Fundamentals of

Python: First
Programs 3e
Chapter 2: Software
Development, Data Types,
and Expressions

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 Chapter Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• 2.1 Describe the basic phases of software development: analysis,
design, coding, and testing
• 2.2 Use strings for the terminal input and output of text
• 2.3 Use integers and floating-point numbers in arithmetic operations
• 2.4 Construct arithmetic expressions
• 2.5 Import functions from library modules

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The Software Development Process (1
of 4)
• Software development: process of planning and organizing a program

• Phases of the waterfall model (one approach to software development):

− Customer request
− Analysis
− Design
− Implementation
− Integration
− Maintenance

• Modern software development is usually incremental and iterative

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The Software Development Process (2
of 4)

Figure 2-1 The waterfall model of the software development process

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The Software Development Process (3
of 4)
• Programs rarely work as hoped
the first time they are run
• Must perform extensive and
careful testing
• The cost of developing software
is not spread equally over the
phases

Figure 2-2 Relative costs of repairing

mistakes that are found in different
phases
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The Software Development Process (4
of 4)

Figure 2-3 Percentage of total cost incurred in

each phase of the development process
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 Strings, Assignments, and Comments

• Text processing is by far the most common application of computing

• E-mail, text messaging, Web pages, and word processing all rely on
and manipulate data consisting of strings of characters

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 Data Types (1 of 2)

• A data type consists of a set of values and a set of operations that

can be performed on those values
• A literal is the way a value of a data type looks to a programmer
• int and float are numeric data types
− They represent numbers

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 Data Types (2 of 2)

Type of Data Python Type Name Example Literals

Integers int −1, 0, 1, 2
Real numbers float −0.55, .3333, 3.14,
6.0
Character strings str "Hi", "", 'A', "66"

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 String Literals (1 of 2)

• In Python, a string literal is a sequence of characters enclosed in single or double

quotation marks

• '' and "" represent the empty string

• Double-quoted strings are handy for composing strings that contain single quotation
marks or apostrophes:
>>> "I'm using a single quote in this string!”
"I'm using a single quote in this string!”
>>> print("I'm using a single quote in this string!")
I'm using a single quote in this string!

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 String Literals (2 of 2)

• Use ''' and """ for multi-line paragraphs

>>> print("""This very long sentence extends
all the way to the next line. """)
This very long sentence extends
all the way to the next line.

• When you evaluate a string in Python without the print function, you can see the
literal for the newline character, \n, embedded in the result:
>>> """This very long sentence extends
all the way to the next line."""
'This very long sentence extends\nall the way to the next line.'

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 Escape Sequences

• The newline character \n is called an escape sequence

Escape Meaning
Sequence
\b Backspace
\n Newline
\t Horizontal tab
\\ The \ character
\' Single quotation mark
\" Double quotation mark

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 String Concatenation

• You can join two or more strings to form a new string using the
concatenation operator +
>>> "Hi " + "there, " + "Ken!"
'Hi there, Ken!'
• The * operator allows you to build a string by repeating another string
a given number of times
>>> " " * 10 + "Python"
' Python'

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 Variables and the Assignment
Statement
• A variable associates a name with a(1
value of 3)
− Makes it easy to remember and use later in the program

• Variable naming rules:

− Reserved words cannot be used as variable names
 Examples: if, def, and import
− Name must begin with a letter or _
− Name can contain any number of letters, digits, or _
− Names are case sensitive
− Tip: Begin each word in the variable name with an uppercase, except the first one
(Example: interestRate)

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 Variables and the Assignment
Statement
(2
• Programmers use all uppercase letters of 3)constants (variables that contain
for symbolic
values that the program never changes)
− Examples: TAX_RATE and STANDARD_DEDUCTION

• Variables receive initial values and can be reset to new values with an assignment
statement
<variable name> = <expression>
− Subsequent uses of the variable name in expressions are known as variable references

• Example:
>>> firstName = "Ken"
>>> secondName = "Lambert"
>>> fullName = firstName + " " + secondName
>>> fullName
'Ken Lambert'
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 Variables and the Assignment
Statement
(3 of 3)
• Variables serve two purposes:
− Help the programmer keep track of data that change over time
− Allow the programmer to refer to a complex piece of information
with a simple name (a process called abstraction)

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 Activity 2.1: Knowledge Check

1. What is a literal?

2. Which operator allows you to build a string by repeating another

string a given number of times?

3. Which types of characters are allowed in variable names?

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 Activity 2.1: Knowledge Check
Answers
1. What is a literal?
Answer: A literal is the way a value of a data type looks to a
programmer.
2. Which operator allows you to build a string by repeating another
string a given number of times?
Answer: The * operator
3. Which types of characters are allowed in variable names?
Answer: Letters, digits, or underscores (_)

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Program Comments and Docstrings (1
of 3)
• Program comment
− A piece of program text that the computer ignores but that provides useful
documentation

• Docstring
− A multi-line string of the form:
"""
Program: circle.py
Author: Ken Lambert
Last date modified: 10/10/22
The purpose of this program is to compute the area of a circle. The input
is an integer or floating-point number representing the radius of the
circle. The output is a floating-point number labeled as the area of the
circle.
"""
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Program Comments and Docstrings (2
of 3)
• End-of-line comments
− Begin with the # symbol and extend to the end of a line
− Might explain the purpose of a variable or the strategy used by a
piece of code
− Example:
>>> RATE = 0.70 # Conversion rate for Canadian to US
dollars

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Program Comments and Docstrings (3
of 3)
• Tips related to comments and docstrings:
− Begin a program with a statement of purpose and other
information helpful to programmers
− Accompany a variable definition with a comment that explains the
variable’s purpose
− Precede major segments of code with brief comments that explain
their purpose
− Include comments to explain the workings of complex or tricky
sections of code

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 Numeric Data Types and Character
Sets
• The first applications of computers were to crunch numbers
• The use of numbers in many applications is still very important

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 Integers

• In real life, the range of integers (whole numbers) is infinite

• Integer literals are written without commas
• A computer’s memory places a limit on the magnitude of the largest
positive and negative integers
• The most common int implementation's typical range:

• Python's integer is much larger and is limited only by the memory of

the computer

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 Floating-Point Numbers (1 of 2)

• Real numbers have infinite precision

− The digits in the fractional part can continue forever
• Python uses floating-point numbers to represent real numbers
• Python’s float typical range:

• Typical precision: 16 digits

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 Floating-Point Numbers (2 of 2)

• A floating-point number can be written using either ordinary decimal

notation or scientific notation

Decimal Scientific Meaning

Notation Notation
0
3.78 3.78e0 3.78 times 10 to the 0
3.78 ×10
37.8 3.78e1 3.78 times 10 to1 the 1
3.78 ×10
3780.0 3.78e3 3.78 times 10 Cubed
3.78 ×10
3

0.378 3.78e−1 3.78 times 10 to−1

3.78 ×10
the minus

1
−3
0.00378 3.78e−3 3.78 ×10
3.78 times 10 to the minus

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 Character Sets

• Python character literals look like string literals and are of type string
− They belong to several different character sets, among them the ASCII set and the
Unicode set

• ASCII character set maps to a set of integers

• ord and chr functions convert characters to and from ASCII

• Example:
>>> ord('a')
97
>>> ord('A')
65
>>> chr(65)
'A'

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 Activity 2.2 Discussion

1. Are you familiar with other software development models? If so,

what are their similarities to and differences from the waterfall
model? Which one do you like best?
2. Have you used data types, strings, and variables in other languages?
What similarities and differences do you notice between them and
Python?

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 Expressions

• A literal evaluates to itself

• A variable reference evaluates to the variable’s current value
• Expressions provide an easy way to perform operations on data
values to produce other values
• When an expression is entered at the Python shell prompt:
− The expression’s operands are evaluated
− Its operator is then applied to these values to compute the value of
the expression

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 Arithmetic Expressions (1 of 3)

• An arithmetic expression consists of combined operands and

operators Operator Meaning Syntax
− Negation −a
** Exponentiation a ** b
* Multiplication a * b
/ Division a / b
// Quotient a // b
% Remainder or a % b
modulus
+ Addition a + b
− Subtraction a − b

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 Arithmetic Expressions (2 of 3)

• Precedence rules:
− ** has the highest precedence and is evaluated first
− Unary negation is evaluated next
− *, /, and % are evaluated before + and −
− + and − are evaluated before =
− With two exceptions, operations of equal precedence are left associative, so they
are evaluated from left to right
 ** and = are right associative
− You can use () to change the order of evaluation

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 Arithmetic Expressions (3 of 3)

• When both operands of an expression are of the same numeric type, the resulting
value is also of that type

• When each operand is of a different type, the resulting value is of the more general
type

• // produces an integer quotient; / produces a float

− Example: 3 // 4 is 0, whereas 3 / 4 is .75

• For multi-line expressions, use a \

• Example:
>>> 3 + 4 * \
2 ** 5
131
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 Mixed-Mode Arithmetic and Type
Conversions (1 of 4)
• Mixed-mode arithmetic involves integers and floating-point numbers:
>>> 3.14 * 3 ** 2
28.26

• You must use a type conversion function when working with the input of
numbers
− It is a function with the same name as the data type to which it converts

• input function returns a string as its value

− You must use the int or float function to convert the string to a number before
performing arithmetic

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 Mixed-Mode Arithmetic and Type
Conversions (2 of 4)

Conversion Function Example Use Value Returned

int(<a number or a string>) int(3.77) 3
int("33") 33
float(<a number or a string>) float(22) 22.0
str(<any value>) str(99) '99'

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 Mixed-Mode Arithmetic and Type
Conversions (3 of 4)
• Note that the int function converts a float to an int by truncation,
not by rounding
>>> int(6.75)
6
>>> round(6.75)
7

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 Mixed-Mode Arithmetic and Type
Conversions (4 of 4)
• Type conversion also occurs in the construction of strings from numbers and other
strings
>>> profit = 1000.55
>>> print('$' + profit)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: cannot concatenate 'str' and 'float' objects

• Solution: use str function

>>> print('$' + str(profit))
$1000.55

• Python is a strongly typed programming language

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 Using Functions and Modules

• Python includes many useful functions, which are organized in

libraries of code called modules

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 Calling Functions: Arguments and
Return Values
• A function is chunk of code that can be called by name to perform a task

• Functions often require arguments, referred to by names known as parameters

− Arguments may be optional or required

• When a function completes its task, it may return a value back to another part of the
program

• To learn how to use a function’s arguments, use the help function:

>>> help(round)
Help on built-in function round in module builtin:
round(...)
round(number[, ndigits]) -> floating point number
Round a number to a given precision in decimal digits (default 0 digits).
This returns an int when called with one argument, otherwise the same type
as
number, ndigits may be
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 The math Module (1 of 2)

• Functions and other resources are coded in components called modules

• Functions like abs and round from the _builtin_ module are always available to
use

• The math module includes functions that perform basic mathematical operations

• To use a resource from a module, you write the name of a module as a qualifier,
followed by a dot (.) and the name of the resource
− Example: math.pi
>>> math.pi
3.1415926535897931
>>> math.sqrt(2)
1.4142135623730951
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 The math Module (2 of 2)

• You can avoid the use of the qualifier with each reference by
importing the individual resources
>>> from math import pi, sqrt
>>> print(pi, sqrt(2))
3.14159265359 1.41421356237
• You may import all of a module’s resources to use without the qualifier
− Example: from math import *

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 The Main Module

• You can write documentation for a Python script

• To differentiate this script from the other modules in a program, we call it the main
module
− Like any module, the main module can be imported
>>> import taxform
Enter the gross income: 120000
Enter the number of dependents: 2
The income tax is $20800.0

• After importing a main module, view its documentation by running the help function

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 Program Format and Structure

• Start with a comment including the author’s name, the purpose of the program, and
other relevant information
− In a docstring

• Then, include statements that:

− Import any modules needed by program
− Initialize important variables, suitably commented
− Prompt the user for input data and save the input data in variables
− Process the inputs to produce the results
− Display the results

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 Running a Script from a Terminal
Command Prompt (1 of 4)
• A way to run a Python script:
− Open a terminal command prompt window
− Click in the “Type here to search” box, type Command Prompt,
and click Command Prompt in the list
− Navigate or change directories until the prompt shows the
directory that contains the Python script
− Run the script by entering:
 python3 scriptname.py

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Running a Script from a Terminal
Command Prompt (2 of 4)

Figure 2-5 A terminal window on a Macintosh

Figure 2-6 Changing to another directory and listing its contents

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Running a Script from a Terminal
Command Prompt (3 of 4)

Figure 2-7 Running a Python script in a terminal window

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 Running a Script from a Terminal
Command Prompt (4 of 4)
• Python installations enable you to launch Python scripts by double-
clicking the files from the OS’s file browser
− May require .py file type to be set
− Fly-by-window problem: window will close automatically
 Solution: Add an input statement at end of the script that
pauses until the user presses the enter or return key
>>> input("Please press enter or return to quit the
program. ")

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 Self Assessment

1. Which concepts about data types, expressions, and functions in

Python did you find difficult, and thus need to review?
2. What steps could you take to become more proficient in using data
types, expressions, and functions in Python programs?

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 Summary

Click the link to view the objectives for this presentation

Link to Objectives

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