 7) / 2
Expressions in Python follow the usual algebraic order of
operations
Python will evaluate the entire expression, one operation
at a time
We have to be conscious of types. . .
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Values and types
English name Python name Example values
Integer int
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Values and types
English name Python name Example values
Integer int 0, 5, -17, 62, -3, -1
Real float
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Values and types
English name Python name Example values
Integer int 0, 5, -17, 62, -3, -1
Real float 0.0, -1.2, 34.7728, -6.0
Every value in Python has a type
At first we’ll only look at two types
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Values and types
English name Python name Example values
Integer int 0, 5, -17, 62, -3, -1
Real float 0.0, -1.2, 34.7728, -6.0
Every value in Python has a type
At first we’ll only look at two types
We can use the built-in type function to see the type of
an expression
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
int vs float
int and float values are both used to represent
numbers, but are used for different purposes
ints cannot store non-integer values (duh)
floats often cannot store values exactly, however (try
0.7 + 0.1)
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
int vs float
int and float values are both used to represent
numbers, but are used for different purposes
ints cannot store non-integer values (duh)
floats often cannot store values exactly, however (try
0.7 + 0.1)
Generally, we’ll use ints by default (i.e., use ints unless
we know we might need non-integer values)
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Type conversions
Values can get converted from one type to another
Soon we’ll look at doing this ourselves, but first we’ll look
at implicit type conversions (type promotions)
Sometimes ints get turned into floats automatically
(try type(4 / 2))
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Type conversions
With +, -, *, ** and %, the type of the expression is the
same as the types of the operands
E.g., type(3 * 4) is int; e.g., type(3.5 * 2.0) is
float
If there is a mismatch, one operand gets promoted from
int to float (e.g., type(3 * 2.5) is float)
/ (division) is a special case: it’s always a float1 , even if
both operands are ints
E.g., 5 / 2 is 2.5, a float
1
This is only true in Python 3, not Python 1 or Python 2
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Types
Variables
Conclusion
Type conversions
We can also convert values from one type to another
explicitly
There are two functions at our disposal: int and float
E.g., int(3.2) converts 3.2 into the integer value 3
E.g., float(4) converts 4 into the real value 4.0
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Variables
Using Python as a calculator is fun and all, but generally
we’re interested in writing programs
These programs should respond to user input
From now on, everything we do is going to involve
variables
Like in algebra, variables are going to be names (symbols)
which have a value bound to them
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Variables
x=3
To introduce a new variable, you name it and put it on
the left of the = sign
You can use any expression you want to assign to a
variable
Once a variable is introduced, you can use it in any
expression
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Variables
Unlike in algebra, variables can be (and very commonly
are) changed
Reassigning to a variable looks just like introducing a new
variable
x = 3
y = x * 2
x = x - 1
print(x + y) – what’s the answer here?
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Incrementing and decrementing
Adding a value onto a variable is called incrementing
Subtracting a value from a variable is called decrementing
Python gives a shorter syntax for incrementing and
decrementing
Long syntax Short syntax
x = x + 2 x += 2
x = x - 1 x -= 1
x = x * x x *= x
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Strings
So far we know of 2 types in Python
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Strings
So far we know of 2 types in Python
The next type which we’re going to learn is a string
(called str in Python)
It represents any sort of text (of any length)
String values must be enclosed in either "double
quotes" or ’single quotes’
E.g., x = ’hello there!’
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Operations on strings
There is a little bit of arithmetic we can perform on strings:
1 Append/concatenate with another string with the +
operator. E.g., ’hello’ + ’ ’ + ’friend!’
However, all the operands must be strings
If we want to append a value that’s not a string, we
must first convert it to a string with the str function
2 Multiply by an integer. E.g., ’abc’ * 3 will give us
’abcabcabc’
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Booleans
The last type we’ll look at today is the booleans (bool in
Python)
It can only have two possible values: True or False
Comparison expressions result in booleans, e.g., using
operators like <, >, == (NB: use 2 equal signs to test for
equality), != (not equal), <=, >=
If booleans are converting to integers (e.g., (3 < 4) *
2), True is interpreted as 1 and False is interpreted as 0
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Variables
Arithmetic
Strings
Variables
Booleans
Conclusion
Values and types
English name Python name Example values
Integer int 0, 5, -17, 62, -3, -1
Real float 0.0, -1.2, 34.7728, -6.0
Text str ‘’, ‘hello’, “goodbye”
Truth bool True, False
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
Introduction
Arithmetic
Variables
Conclusion
Conclusion
Python has a number of arithmetic operations, similar to
in math
Each Python value has a type (e.g., int, float, str,
bool)
We can assign values to variables and change the values
in those variables
Michael Burrell Expressions, types, variables
