Python Introduction

Python is a high-level, interpreted scripting language developed in the late 1980s by

Guido van Rossum at the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer
Science in the Netherlands.

The initial version was published at the alt.sources news group in 1991, and version 1.0
was released in 1994.

Python 2.0 was released in 2000, and the 2.x versions were the prevalent releases until
December 2008.

At that time, the development team made the decision to release version 3.0, which
contained significant changes that were not backward compatible with the 2.x versions.

Features of Python
Python is Interpreted:

Many languages are compiled, meaning the source code you create needs to be
translated into machine code (the language of computer’s processor, before it can be
run).

Programs written in an interpreted language are passed straight to an interpreter that

runs them directly.

This makes for a quicker development cycle because you just type in your code and run
it, without the intermediate compilation step.

One potential downside to interpreted languages is execution speed. Programs that are
compiled into the native language of the computer processor tend to run more quickly
than interpreted programs.

Python is Free:

The Python interpreter is developed under an OSI-approved open-source license,

making it free to install, use, and distribute, even for commercial purposes.

Python is Portable:

Because Python code is interpreted and not compiled into native machine instructions,
code written for one platform will work on any other platform that has the Python
interpreter installed.

Expressive Language:

Python language is more expressive means that it is more understandable and readable
Object-Oriented Language:

Python supports object oriented language and concepts of classes and objects come into
existence.

Extensible:

It implies that other languages such as C/C++ can be used to compile the code and
thus it can be used further in our python code.

GUI Programming Support:

Graphical user interfaces can be developed using Python.

Integrated:

It can be easily integrated with languages like C, C++, JAVA etc.

Large Standard Library:

Python has a large and broad library and provides rich set of module and functions for
rapid application development.

Interacting with Python

A program is a sequence of instructions that specifies how to perform a Computation.
The Computation might be mathematical or working with text.

To write and run Python program, we need to have Python interpreter installed in our
computer. IDLE (GUI integrated) is the standard, most popular Python development

environment. IDLE is an acronym of Integrated Development and Learning

Environment.

Interacting with Python

Using the Python Interpreter

Interactively
Interacting with Python through an IDE
Running a Python Script from the Command Line
A Python script is a reusable set of code. It is essentially a Python contained in a file.
You can run the program by specifying the name of the script file to the interpreter.

Python scripts are just plain text, so you can edit them with any text editor.

Using whatever editor you’ve chosen, create a script file called hello.py containing the
following:

print(“Hello, World!”)

Now save the file, keeping track of the directory or folder you choose to save into.

Now open the Command Prompt and type the command like follow--

C:\Users\user\Documents\test>python hello.py

Hello, World!

You can give the file path if directory is not same--

C:\>python C:\Users\user\Documents\test\hello.py

Hello, World!

Interacting with Python through an IDE

IDLE (Integrated Development and Learning Environment):

Most Python installations contain a rudimentary IDE called IDLE.

Starting IDLE in Windows

Go to the Start menu and select All Programs or All Apps. There should be a program
icon labeled IDLE (Python 3.x 32-bit) or something similar.

IDLE will open in interactive mode that means you can directly type the python
instructions it will evaluate immediately.

For writing python script, follow the steps given bellow:

• Open a new file by clicking on File->New File

 • Write your python code

• Save it as .py extension

• Click on Run->Run Module or press F5

• Output will be shown to the Python Shell

Python Indentation
Indentation refers to the spaces at the beginning of a code line.

Python uses indentation to indicate a block of code.

In C, Java, C# and other language we uses { } to Indicate the Block of Code

if (x < y)
if (x < y):
…. print(1) {
…. print(2)
…. print(3)
printf(“1”);
print(4) printf(“2”);
printf(“3”);
}
printf(“4”);

Python will give you an error if you skip the indentation:

The number of spaces is up to you as a programmer, but it has to be at least one.

You have to use the same number of spaces in the same block of code
 Python Comments
Comments can be used to explain Python code.

Comments can be used to make the code more readable.

Comments can be used to prevent execution when testing code.

Comments starts with a # symbol

#This is a comment
print("Hello, World!")

Comments can be placed at the end of a line

print("Hello, World!") #This is a comment

To add a multiline comment you could insert a # for each line

#This is
#a comment
#multiline comment
print("Hello, World!")
The Programming Cycle for Python
Python's Programming cycle is dramatically shorter than that of traditional tools.

In Python, there are no compile or link steps.

Because of this, Python programs run immediately after changes are made.

Write / Edit the Program

Test the Program with Inputs

Output
NO

YES

NO YES
More
Finish
Inputs

1. Write your Program or Edit.

2. Run Program on some Inputs (Test Case)

3. If Output is not correct go to step 1

4. Repeat the step 2 and 3 for all possible test cases

 Elements of Python
A Python program is a sequence of Definitions and Commands (Statements).
Commands manipulateObjects. Each Object is associated with a Type.

Python Statement:

An statement is a syntactic unit of a program that expresses some action to be carried

out. A statement may have internal components (e.g., expressions). Statements are the
instructions that a Python interpreter can execute.

Expression:

Expression in a Python language is a combination of one or more objects, operators,

and functions that the Python interprets and computes to produce another value.

Variables and Types

Data type in any language is a classification that defines the format and type of data.
Python uses objects to capture data, which then can be manipulated by programs to
provide information.

Every object has following:

An Identity, - can be known using id (object) function.

(It is the object's address in memory and does not change once it has been
created.)

A type – can be checked using type (object) function

A value

>Type
Value
>
> Identity
x
=
1
Type (data type):
2
0
>
>
>i
Data Type can be one of the following:
Number
Number stores numeric values. Python creates Number objects when a number is
assigned to a variable.

Python supports 3 types of numeric data.

1.int 2. float 3. complex

Variables of numeric types are created when you assign a value to them

You can get the data type of any object by using the type() function:

a= 10 Output:
b = 27.88 <class 'int'>
c = 5j <class 'float'>
type(a) <class 'complex'>
type(b)
type(c)

Data Type – Number - (int)

Int, or integer, is a whole number, positive or negative, without decimals, of unlimited

length.

i.e.

x= 1
y= 35656222554887711
z = -3255522

In Python 3, there is effectively no limit to how long an integer value can be. Of course,
it is constrained by the amount of memory your system has, as are all things, but
beyond that an integer can be as long as you need it to be:
The following strings can be prepended to an integer value to indicate a base other than
10:

Interpretatio
Prefix n Base Example

0b (zero + lowercase letter 'b') Binary 2 print(0b10)

0B (zero + uppercase letter 'B')
2

type(0b10)

<class 'int'>

0o (zero + lowercase letter 'o') Octal 8 print(0o10)

0O (zero + uppercase letter 'O')
8

type(0o10)

<class 'int'>

0x (zero + lowercase letter 'x') Hexadecimal 16 print(0x10)

0X (zero + uppercase letter 'X')
16

type(0x10)

<class 'int'>

Data Type – Number - (complex)

Complex numbers are specified as <real part>+<imaginary part>j. For example:

x= 3+5j
y=5j
z = -5j

>>> 2+3j
(2+3j)
>>>type(2+3j)
<class 'complex'>

Boolean Type:

Python 3 provides a Boolean data type. Objects of Boolean type may have one of two
values, True or False (case sensitive).

>>>type((True)
<class 'bool'>
>>>type(False)
Floating-Point Numbers

The float type in Python designates a floating-point number. float values are specified
with a decimal point. Optionally, the character e or E followed by a positive or negative
integer may be appended to specify scientific notation:

>>> 4.2
4.2
>>> type(4.2)
<class 'float'>
>>> 4.
4.0
>>> .2
0.2

>>> .4e7
4000000.0
>>> type(.4e7)
<class 'float'>
>>> 4.2e-4
0.00042

NONE

The None keyword is used to define a null variable or an object. In

Python, None keyword is an object, and it is a data type of the class NoneType.

We can assign None to any variable, but you can not create other NoneType objects.

All variables that are assigned None point to the same object.

Important Point

• None is not the same as False.

• None is not 0.

• None is not an empty string.

• Comparing None to anything will always return False except None itself.
Python List
List is an ordered sequence of items. It is one of the most used data type in Python and
is very flexible. All the items in a list do not need to be of the same type.

Declaring a list is pretty straight forward. Items separated by commas are enclosed
within brackets [ ].

We can use the slicing operator [ ] to extract an item or a range of items from a list.

Index starts form 0 in Python.

Python Tuple
Tuple is an ordered sequence of items same as list. The only difference is that tuples
are immutable. Tuples once created cannot be modified.
Tuples are used to write-protect data and are usually faster than list as it cannot
change dynamically.
It is defined within parentheses () where items are separated by commas.
We can use the slicing operator [] to extract items but we cannot change its value.

Python string
String is sequence of Unicode characters. We can use single quotes or double quotes to
represent strings. Multi-line strings can be denoted using triple quotes, ''' or """.

Like list and tuple, slicing operator [ ] can be used with string. Strings are immutable.

h e l l o w o r l d

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Python Dictionary
Dictionary is an unordered collection of key-value pairs. It is generally used when we
have a huge amount of data. Dictionaries are optimized for retrieving data. We must
know the key to retrieve the value.

In Python, dictionaries are defined within braces {} with each item being a pair in the
form key: value. Key and value can be of any type.

We use key to retrieve the respective value. But not the other way around.

Python Set
Set is an unordered collection of unique items. Set is defined by values separated by
comma inside braces { }. Items in a set are not ordered.

We can perform set operations like union, intersection on two sets. Set have unique
values. They eliminate duplicates.

Since, set are unordered collection, indexing has no meaning. Hence the slicing
operator [] does not work.
Type Conversion
We can convert data types by using different type conversion functions like:

int(), float(), str(), list(), tuple() etc.

Conversion from float to int will truncate the value (make it closer to zero).

>>>int(10.6)
10
>>>int(-10.6)
10

Conversion to and from string must contain compatible values.

>>>float('2.5')
2.5
>>>str(25)
'25'

We can even convert one sequence to another.

>>>set([1,2,3])
{1, 2, 3}
>>>tuple({5,6,7})
(5, 6, 7)
>>>list('hello')
['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o']
Python Operators

Operators are special symbols in Python that carry out arithmetic or logical
computation. The value that the operator operates on is called the operand.

For example:

1. >>>2+3
2. 5

Here, + is the operator that performs addition. 2 and 3 are the operands and 5 is the
output of the operation.

Python provides a variety of operators described as follows.

o Arithmetic operators

o Comparison operators

o Assignment Operators

o Logical Operators

o Bitwise Operators

o Membership Operators

o Identity Operators
 Arithmetic operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical operations like addition,

subtraction, multiplication etc.

Operato
r Meaning Example

x+y
+ Add two operands or unary plus +2

x-y
- Subtract right operand from the left or unary minus -2

* Multiply two operands x*y

/ Divide left operand by the right one (always results into float) x/y

x % y (remainder of
% Modulus - remainder of the division of left operand by the right x/y)

Floor division - division that results into whole number adjusted to the left in the
// number line x // y

** Exponent - left operand raised to the power of right x**y (x to the power y)

Comparison operator
Comparison operators are used to comparing the value of the two operands and returns
boolean true or false accordingly. The comparison operators are described in the
following table.

Operato
r Meaning Example

> Greater than - True if left operand is greater than the right x>y

< Less than - True if left operand is less than the right x<y

== Equal to - True if both operands are equal x == y

!= Not equal to - True if operands are not equal x != y

>= Greater than or equal to - True if left operand is greater than or equal to the right x >= y

<= Less than or equal to - True if left operand is less than or equal to the right x <= y
 Bitwise operators

Bitwise operators act on operands as if they were string of binary digits. It operates bit
by bit, hence the name.

For example, 2 is 10 in binary and 7 is 111.

In the table below: Let x = 10 (0000 1010 in binary) and y = 4 (0000 0100 in binary)

Operator Meaning Example

& Bitwise AND x& y = 0 (0000 0000)

| Bitwise OR x | y = 14 (0000 1110)

~ Bitwise NOT ~x = -11 (1111 0101)

^ Bitwise XOR x ^ y = 14 (0000 1110)

>> Bitwise right shift x>> 2 = 2 (0000 0010)

<< Bitwise left shift x<< 2 = 40 (0010 1000)

 Assignment operators

Assignment operators are used in Python to assign values to variables.

a = 5 is a simple assignment operator that assigns the value 5 on the right to the
variable a on the left.
There are various compound operators in Python like a += 5 that adds to the variable
and later assigns the same. It is equivalent to a = a + 5.

Operator Example Equivatent to

= x=5 x=5

+= x += 5 x=x+5

-= x -= 5 x=x-5

*= x *= 5 x=x*5

/= x /= 5 x=x/5

%= x %= 5 x=x%5

//= x //= 5 x = x // 5

**= x **= 5 x = x ** 5

&= x &= 5 x=x&5

|= x |= 5 x=x|5

^= x ^= 5 x=x^5

>>= x >>= 5 x = x >> 5

 Special operators

Python language offers some special type of operators like the identity operator or the
membership operator. They are described below with examples.

Identity operators
is and is not are the identity operators in Python. They are used to check if two values
(or variables) are located on the same part of the memory. Two variables that are equal
do not imply that they are identical.

Operat
or Meaning Example

is True if the operands are identical (refer to the same object) x is True

True if the operands are not identical (do not refer to the x is not
is not same object) True

Membership operators
in and not in are the membership operators in Python. They are used to test whether
a value or variable is found in a sequence (string, list, tuple, set and dictionary).

In a dictionary we can only test for presence of key, not the value.

Operat Exampl
or Meaning e

True if value/variable is found in the

in sequence 5 in x

True if value/variable is not found in the 5 not in

not in sequence x
 Operator Precedence
The precedence of the operators is important to find out since it enables us to know
which operator should be evaluated first. The precedence table of the operators in
python is given below.

Operator Description

** The exponent operator is given priority over all the others used in the

expression.

~+- The negation, unary plus and minus.

* / % // The multiplication, divide, modules, reminder, and floor division.

+- Binary plus and minus

>><< Left shift and right shift

& Binary and.

^| Binary xor and or

<= <>>= Comparison operators (less then, less then equal to, greater then, greater

then equal to).

<> == != Equality operators.

= %= /= //= -= += Assignment operators

*= **=

is is not Identity operators

in not in Membership operators

not or and Logical operators