Python 101
@sam
History 101
● Created by Dutch programmer Guido Van Rossum, as a hobby project in
89.
● Named after the british comedy group, Monty Python
● First official release was in 1990
● Most recent release was in June 18.
● Free and Open Source - Free as in Freedom
Installing Python
● Pre-installed on OS-X and linux.
● Windows binaries from http://python.org/
● Open the terminal on your computer and type python to test if the install
is working
● Exit the python interpreter with Ctrl-D
Example
x = 34 - 23 # A comment.
y = ”Hello” # Another one.
z = 3.45
if z == 3.45 or y == “Hello”:
x = x + 1
y = y + “ World” # String concat.
print x
print y
Numbers in python
Integers - No fractional part, example 3
Float - Fractional part, example 2.1
What about 3.0?
Mathematics
● Five operators, +(addition), - (subtraction) * (multiplication), / (division)
and % (modulo)
● The first four have their usual meaning and applicable for integers and
float
● a%b is gives the remainder when a is divided by b. Only for integers
● Open python on your terminal and try
○ 5+6
○ 31-11
○ 5%2
○ 7/3
Strings
● Strings are simply text data.
● Denoted using ‘ ’or “ ”.
● Example, “hello world”
● On your terminal try print “Hello world”
● Also try print “Hello” + “ “ + ‘world’
Boolean
● Data types that store a boolean value (True or False)
● They are often the result of a comparison
● Used with comparison operators, > , < , >=, <= and == (sic)
● The comparison operators return a True or a False value
● Examples , try on your terminal
○ 5 > 6 ----> False
○ 6.3 <= 100.0 ----> True
○ 6.3 == 100.0 ----> False
○ “A” == ‘A” ----> True
Logical Operators
● Three logical operators and, or, not
● They work on Boolean
● and takes two parameters and returns True if both of them are True
● or takes two parameters and returns False if both of them are False
● not takes one arguments and inverts that.
● Examples
○ True and True
○ 4 > 5 or 7 < 2
○ not False
Brackets
● Denote order of computation in case you are in doubt
● Example -
○ 3*5 - 1 will give 14
○ 3 * (5 - 1) will give 12
● What will be the output of (11 > 2 and 5 > 1.1) or (3 > 1) ?
Variables
● Named entities that store a particular value.
● The values can be altered.
● Assignment is done using = sign.
● Variables can be assigned any value in python, not bound to a data-type
● Variables can be re-assigned the values any time
● question?
X = 42
X = “The answer to life, universe and everything”
print X
Spaces and Indentation
● Unlike other languages spaces and indentation matter in python
● No semicolon at the end.
● Newline denotes the end of line
● No braces
● The first line with less indentation is outside of the block.
● The first line with more indentation starts a nested block
Conditional Statements
● Very often there is a need to make decisions in code and branch out
● For example, trying to write a program to achieve this
○ If marks are more than 40 student passes
○ Else the student fails
● Python provides three conditional statements for this
○ if
○ elif
○ Else
● They are often combined with logical operators and, or , not
Translating the previous scenario to code,
if marks >= 42:
print “Pass”
else:
print “fail”
if marks > 90:
print “A”
elif markes > 75:
print “B”
elif marks > 60:
print “C”
elif marks > 40:
print “D”
else:
print “F"
Lists in python
● Used to store a list of values
● Example a = [1, ‘1’, 2, ‘2’]
● A list can be indexed to fetch individual elements, example,
○ a[0] will give first element
○ a[1] will give the second element
○ A[length - 1] will give the last element
● A list can also be indexed from the end, example,
○ a[-1] will give the last element.
○ a[-2] will give the second element from last.
○ How will you get the first element using negative index?
● Strings are lists of characters
● Try on your terminal,
○ ‘Hello’[-1]
● Lists can be dynamically appended at runtime
● The syntax is using a .append
● Example - :
○ a = [1,2,3]
○ a.append(4)
○ print a
Loops
● Loops are programming constructs that enable you to repeat a set of
instructions
● Assume you need to print your name, 100 times. You can write the print
statement and copy it hundred times, or use a loop
● To achieve the above you can try
i = 0
while i < 100:
print “Sam”
i += 1
● The previous example creates a variable i with a value 0.
● It then starts a “loop”, while i is less than 100,(i.e. i < 100 is True) the two
statements in the block will be executed.
● The first statement is what we need to execute, print the name.
● The second statement increases the value of i by 1.
● This ensures that the loop is stopped sometime in the future. If you don’t
increase the value of i, i < 100 will never be False
● Try executing the above code, without the last statement.
Another example
i = 0
while i < 100
print i
i = i*2
i = 1
while i < 100
print i
i = i * 2
For Loops
● Another Kind of loop is a for loop.
● Syntax is something like for <a> in <list b>:
● Example
A = [1,2,3,4]
for i in A:
print i
● It is used to iterate over a list
Questions?
Future Reading
Beginners
● https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Programmers
● Coursera - https://www.coursera.org/learn/python
● Books - Learn Python the Hard Way
● https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python
● Different language programmers - http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/Python.pdf
Intermediate
● Python Wiki - https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Programmers
