ECCE5293: Embedded Vision Systems

Introduction to ____________
Ahmed Al Maashri, PhD
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Fall 2023
Why Python?
• Python has become one of the most popular programming languages

• The language is easy to learn

• Highly productive

• Has very good support to many libraries, including OpenCV

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Python Programming Language
• The current stable version is 3.11.x
• While some developers are still using Python 2.x, this is not recommended
given that many functions are obsolete and may not have any support in
the future.
• Linux Distributions (e.g. Ubuntu) come with Python interpreter already
installed. However, Windows user have to download/install Python
interpreter (https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/). You can also
install Python from Microsoft Store.
• Students will be provided with an Ubuntu Virtual Machine that comes
with Python and other libraries already installed and configured.
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Python Online Shell
• There are several websites that offer an online shell where you execute
python commands and run python scripts:

• https://www.python.org/shell/

• https://www.w3schools.com/python/trypython.asp?filename=demo_compiler

• https://pythontutor.com/

• Try these online services! You can execute the commands and scripts
discussed in this lecture.

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Basics of Python
• Python is an interpreted language. This means that you do not have to compile
the code before execution (Unlike C/C++). Just CODE and RUN.
• Just like C/C++, Python is a case-sensitive language. Watch out, since this is a
source of many beginner’s bugs!
• Instead of using parenthesis { }, Python uses spaces to structure the code. Here
is an example:
if (X > Y):
if (X > Y) { cout << “True”; }

Python
print (“True”)
C++

else:
else { cout << “False”; }
print (“False”)
• Comments begin with the symbol #

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print( )

• The command print() is used to display information on the screen.

This is similar to cout in C++

• Example

X = 4
print(X)

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Arithmetic and Logical Operators
• The table shows the arithmetic operators supported by Python:
Operator Function
+ Addition

- Subtraction

* Multiplication

/ Division

% Remainder of division operation

** Exponentiation

// Integer division

• Bitwise Logical operations are also supported (&, |, ^, ~)

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Assignment
• In Python, multiple variables can be assigned in a single statement.

• Example:
X = 1 Is equivalent to
Y = 2 X, Y, Z = 1, 2, 3
Z = 3

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Data Types
• Commonly used data type:
• Integers (int)
• Floats (float)
• Boolean (bool)
• String (str)
• However, you do not have to explicitly declare the type. Python will
infer the type whenever you assign a value to a new variable
• The command type() can be used to display the data type of a variable
• Examples:
type(1.2) ➔ <class ‘float’>
type(“Hello There”) ➔ <class ‘str’>

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Comparisons
• The following table shows the comparison operators. The result of
using these operators is Boolean (i.e. True or False)
Operator Function
< Less than

> Greater than

<= Less than or equal

>= Greater than or equal

== Equal

!= Not Equal

• Comparisons can be combined using “and”, “or”, “not”

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Conversion between data types
• You can convert from one type to another using datatype wrapper:
int, float, str, or bool

• Examples:
X = 1.2
print(int(X)) ➔ 1

Y = "2.5"
print(float(Y)*4) ➔ 10.0

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Strings
• To concatenate strings, use the + operator
• Example
A = “Hi”
B = “There”
Print(A + “ ” + B) ➔ Hi There

• To know the size of a string, use the len() function

• Example:
Text = “This is a Test Text”
Print(len(Text)) ➔ 19

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Strings [cont.]
• Strings have a bunch of other methods (e.g. .count(), .index(),
.find(), .split(), etc.)

• A method is a function that belongs to an object

• Examples:
print(“test text”.count(‘t’)) ➔ 4
print(“test text”.split()) ➔ ['test', 'text’]
print(“test text”.title()) ➔ Test Text
print(“test text”.upper()) ➔ TEST TEXT

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Data Structures: Lists
• A list is a collection of elements. These elements do not necessarily
have to be of the same data type
• Examples
List1 = [‘RED’, ‘BLUE’, ‘GREEN’]
List2 = [‘RED’, ‘BLUE’, 5, 10.9]

• The command len() can be used to return the number of elements in

a list
• Example:
print(len(List1)) ➔ 3

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Data Structures: Lists [cont.]
• You can access any element by indexing to its location.
• Examples:
Days = ['SAT', 'SUN', 'MON', 'TUE', 'WED', 'THU', 'FRI']
print(Days[0]) ➔ SAT
print(Days[1]) ➔ SUN

print(Days[-1]) ➔ FRI Syntax is

print(Days[-2]) ➔ THU start:stop:step
• Lists can be sliced:
Weekdays = Days[1:6]
print(Weekdays) ➔ ['SUN', 'MON', 'TUE', 'WED', 'THU']
Weekends = Days[::len(Days)-1] ➔ ['SAT', 'FRI']
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Data Structures: Lists [cont.]
• You can check if an element exists in a list using the “in” operator
• Examples:
print('SAT' in Days) ➔ True
print('WEEK' in Days) ➔ False
print('WEEK' not in Days) ➔ True

• Lists also have methods (e.g. max(), min(), sorted(), join(), .append())
List1 = ["a", "b", "c"]
print("-".join(List1)) ➔ a-b-c

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Data Structures: Tuples
• Tuples are similar to lists. However, once a tuple is created, its content
can’t be modified.

• Examples
Tuple1 = (‘RED’, ‘BLUE’, ‘GREEN’)
Tuple2 = (‘RED’, ‘BLUE’, 5, 10.9)

• The command len() can be used to return the number of elements in

a tuple
• Example:
print(len(Tuple1)) ➔ 3
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Data Structures: Dictionary
• Dictionaries store data in key:value pairs. This way, you can index into a value not
using its location but using the key associated with it.

• Examples
Dict1 = {
“ID” : 12345, print (Dict1[“ID”]) ➔ 12345
“Name” : “Ahmed”,
print (Dict1[“Country”]) ➔ OM
“Country” : “OM”
}

• The command len() can be used to return the number of items in a tuple
• Example: print(len(Dict1)) ➔ 3

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Conditional (if) Statements
• Syntax:
if condition:
statement1
if condition: statement2
if condition: statement1 ...
statement1 statement2 elif condition:
statement2 ... statement1
… else: statement2
statement1 ...
statement2 else:
... statement1
statement2
...

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Loops (for)
• Syntax: for item in list:
statement1
statement2
…

• Example:
Days = ['SAT', 'SUN', 'MON', 'TUE', 'WED', 'THU', 'FRI']
for Day in Days:
SAT
print(Day) ➔ SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
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Loops (for) [cont.]
• You can also specify a range to iterate over using the ‘range’ function
• Syntax: range(start, stop, step)
0
1
• Examples: 2
3
for i in range(8): 4
print(i) 5
2 6
3 7
for i in range(2, 6):
4
print(i) 5

for i in range(0, 8, 2): 0

2
print(i) 4
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Loops (while)
• Syntax:

while condition_is_true:
statement1
statement2
…

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break and continue statements
• break is used to exit from loop
• Example: for i in range(100):
sum += num * i
if sum > 2500:
break

• continue is used to skip a loop iteration

• Example: for i in range(100):
if i % 2 == 0
continue
sum += num * i
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List Comprehension
• Python provides a compact way of handling lists
• Example 1:
Days = ['SAT', 'SUN', 'MON', 'TUE', 'WED', 'THU', 'FRI']
days = [day.lower() for day in Days]
print(days) ➔ ['sat', 'sun', 'mon', 'tue', 'wed', 'thu', 'fri']
• Example 2:
squares = [x**2 for x in range(10) if x%2 == 0]
print(squares) ➔ [0, 4, 16, 36, 64]
• Example 3:
names = ["Hassan Ahmed", "Omar Salem", "Faiza Hamed"]
first_names = [name.split()[0].lower() for name in names]
print(first_names) ➔ ['hassan', ‘omar', 'faiza']
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zip
• zip returns an iterator that combines multiple iterables into one
sequence of tuples. Each tuple contains the elements in that position
from all the iterables.
fruits = [‘apples’, ‘oranges', ‘bananas’]
• Example: years = [2020, 2021, 2022]

result = zip(fruits, years)

print(list(result))

[('apples', 2020), ('oranges', 2021), ('bananas', 2022)]

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enumerate
• enumerate is a built-in function that returns an iterator of tuples
containing indices and values of a list. You'll often use this when you
want the index along with each element of an iterable in a loop.

• Example:
Letters = [‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’] 0 a
for i, letter in enumerate(Letters): 1 b
print(i, letter) 2 c

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Functions
• The keyword def is used to define functions
• Syntax:

def function_name(arg1, arg2, ...):

statement1
statement2
...
return some_value

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Functions [cont.]
• Example 1:
def triangle_area(base, height): # function header
return 0.5 * base * height # function body

print (triangle_area(5, 10)) # function call

• Example 2:
def hello_msg():
print(‘Hello There’)

hello_msg()
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Functions [cont.]
• Example 3: Specifying default values for arguments

def triangle_area(base, height=10):

return 0.5 * base * height

print (triangle_area(5)) ➔ 25
print (triangle_area(5, 20)) ➔ 50

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Functions [cont.]
• Main function: you can declare a main function that will be invoked
by default if the script is executed.
• The main is denoted by __main__ as shown in the example below:

def main():
statement1
statement2
...

if __name__ == ‘__main__’:
main()

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 Reading inputs from user
• Consider the case where the script needs to prompt the user for an
input. This is where the command input comes into use.

• Examples:

name = input('Enter a name: ') Enter a name: salim

print ('Hello {}'.format(name.title())) Hello Salim

result = eval(input('Enter an Expression: '))

print(result)

Enter an expression: 5 + 6
11
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Catching Exceptions
• Exceptions are run-time errors (errors that occur during the execution
of the program)

• Examples of exceptions are: dividing by zero, opening a non-existing

file, passing a value of wrong data type, etc.

• Use try and except to catch an error and avoid terminating the
program unexpectedly.

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 Catching Exceptions [cont.]
• Example:

A, B = input('Enter two values A and B, and I will calculate A / B\n').split()

try:
print(float(A)/float(B))
except:
print(‘Division by Zero is not allowed')

Print('Program Completed Successfully')

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Accessing Files
• The command open is used to access files for both reading and
writing.

• Examples:
f = open(filename, ‘r’) # open file for reading
file_data = f.read() # store file content in variable
f.close() # close file

f = open(filename, ‘w’) # open file for writing

f.write(“some_text”) # write contents to file
f.close() # close file

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Accessing Files [cont.]
• More Examples:
f = open(filename, ‘a’) # Append to existing file
f.write(‘some_text’) # write contents to file
f.close() # close file

• Another way to open a file using ‘with’ statement:

with open(filename, ‘r’) as f:

file_data = f.read()

# file is closed automatically once the code exists the “with” scope

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Libraries (Packages)
• The command import is used to include Python scripts, packages,
modules, and functions into the existing script (this is similar to
#include in C/C++)

• Syntax: import package_name

• Example:
# Package: functions.py # Main script
def double(x): import functions
return x*2
print(functions.double(3))

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Libraries (Packages) [cont.]
• You can use alias to shorten function calling
• Example:

# Package: functions.py # Main script

def double(x): import functions as fn
return x*2
print(fn.double(3))

• You can also specify a submodule to be imported from a package

from collection import defaultdic

import os.path

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Standard Libraries
• Tens of packages can be imported into your script: Check the
following link: https://docs.python.org/3/library/

• Examples

import math

print(math.factorial(4))

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3rd Party Packages
• If existing standard packages do not support what you are looking for,
then you can install additional packages using the pip command. This
is the default package manager for Python.

• To install a package: pip install xyz

• Then import package as usual to your script import xyz

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References

• Introduction to Python Programming, Udacity [Online]:

https://classroom.udacity.com/courses/ud1110

• Python Programming Language, Doulos Training

• Python Tutorial [Online]: https://www.w3schools.com/python/

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