Pre-Course Programming

Python Foundations and Tooling

Study Program Data Science

Prof. Dr. Tillmann Schwörer
Access to Course Materials

 Enrolled data science students have permanent access via:

https://collab.fh-kiel.de/course/view.php?id=321
 Students not yet enrolled can use the following Dropbox folder:
https://bit.ly/precourse-programming-2024
 Note that this dropbox folder will be deleted after the precourse!
 First materials are already online, further materials will be uploaded
during the precourse

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Kickoff Survey

https://forms.gle/TWUGUAcxUBcZ3F2d9

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Python foundations
Data types
Operators
Functions
Control flow and iterators
Finding help Data Science Workflow

Python
Tooling
Installation
Visual Studio Code
Jupyter Notebooks
Python Packages
Virtual Environments

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Agenda (preliminary)

 Day 1
 Installation
 Primitive Types
 Using Python as a Calculator
 Python Packages and Virtual Environments
 Day 2
 Functions
 List, Tuple, Dictionary and Set
 Control Flow
 Day 3
 List and Dict Comprehensions
 Useful Iterators
 Developing our own quiz application
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Python Setup and Tooling

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Recommended Setup

 CPython (not Anaconda Python)

 Integrated Development Environment: Visual Studio Code
 Python Extension and Jupyter Extension for Visual Studio Code
 Installation of Python Packages in virtual environments (one virtual
environment per university course)

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Python Installation Guide

 No Python so far → just follow the instructions

 I have an older Python version installed
 Python 2.X: you MUST install a new version
 Python 3.X: you CAN install a new version
 In general, it is absolutely fine to have multiple Python versions installed
 I have Anaconda Python installed
 Either stick with Anaconda: some aspects will be slightly different for you
 Or install CPython in addition: it is fine to have both distributions installed
 I have strange problems due to multiple Python versions installed on my
system
 This happens occasionally: let‘s try to fix these problems NOW!

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Which Python distribution?
Distributions CPython distribution Anaconda distribution
https://www.python.org https://anaconda.org/

What is it? Standard Python distribution Data Science Toolkit :

• Python and R distribution
• Package management system „conda“
• Graphical User Interface (GUI) „Anaconda
Navigator“
• Selection of IDEs
How are projects The relevant Python version and Python packages The Python/R versions and all required packages
managed? are installed in a virtual environment including requirements of your operating system
are defined in conda environments
How are packages Packages are installed from the Python Package • Packages are installed from the conda package
installed? Index (https://pypi.org/) via pip install repository via conda install packagename
packagename
What are pros and cons? • Requires little space on disc • Requires a lot of disc space
• 395.000 Python packages are available from • Fewer Python packages are available, and
PyPi sometimes not their most recent versions;
• Does not handle system dependencies installing missing packages via pip creates its
own problems
• Handles system dependencies
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Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Jupyterlab/Jupyter
Visual Studio Code PyCharm Notebook (via Spyder
Browser)
Jupyter Notebooks
✓ ✓ ✓ x
(.ipynb)

Python Script (.py) ✓ ✓ X ✓

Git ✓ ✓ (✓) x

Pricing Free For Students free Free Free

General purpose code

editor: support for Comprehensive Data Science focus, but
specific functionalities functionalities for Python; cannot replace a full IDE
Comments Similarity to RStudio
and programming somewhat overloaded for larger projects and
languages are available interface production code
via extensions

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 Visual Studio Code

File Explorer

Git / Version Control

Extensions
Command Palette
Ctrl + Shift + P
Fast access to everything

Settings

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Packages

3rd party packages: e.g.

for data science

Standard library: built-in

modules with core
Python functionalities

Python

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Virtual Environments

 Different projects may need different

versions of Python and/or packages →
Virtual Environment
 Ensure reproducibility: code needs to
run stably on any system, today and in
the future
 Safely experiment

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Virtual Environments in VS Code

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Python script vs Jupyter Notebook
Script (.py) Jupyter Notebook (.ipynb)

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Python scripts

 Text file (editable in any text editor), with file ending .py
 Use cases:
 Focus on code
 Concise documents
 Re-use code elsewhere by importing the python file
 Production setting
 Comments are marked by # symbol. Comments won‘t be executed. All
other lines will.
 Execution modes in VS Code: interactive (selection, current line) or script
mode (entire file)

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Python scripts: execution modes

Run selection/line
Shift + Enter

Execute entire file

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Jupyter Notebooks

we see: we type: under the hood:

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Jupyter Notebooks

Content aspects:
 Code, output, text, formulas, images, etc. all in one file. Contents are formatted via
Markdown
 Julia, Python, and R code
 Use cases: exploration, presentation, documentation, books

Technical aspects:
 Files with JSON structure and file ending.ipynb (IPython Notebook)
 Web-based
 Editable in browser via Jupyterlab/Jupyer Notebook, and via IDEs such as VS Code
 Convertible into html, pdf, or python scripts

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Jupyter Notebooks

 Disadvantages
 Editing functionalities are limited compared to Python scripts
 Working productively requires that you remember many shortcuts
 Not useful if you want to re-use code
 Not ideal for version control due to JSON format

→ More information on working with Jupyter Notebooks in VS Code.

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Markdown

 Formatting of text documents

 Intuitive, easy to read, platform-
independent
 Applications: Jupyter Notebooks,
Rmarkdown, Github,…
 Useful links:
 Cheat Sheet, Tutorial
 VS Code extension: Markdown
Preview Enhanced

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Python Foundations

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Data types Manipulating data
Primitive Types create | subset | edit | delete
List
Tuple
Dictionary Operators
Set [2, 3] Math | comparison |logical

Python
Functions Control flow and Iterators
Foundations
Using functions if, else and loops
Writing functions List and dict comprehensions
Lambda functions Generator expressions
Generator functions
Concepts / Paradigms
Mutability
Object Oriented Programming
Functional programming
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Built-In Data Types
Integer 20

Numbers
Float 37.5

Primitive

Immutable
Complex 1+3j

Boolean True/False

Data Types Strings ˈJessaˈ

Sequences
Tuple (3, 4.5, ˈbˈ)

Collections
List [2, ˈaˈ, 5.7]

Mutable
Dictionary {1:ˈaˈ, 2:ˈbˈ}

Set {2, 4, 6}
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Math Operators

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Functions
 Formatting:
 Consistent indentation
 Docstring: function help
 Type Hints (optional)
 Default values (optional)

 A function may
 carry out some operations
 return objects
 print()

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Methods

 Methods are functions which are associated with a specific class

 Data Science is an instance of the class string
 The split method operates on the string ‘Data Science’

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Strings

 Create strings:
 'single quotes'
 "double quotes"
 """triple quotes""" (for multiline strings)
 Subsetting strings
 [start:stop:step]
 zero-based
 start is inclusive, stop is exclusive
 negative indexing allowed

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Strings

 Concatenate strings via +

 Repeat strings via *
 Iterate over string elements

 String Methods
 str.upper()
 str.lower()
 str.reverse()
 …

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Comparison and Membership Operators

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Assignment, names, values

 Assignment: x = 2337
 Variable x is a name that stores the reference to value 2337

Consequences:
 Dynamic typing: We can change the type of x, by
pointing x to another object
 Aliasing: Multiple names can point to the same object
 Side effects: If a mutable object is changed, this
effects all aliases

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Mutability

 Mutable objects can be changed, which means that the change occurs in-
place (without altering the memory address)
 Use copy method to avoid side effects between two names

a a b a b

2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 5
#123456 #123456 #123456

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List and Tuple

 Lists and tuples: ordered collections, can contain mixed types

 Tuples are immutable, lists are mutable
 Tuples have very few methods
 Lists have many methods: append, extend, pop, remove, …

Shared features of all sequence types:

 Subset via index position
 Concatenate sequences via + operator
 Repeat sequences via * operator
 Iterate over elements in a for loop

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If - elif - else loop

Condition that evaluates to True or False

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While condition

Intialize variable i Condition that evaluates to True or False

Once the condition evaluates to False, the while loop stops

Change the value of the variable for next iteration

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For loop

for number in [2, 4, 6]:

print(number)

for <var> in <iterable>:

# do something #

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Iterables
tuple
list (2, 4, 6)
[2, 4, 6] 2 4 6 string
2 4 6 ˈdataˈ
d a t a
for <var> in <iterable>:
# do something #

dictionary
range
dict = {1:ˈAnnaˈ, 2:ˈMaxˈ}
range(0,10,2)
0 2 4 6 8
dict.keys() dict.values()
1 2 ˈAnnaˈ ˈMaxˈ

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Iterables

for <var1> <var2> <…> in <iterable>:

# do something #
dict for i, j in {1:ˈAnnaˈ,2:ˈMaxˈ}.items(): ˈ1. Annaˈ
print(fˈ{i}. {j}ˈ) ˈ2. Maxˈ

enumerate for i, j in enumerate(ˈJoeˈ): 0: ˈJˈ

print(fˈ{i}: {j}ˈ) 1: ˈoˈ
2: ˈeˈ

zip names = [ˈAnnaˈ, ˈMaxˈ]

ages = [18, 20]
for name, age in zip(names, ages): ˈAnna is 18ˈ
print(fˈ{name} is {age}ˈ) ˈMax is 20ˈ38
Special statements in a loop

 pass: placeholder to avoid error due to empty loop

 continue: continue with next iteration of loop
 break: completely interrupt execution

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List comprehension

Concise alternative to a list-creating for loop

For loop:

squares = []
for x in [1, 3, 5]: [1, 9, 25]
squares.append(x**2)

List comprehension:

squares = [x**2 for x in [1, 3, 5]]

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Dictionary comprehension

Concise alternative to a dictionary-creating for loop

Replaces for loop:

squares = {}
for x in [1, 3, 5]: {1: 1, 3: 9, 5: 25}
squares.update({x: x**2})

Dict comprehension:

squares = {x: x**2 for x in [1, 3, 5]}

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Conventions

PEP 20: The Zen of Python

 Beautiful is better than ugly.
 Explicit is better than implicit.
 Simple is better than complex.
 …

PEP 8: Style Guide for Python Code

 4 spaces per indentation level Automate PEP 8 and PEP 257 consistent code:
 Code should always use UTF-8 encoding • pip install autopep8
• VS Code docstring generator extension
 Imports should usually be on separate lines
 …

PEP 257: Docstring Conventions

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