Lecture 2: Introduction to Python

Lecture 2 : Outline

• Introduction
• Python 3.1 Installation
• “ Hello World” – Example
• Input , Processing and Output
• Variables and Data Types
• Python Statements and Expressions
• Python Comments
• How Python Works?
• Lab#1
• Anaconda Navigator Installation

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Introduction to Python

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Introduction
• Computational Thinking
• A thought process to formulate a problem and express its solution in terms a computer
can apply effectively
• Let's assume to solve a problem :
• We considered it at right level of abstraction
• Decomposed it ( if there was a possibility)
• Designed an Algorithm ( Defined the steps to solve it)
• Now , how to instruct the computer ?
• How to make the computer follow the algorithm?
• How to automate ?
• Programming
• A process of creating instructions for a computer to follow
• These instructions are written in a programming language
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Programming Languages

• Machine Language
• A computer can only directly understand Machine Language
• Also called binary language – 1’s and 0’s Only
• Easier for computer to understand but difficult for programmers to program
• Assembly Language
• Uses special symbols called mnemonics instead of binary numbers
• Assembly language program cannot be executed directly by CPU
• Need a translator called “ Assembler”
• Challenges
• Both are difficult for humans to program
• Each brand of CPU has its of instruction set ( binary and assembly)
• So, program written for one CPU brand may not work for the other ( Compatibility Issue)

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Programming Languages
• High Level Languages
• Easier to program for humans or programmers
• No need to know the instruction set ( in binary )
• Easy to write complex and large programs
• A computer cannot understand directly
• Translator programs ( Compiler or Interpreter ) are used to convert into binary
• Examples
• Ada
• BASIC ,FORTRAN, COBOL, Pascal
• C, C++, C#
• Java and Java Script
• Python

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What is Python?
• Python is an open-source , general-purpose , high-level programming language
• Developed by Guido van Rossum
• Released in 1991
• Mainly used for:
• Backend Development ( Server-side programming )
• Web Development ( Django and Flask Frameworks)
• Data Analysis and Visualizations
• Machine Learning Tasks
• Deep Learning Task
• GUI
• Software Development
• Research & Development
• All other task in conventional high-level languages

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Python – A huge set of Libraries for almost each
specialized task

Source :https://rotechnica.com/what-is-python-used-for/
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Giants are using Python!

Source :https://rotechnica.com/what-is-python-used-for/
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Reasons to choose Python ?

Open Source

Easy to Learn

Huge Library - Strong Online Community

Less Code , Large Functionalities

Code Readability

High Demand

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Python Installation
• Check if python is already installed on your computer
• cmd python --version
• Visit www.python.org
• Download Python 3.12.7 / latest version for Windows
• Choose the default path
• Remember to check:  Add Python to environment variables
• After setup completes
• Again, run python --version on command prompt to verify successful installation

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Starting out in Python – Hello World!
• There are various ways to run python code:
• Interactive mode ( Python shell)
• Python IDLE
• Text Editor ( Visual Studio Code)
• IDE ( PyCharm)
• Anaconda Navigator (
• Jupyter Notebook
• Jupyter Lab
• Spyder
• PyCharm
• Visual Studio Code
• We will be using Anaconda Navigator (Jupyter Notebook)
• We can also use https://colab.google/ ( Google Colab) but it needs internet access .

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Hello World !
• Interactive Mode
• Open Python shell and print Hello World!
• Command Line
• Create a text file
• Print(“Hello World! )
• Save it as hello.py in your user directory
• Run this hello.py file from command line
• Python IDLE
• Print “ Hello World”
• Create a new file
• Create two variables : a=10 , b=20
• Using if statement print “ a is less than b “ or “ a is greater than b”
• Jupyter Notebook

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The Program Development Cycle
• The process of designing a program includes:
• Understand the task that the program is to perform
• Problem Formulation ( Computational Thinking)
• Determine the steps that must be taken to perform the task
• Algorithm Design ( Computational Thinking)
• Pseudocode – The language ( not a computer language) in which an algorithm is written

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Two Important Tools – Solution Design
• Pseudocode and Flow Charts

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Input  Processing  Output
• All computer programs typically perform the following three operations:
• Input ( There are different ways to provide input)
• Processing ( Use mathematical functions)
• Output ( There are different ways to provide the output)

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Variables and Data Types

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Variables

• A variable is a named memory location which is used to store data.

• Each variable has a type which depends on the values it stores
•

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Variables Naming Conventions
• Each variable in python has a name
• Naming Conventions:
• The first character must be one of the letters a through z, A through Z, or an
underscore character (_)
• After the first character you may use the letters a through z or A through Z, the digits 0
through 9, or underscores.
• Uppercase and lowercase characters are distinct. This means the variable name
ItemsOrdered is not the same as itemsordered
• You cannot use any of Python’s key words as a variable name.
• A variable name cannot contain spaces
• You can’t use special characters like !, @, #, $, % etc. in variable name.

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Python Keywords
• Keywords have specific use in python language
• These keywords cannot be used as variable names

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Python Data Types
• Data types represents the type of value ( to be stored in a variable)
• For examples :
• 10 is an integer value
• 20.5 is a floating-point value
• 10+5j is a complex number
• “Hello World” is a string value
• True and False are Boolean values
• [“python” , “Java” , “C++”] is a list of values
• There are other types as well

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Python Data Types

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Mutable and Immutable Data Types

• Mutable Data Types

• Those whose values can be changed in place:
1. Lists
2. Dictionaries
3. Sets
• Immutable Data Types
• Those that can never change their value in place.
1. Integers
2. Floating-Point numbers
3. Booleans
4. Strings
5. Tuples

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Type Casting
• Type Casting
• A method to convert the variable data type into another data type
• There can be two types of Type Casting in Python
• Implicit Type Casting
• Explicit Type Casting
• Examples :
• a=5, b=4.5 , c=a+b , d=a*b ( what are the data types of c and d)
• int(3.1416) will give you 3
• float(3) will give you 3.0. ( a float value is stored differently than an integer)
• value=10 , str(value) will give you “10” which cannot be treated as a number now
• x=3.5 , y=int(x) will cause y= ?? and x=??

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Statements and Expressions

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Python Statements
• A statement is an instruction that a Python interpreter can execute
• It is a single line of execution than can be executed independently of any
other code
• For example :
• print () statement
• Assignment statement
• Conditional statement
• Loop statements
• Each python statement ends with a new line ( \n – line feed character)
• A statement can be extended to multiple lines
Addition=10+20+ \
30+40+\
50+60+70
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Python Expressions
• An expression in Python is a line of code that produces some value
• It is a combination of operands and operators
• Examples
• 2+4
• A+B
• a>b ( may be True of False)
• 2+5*4
• X=a+b ( a+b is expression ; the whole thing X=a+b is a statement)

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Difference Between Statement &
Expressions

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Comments in Python
• Comments describe what is happening inside a program so that a person
looking at the source code does not have difficulty figuring it out.
• The Python Interpreter simply ignores the comments and does not check for
Python Syntax
• Types
• Single Line Comments
• # this is a single line comment
• Multiline comments
• Either use # sign at the beginning of each new line
• Or use triple quotes to include multiple lines

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Lab#1
1. Create a new Jupyter Notebook and name it as Lab#1
2. Type and execute print(“Hello World”)
3. Create two variables a=10, b=20 and sum=a+b
a) Write above three statements in separate lines ( in a single cell) each preceded by a single line comment
b) Identify the statement and expressions in above
4. Create two more variables choice1=True and choice2 =“True”
1. Check the type of both variables choice1 and choice 2
2. Display the hexadecimal address of both choice1 and choice2
5. Create a string variable and check its type
6. Create a float variable and cast it into an int type
7. Know the shortcuts:
1. ESC+A to insert cell above the current cell
2. ESC+B to insert cell below the current cell
8. Considering the variable naming rules , do the following:
1. Create and initialize any 5 variables with valid names
2. Try to create 3 variables which violate these rules.
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How it Works ?

How it works ?

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Anaconda Navigator
Installation

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What is Anaconda ?

• Anaconda is a distribution of the Python programming language and R for

scientific computing including:
• Data Science
• Machine Learning Applications
• Large-scale Data Processing
• Predictive Analytics, etc.
• Aims to simplify package management and deployment.
• The distribution includes data-science packages suitable for Windows, Linux,
and macOS.
• It is developed and maintained by Anaconda, Inc., which was founded by
Peter Wang and Travis Oliphant in 2012

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Anaconda Distribution

• Anaconda, Inc. product, it is also known as Anaconda Distribution

• Different Products:
• Anaconda Individual Edition ( Free)
• Anaconda Team Edition ( Commercial)
• Anaconda Enterprise Edition (Commercial)
• Anaconda distribution comes with over 250 packages automatically installed,
and over 7,500 additional open-source packages which can be installed based
on need
• It also includes a GUI, Anaconda Navigator, as a graphical alternative to the
command-line interface (CLI).

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Anaconda Navigator
• Anaconda Navigator is a desktop graphical user interface (GUI) included in
Anaconda distribution
• The following applications are available by default in Navigator:
• JupyterLab
• Jupyter Notebook
• QtConsole
• Spyder
• Glue
• Orange
• RStudio
• Visual Studio Code

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Anaconda Individual Edition - Installation
• https://problemsolvingwithpython.com/01-Orientation/01.03-Installing-Anac
onda-on-Windows/
• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/sdlc/sdlc_quick_guide.htm

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A Brief Description of Python IDEs /
Editors
Jupyter Notebook Jupyter Notebook (formerly IPython Notebook) is a web-based interactive computational environment
for creating notebook documents. ( Wikipedia)

Jupyter Lab JupyterLab is the next generation of the Jupyter Notebook. It aims at fixing many usability issues of the
Notebook, and it greatly expands its scope. JupyterLab offers a general framework for interactive
computing and data science in the browser, using Python, Julia, R, or one of many other languages. (
Source)
Spyder Spyder is an open-source cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) for scientific
programming in the Python language. (Wikipedia)

PyCharm PyCharm is a dedicated Python Integrated Development Environment (IDE) providing a wide range of
essential tools for Python developers, tightly integrated to create a convenient environment for
productive Python, web, and data science development. (Wikipedia)

Visual Studio Code Visual Studio Code, also commonly referred to as VS Code, is a source-code editor made by Microsoft
for Windows, Linux and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent
code completion, snippets, code refactoring, and embedded Git (Wikipedia)

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A Brief Comparison of Python IDEs/
Editors

Source
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Resources / References
• Starting out with Python (Textbook)
• Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
• https://pynative.com ( An online Platform to learn Python)
• https://www.dataquest.io/blog/jupyter-notebook-tutorial/ ( A Tutorial on
How to use Jupyter Notebook?)

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