Sudden Python

Drinking from the Fire Hose

8-Aug-19
 Get Python (and IDLE)
 We will be using Python 2 (version 2.7.3), not
Python 3
 Get it from www.python.org
 The download includes an Integrated
Development Environment (IDE), named
“IDLE”

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 Running IDLE
 IDLE opens a window in which you can
enter and run Python commands
 This window is called a REPL (Read-Eval-
Print-Loop)
 Choose File -> New Window to open a
window in which you can type entire
programs
 To execute the program, hit the F5 key

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 Commands and data
 A program consists of commands (more commonly
called “statements”) that manipulate data
 Here are the four most common kinds of data:
 Integers (whole numbers), such as 5, 17, or -300
 “Floating point” numbers, such as 3.1416
 “Strings” are character sequences enclosed in either single
quotes or double quotes, such as "Madam, I'm Adam" and
'"Too soon," she said.'
 Straight quotes only (" and '), not curly quotes ( “” ‘’)

 “Boolean” (logical) values—there are only two of these,

True and False

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 Program components
 Programs can read in data
 Programs can write results
 In between reading and writing, programs can
 compute, that is, do arithmetic (or logic)
 test, that is, decide what to do next
 loop, that is, do the same actions a number of times
 delegate, that is, ask other parts of the program to
perform some task
 Also, programs can ignore comments
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 Doing simple arithmetic
 Here are the arithmetic operators:
 + performs addition
 - performs subtraction
 * performs multiplication
 / performs division
 When dividing two integers, the result is an integer: 14 / 5 is 2
 % performs modulus (remainder of division): 14 % 5 is 4
 ** performs exponentiation
 The result of doing arithmetic is often assigned to a variable:
sum = 10 + 22 + 13 + 44 + 72
 Variables can be used in arithmetic:
average = sum / 5

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 Reading in data
 Here’s how to ask the user to enter a string:
 name = raw_input("What is your name? ")
 Whatever the user types in, up to a press of the Enter key, is
a string that is assigned to the variable name
 Here’s how to ask the user to enter a number:
 age = input("What is your age? ")
 Whatever the user types in, up to a press of the Enter key, is
converted to a number and assigned to the variable age

 input and raw_input are functions (or methods)

 For now, we will treat “function” and “method” as synonyms

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 Printing results
 To print results, use the print statement
 print "Two plus two is four"
 You can print multiple things separated by commas
 print 2, "plus", 2, "is", 2 + 2
 Each print statement writes a “newline” at the end (so
that the next print statement goes to a new line)
 You can omit the newline by ending with a comma:
 print 2, "plus", 2,
print "is", 2 + 2

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 Comments
 A comment is a note to any human looking at the program;
comments are ignored by the computer.
 A comment begins with # and extends to the end of the line
 Good uses of comments:
 At the beginning of a program, to tell what the program does
 When using someone else’s code, to say where you got it from
 To explain any code that’s hard to understand
 Bad uses of comments:
 To explain something that’s obvious anyway
 To explain code that’s hard to understand, but could be made simpler
 To add irrelevant comments, like # Go Eagles!
 When you should instead use a doc string (described on a later slide)

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 Layout
 Every statement goes on a line by itself
 Put spaces around operators, including the assignment
operator (=)
 average = sum / 5
 Put spaces after commas (but not before commas)
 print 2, "plus", 2, "is", 2 + 2
 When using a function, do not put spaces on either side
of the parentheses
 age = input("What is your age? ")

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 Decisions and tests
 Your program can decide what to do by making a test
 The result of a test is a boolean value, True or False
 Here are tests on numbers:
 < means “is less than”
 <= means “is less than or equal to”
 == means “is equal to”
 != means “is not equal to”
 >= means “is greater than or equal to”
 < means “is greater than”
 These same tests work on strings
 All capital letters are “less than” all lowercase letters
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 Compound tests
 Boolean values can be combined with these operators:
 and – gives True if both sides are True
 or – gives True if at least one side is True
 not – given True, this returns False, and vice versa
 Examples
 score > 0 and score <= 100
 name == "Joe" and not score > 100

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 The if statement
 The if statement evaluates a test, and if it is True,
performs the following indented statements; but if the
test is False, it does nothing
 Examples:
 if grade == "A+":
print "Congratulations!"
 if score < 0 or score > 100:
print "That’s not possible!"
score = input("Enter a correct value: ")

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 if with else
 The if statement can have an optional else part, to be
performed if the test result is False
 Example:
 if grade == "A+":
print "Congratulations!"
else:
print "You could do so much better."
print "Your mother will be disappointed."

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 if with elif
 The if statement can have any number of elif tests
 Only one group of statements is executed—those
controlled by the first test that passes
 Example:
 if grade == "A":
print "Congratulations!"
elif grade == "B":
print "That's pretty good."
elif grade == "C":
print "Well, it's passing, anyway."
else:
print "You really blew it this time!"
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 Indentation
 Indentation is required and must be consistent
 Standard indentation is 4 spaces or one tab
 IDLE does this pretty much automatically for you
 Example:
 if 2 + 2 != 4:
print "Oh, no!"
print "Arithmethic doesn't work!"
print "Time to buy a new computer."

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 Lists and ranges
 A list is a sequence of values enclosed in brackets
 Example: courses = ['CIT 591', 'CIT 592', 'CIT 593']
 You can refer to an individual value by putting a bracketed
number (starting from 0) after the list
 Example: courses[2] is 'CIT 593'
 The len function tells you how many things are in a list
 Example: len(courses) is 3
 range is a function that creates a list of integers, from the first
number up to but not including the second number
 Example: range(0, 5) creates the list [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
 If you give range a third number, it is used as the step size
 Example: range(2, 10, 3) creates the list [2, 5, 8]

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 The for loop
 A for loop performs the same statements for each value
in a list
 Example:
for n in range(1, 4):
print "This is the number", n
prints
This is the number 1
This is the number 2
This is the number 3
 The for loop uses a variable (in this case, n) to hold the
current value in the list

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 The while loop
 A while loop performs the same statements over and over until
some test becomes False
 Example:
n = 3
while n > 0:
print n, "is a nice number."
n = n – 1
prints
3 is a nice number.
2 is a nice number.
1 is a nice number.
 If the test is initially False, the while loop doesn't do anything.
 If the test never becomes False, you have an "infinite loop."
This is usually bad.

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 Calling a function
 A function is a section of code that either (1) does some input or
output, or (2) computes some value.
 A function can do both, but it's bad style.
 Good style is functions that are short and do only one thing
 Most functions take one or more arguments, to help tell them what to do
 Here's a function that does some input:
age = input("How old are you? ")
The argument, "How old are you?", is shown to the user
 Here's a function that computes a value (a list):
odds = range(1, 100, 2)
The arguments are used to tell what to put into the list

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 Defining a function
1. def sum(numbers):
2. """Finds the sum of the numbers in a list."""
3. total = 0
4. for number in numbers:
5. total = total + number
6. return total

1. def defines a function

numbers is a parameter: a variable used to hold an argument
2. This doc string tells what the function does
6. A function that computes a value must return it
sum(range(1, 101)) will return 5050
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 Summary
 Arithmetic: + - * / % < <= == != >= >
 Logic (boolean): True False and or not
 Strings: "Double quoted" or 'Single quoted'
 Lists: [1, 2, 3, 4] len(lst) range(0, 100, 5)
 Input: input(question) raw_input(question)
 Decide: if test: elif test: else:
 For loop: for variable in list:
 While loop: while test:
 Calling a function: sum(numbers)
 Defining a function: def sum(numbers): return result

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 Advice to beginners
 Programming is hard!
 The individual building blocks are all pretty simple, but they go together in
complex patterns
 You will make many mistakes, and they will (almost) all be
stupid mistakes
 That doesn’t mean you are stupid!
 Experts make just as many stupid mistakes, but they are more experienced
at finding and correcting them
 Therefore: Don’t be shy about letting other people see your mistakes
 In a few weeks you will find that it suddenly all starts to make
sense, and you'll wonder what the problem was
 Don’t panic!
 There’s lots of help available
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 Advice to non-beginners
 A lot is known about how to program well
 You probably have a lot of bad habits to unlearn
 The following are important habits to learn:
 Thorough testing is essential; anything less is amateurish
 Concentrate on clarity (not efficiency) at all times
 If code is hard to understand, simplify it
 Use comments to explain code you aren’t able to simplify
 Remember that the best way to learn something is to
teach it

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 The End

“Programming is an art form that fights back.”

-- Anonymous

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