Introduction to Programming

with Python

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 Languages
◼ Some influential ones:
◼ FORTRAN
◼ science / engineering

◼ COBOL
◼ business data

◼ LISP
◼ logic and AI

◼ BASIC
◼ a simple language

Python

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 Programming basics
◼ code or source code: The sequence of instructions in a program.

◼ syntax: The set of legal structures and commands that can be

used in a particular programming language.

◼ output: The messages printed to the user by a program.

◼ console: The text box onto which output is printed.

◼ Some source code editors pop up the console as an external window,
and others contain their own console window.

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 Compiling and interpreting
◼ Many languages require you to compile (translate) your program
into a form that the machine understands.
compile execute
source code byte code output
Hello.java Hello.class

◼ Python is instead directly interpreted into machine instructions.

interpret
source code output
Hello.py

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 Expressions
◼ expression: A data value or set of operations to compute a value.
Examples: 1 + 4 * 3
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◼ Arithmetic operators we will use:

◼ + - * / addition, subtraction/negation, multiplication, division
◼ % modulus, a.k.a. remainder
◼ ** exponentiation

◼ precedence: Order in which operations are computed.

◼ * / % ** have a higher precedence than + -
1 + 3 * 4 is 13

◼ Parentheses can be used to force a certain order of evaluation.

(1 + 3) * 4 is 16

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 Integer division
◼ When we divide integers with / , the quotient is also an integer.
3 52
4 ) 14 27 ) 1425
12 135
2 75
54
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◼ More examples:
◼ 35 / 5 is 7
◼ 84 / 10 is 8
◼ 156 / 100 is 1

◼ The % operator computes the remainder from a division of integers.

3 43
4 ) 14 5 ) 218
12 20
2 18
15
3

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 Real numbers
◼ Python can also manipulate real numbers.
◼ Examples: 6.022 -15.9997 42.0 2.143e17

◼ The operators + - * / % ** ( ) all work for real numbers.

◼ The / produces an exact answer: 15.0 / 2.0 is 7.5
◼ The same rules of precedence also apply to real numbers:
Evaluate ( ) before * / % before + -

◼ When integers and reals are mixed, the result is a real number.
◼ Example: 1 / 2.0 is 0.5

◼ The conversion occurs on a per-operator basis.

◼ 7 / 3 * 1.2 + 3 / 2
◼ 2 * 1.2 + 3 / 2
◼ 2.4 + 3 / 2
◼ 2.4 + 1
◼ 3.4

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 Math commands
◼ Python has useful commands for performing calculations.
Command name Description Constant Description
abs(value) absolute value e 2.7182818...
ceil(value) rounds up pi 3.1415926...
cos(value) cosine, in radians
floor(value) rounds down
log(value) logarithm, base e
log10(value) logarithm, base 10
max(value1, value2) larger of two values
min(value1, value2) smaller of two values
round(value) nearest whole number
sin(value) sine, in radians
sqrt(value) square root

◼ To use many of these commands, you must write the following at

the top of your Python program:
from math import *
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 Variables
◼ variable: A named piece of memory that can store a value.
◼ Usage:
◼ Compute an expression's result,
◼ store that result into a variable,
◼ and use that variable later in the program.

◼ assignment statement: Stores a value into a variable.

◼ Syntax:
name = value

◼ Examples: x = 5
gpa = 3.14

x 5 gpa 3.14

◼ A variable that has been given a value can be used in expressions.

x + 4 is 9

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 print
◼ print : Produces text output on the console.

◼ Syntax:
print "Message"
print Expression
◼ Prints the given text message or expression value on the console, and
moves the cursor down to the next line.
print Item1, Item2, ..., ItemN
◼ Prints several messages and/or expressions on the same line.

◼ Examples:
print ("Hello, world!")
age = 22
print ("You have", 65 - age, "years until retirement")
Output:
Hello, world!
You have 20 years until retirement
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 input
◼ input : Reads a number from user input.
◼ You can assign (store) the result of input into a variable.
◼ Example:
age = input("How old are you? ")
print ("Your age is", age)
print ("You have", 65 - age, "years until retirement")
Output:
How old are you? 53
Your age is 53
You have 12 years until retirement

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 Repetition (loops)
and Selection (if/else)

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 The for loop
◼ for loop: Repeats a set of statements over a group of values.
◼ Syntax:
for variableName in groupOfValues:
statements
◼ We indent the statements to be repeated with tabs or spaces.
◼ variableName gives a name to each value, so you can refer to it in the statements.
◼ groupOfValues can be a range of integers, specified with the range function.

◼ Example:
for x in range(1, 6):
print (x, "squared is", x * x)

Output:
1 squared is 1
2 squared is 4
3 squared is 9
4 squared is 16
5 squared is 25

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 range
◼ The range function specifies a range of integers:
◼ range(start, stop) - the integers between start (inclusive)
and stop (exclusive)

◼ It can also accept a third value specifying the change between values.
◼ range(start, stop, step) - the integers between start (inclusive)
and stop (exclusive) by step

◼ Example:
for x in range(5, 0, -1):
print (x)
print ("Blastoff!")

Output:
5
4
3
2
1
Blastoff!

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 Cumulative loops

◼ Some loops incrementally compute a value that is initialized outside

the loop. This is sometimes called a cumulative sum.
sum = 0
for i in range(1, 11):
sum = sum + (i * i)
print ("sum of first 10 squares is", sum)

Output:
sum of first 10 squares is 385

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 if
◼ if statement: Executes a group of statements only if a certain
condition is true. Otherwise, the statements are skipped.
◼ Syntax:
if condition:
statements

◼ Example:
gpa = 3.4
if gpa > 2.0:
print ("Your application is accepted.")

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 if/else
◼ if/else statement: Executes one block of statements if a certain
condition is True, and a second block of statements if it is False.
◼ Syntax:
if condition:
statements
else:
statements

◼ Example:
gpa = 1.4
if gpa > 2.0:
print ("Welcome to Mars University!")
else:
print ("Your application is denied.")

◼ Multiple conditions can be chained with elif ("else if"):

if condition:
statements
elif condition:
statements
else:
statements
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 while
◼ while loop: Executes a group of statements as long as a condition is True.
◼ good for indefinite loops (repeat an unknown number of times)

◼ Syntax:
while condition:
statements

◼ Example:
number = 1
while number < 200:
print (number)
number = number * 2

◼ Output:
1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128

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 Logic
◼ Many logical expressions use relational operators:
Operator Meaning Example Result
== equals 1 + 1 == 2 True
!= does not equal 3.2 != 2.5 True
< less than 10 < 5 False
> greater than 10 > 5 True
<= less than or equal to 126 <= 100 False
>= greater than or equal to 5.0 >= 5.0 True

◼ Logical expressions can be combined with logical operators:

Operator Example Result
and 9 != 6 and 2 < 3 True
or 2 == 3 or -1 < 5 True
not not 7 > 0 False

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Text and File Processing

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 Strings
◼ string: A sequence of text characters in a program.
◼ Strings start and end with quotation mark " or apostrophe ' characters.
◼ Examples:
"hello"
"This is a string"
"This, too, is a string. It can be very long!"

◼ A string may not span across multiple lines or contain a " character.
"This is not
a legal String."
"This is not a "legal" String either."

◼ A string can represent characters by preceding them with a backslash.

◼ \t tab character
◼ \n new line character
◼ \" quotation mark character
◼ \\ backslash character

◼ Example: "Hello\there\nHow are you?"

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 Indexes
◼ Characters in a string are numbered with indexes starting at 0:
◼ Example:
name = "P. Diddy"

index 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
character P . D i d d y

◼ Accessing an individual character of a string:

variableName [ index ]

◼ Example:
print name, "starts with", name[0]

Output:
P. Diddy starts with P

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 String properties
◼ len(string) - number of characters in a string
(including spaces)
◼ str.lower(string) - lowercase version of a string
◼ str.upper(string) - uppercase version of a string

◼ Example:
name = "Martin Douglas Stepp"
length = len(name)
big_name = str.upper(name)
print (big_name, "has", length, "characters")

Output:
MARTIN DOUGLAS STEPP has 20 characters

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 input

◼ input : Reads a string of text from user input.

◼ Example:
name = input("Howdy, pardner. What's yer name? ")
print (name, "... what a silly name!")
Output:
Howdy, pardner. What's yer name? xxxx
Paris Hilton ... what a silly name!

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 Text processing

◼ text processing: Examining, editing, formatting text.

◼ often uses loops that examine the characters of a string one by one

◼ A for loop can examine each character in a string in sequence.

◼ Example:
for c in "booyah":
print c
Output:
b
o
o
y
a
h

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 Strings and numbers

◼ ord(text) - converts a string into a number.

◼ Example: ord("a") is 97, ord("b") is 98, ...

◼ Characters map to numbers using standardized mappings

such as ASCII and Unicode.

◼ chr(number) - converts a number into a string.

◼ Example: chr(99) is "c"

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 File processing
◼ Many programs handle data, which often comes from files.

◼ Reading the entire contents of a file:

variableName = open("filename").read()

Example:
file_text = open("bankaccount.txt").read()

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 Line-by-line processing

◼ Reading a file line-by-line:

for line in open("filename").readlines():
statements

Example:
count = 0
for line in open("bankaccount.txt").readlines():
count = count + 1
print ("The file contains", count, "lines.")

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Python Keywords

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