Python Introduction

What is Python?
Python is a popular programming language. It was created by Guido van Rossum, and released
in 1991.

It is used for:

 web development (server-side),

 software development,
 mathematics,
 system scripting.

What can Python do?

 Python can be used on a server to create web applications.

 Python can be used alongside software to create workflows.
 Python can connect to database systems. It can also read and modify files.
 Python can be used to handle big data and perform complex mathematics.
 Python can be used for rapid prototyping, or for production-ready software development.

Why Python?

 Python works on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, etc).
 Python has a simple syntax similar to the English language.
 Python has syntax that allows developers to write programs with fewer lines than some
other programming languages.
 Python runs on an interpreter system, meaning that code can be executed as soon as it is
written. This means that prototyping can be very quick.
 Python can be treated in a procedural way, an object-oriented way or a functional way.

Good to know

 The most recent major version of Python is Python 3, which we shall be using in this
tutorial. However, Python 2, although not being updated with anything other than
security updates, is still quite popular.
 In this tutorial Python will be written in a text editor. It is possible to write Python in an
Integrated Development Environment, such as Thonny, Pycharm, Netbeans or Eclipse
which are particularly useful when managing larger collections of Python files.

Python Syntax compared to other programming languages

 Python was designed for readability, and has some similarities to the English language
with influence from mathematics.
 Python uses new lines to complete a command, as opposed to other programming
languages which often use semicolons or parentheses.
  Python relies on indentation, using whitespace, to define scope; such as the scope of
loops, functions and classes. Other programming languages often use curly-brackets for
this purpose.

Example
print("Hello, World!")

Output He
Hello, World!lo

Python Getting Started

Python Install
Many PCs and Macs will have python already installed.

To check if you have python installed on a Windows PC, search in the start bar for Python or run
the following on the Command Line ([Link]):

C:\Users\Your Name>python --version

To check if you have python installed on a Linux or Mac, then on linux open the command line or
on Mac open the Terminal and type:

python --version

If you find that you do not have Python installed on your computer, then you can download it for
free from the following website: [Link]

Python Quickstart
Python is an interpreted programming language, this means that as a developer you write
Python (.py) files in a text editor and then put those files into the python interpreter to be
executed.

The way to run a python file is like this on the command line:

C:\Users\Your Name>python [Link]

Where "[Link]" is the name of your python file.

Let's write our first Python file, called [Link], which can be done in any text editor.
[Link]

print("Hello, World!")

Simple as that. Save your file. Open your command line, navigate to the directory where you
saved your file, and run:

C:\Users\Your Name>python [Link]

The output should read:

Hello, World!

Congratulations, you have written and executed your first Python program.

The Python Command Line

To test a short amount of code in python sometimes it is quickest and easiest not to write the
code in a file. This is made possible because Python can be run as a command line itself.

Type the following on the Windows, Mac or Linux command line:

C:\Users\Your Name>python

Or, if the "python" command did not work, you can try "py":

C:\Users\Your Name>py

C:\Users\Your Name>python
Python 3.6.4 (v3.6.4:d48eceb, Dec 19 2017, 06:04:45) [MSC v.1900 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.C:Users\Your ",
"credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print("Hello, World!"), World!
Which will write "Hello, World!" in the command line:

C:\Users\Your Name>python
Python 3.6.4 (v3.6.4:d48eceb, Dec 19 2017, 06:04:45) [MSC v.1900 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print("Hello, World!")

Hello, World!

Whenever you are done in the python command line, you can simply type the following to quit
the python command line interface:

exit()

Python Syntax
Execute Python Syntax
As we learned in the previous page, Python syntax can be executed by writing directly in the
Command Line:

>>> print("Hello, World!")

Hello, World!

Or by creating a python file on the server, using the .py file extension, and running it in the
Command Line:

C:\Users\Your Name>python [Link]

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

Where in other programming languages the indentation in code is for readability only, the
indentation in Python is very important.

Python uses indentation to indicate a block of code.

Example
if 5 > 2:
print("Five is greater than two!")

Output

Five is greater than two!

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

Example
Syntax Error:

if 5 > 2:
print("Five is greater than two!")

File "demo_indentation_test.py", line 2

print("Five is greater than two!")
^
IndentationError: expected an indented block

The number of spaces is up to you as a programmer, the most common use is four, but it has to
be at least one.
Example
if 5 > 2:
print("Five is greater than two!")
if 5 > 2:
print("Five is greater than two!")

Five is greater than two!

Five is greater than two!

You have to use the same number of spaces in the same block of code, otherwise Python will
give you an error:

Example
Syntax Error:

if 5 > 2:
print("Five is greater than two!")
print("Five is greater than two!")

File "demo_indentation2_error.py", line 3

print("Five is greater than two!")
^
IndentationError: unexpected indent

Python Variables
In Python, variables are created when you assign a value to it:

Example
Variables in Python:

x = 5
y = "Hello, World!"

5
Hello, World!

Python has no command for declaring a variable.

You will learn more about variables in the Python Variables chapter.

Comments
Python has commenting capability for the purpose of in-code documentation.
Comments start with a #, and Python will render the rest of the line as a comment:

Example
Comments in Python:

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

Hello, World!

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.

Creating a Comment
Comments starts with a #, and Python will ignore them:

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

Output

Hello, World!
Comments can be placed at the end of a line, and Python will ignore the rest of the line:

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

Output

Hello, World!

A comment does not have to be text that explains the code, it can also be used to prevent
Python from executing code:
Example
#print("Hello, World!")
print("Cheers, Mate!")

Output:

Cheers, Mate!lo, World!

Multiline Comments
Python does not really have a syntax for multiline comments.

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

Example
#This is a comment
#written in
#more than just one line
print("Hello, World!")

Output

Hello, World!

Or, not quite as intended, you can use a multiline string.

Since Python will ignore string literals that are not assigned to a variable, you can add a multiline
string (triple quotes) in your code, and place your comment inside it:

Example
"""
This is a comment
written in
more than just one line
"""
print("Hello, World!")

Output

Hello, World!

As long as the string is not assigned to a variable, Python will read the code, but then ignore it,
and you have made a multiline comment.

Python Variables
Variables
Variables are containers for storing data values.

Creating Variables
Python has no command for declaring a variable.

A variable is created the moment you first assign a value to it.

Example
x = 5
y = "John"
print(x)
print(y)

Output

5
John

Variables do not need to be declared with any particular type, and can even change type after
they have been set.

Example
x = 4 # x is of type int
x = "Sally" # x is now of type str
print(x)

Output

Sally

Casting
If you want to specify the data type of a variable, this can be done with casting.

Example
x = str(3) # x will be '3'
y = int(3) # y will be 3
z = float(3) # z will be 3.0

Output
3
3
3.0

Get the Type

You can get the data type of a variable with the type() function.

Example
x = 5
y = "John"
print(type(x))
print(type(y))

<class 'int'>
<class 'str'>

Single or Double Quotes?

String variables can be declared either by using single or double quotes:

Example
x = "John"
# is the same as
x = 'John'

Output

John
John

Case-Sensitive
Variable names are case-sensitive.

Example
This will create two variables:

a = 4
A = "Sally"
#A will not overwrite a

Output
4
Sally

Python - Variable Names

Variable Names
A variable can have a short name (like x and y) or a more descriptive name (age, carname,
total_volume). Rules for Python variables:

 A variable name must start with a letter or the underscore character

 A variable name cannot start with a number
 A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores (A-z, 0-9,
and _ )
 Variable names are case-sensitive (age, Age and AGE are three different variables)
 A variable name cannot be any of the Python keywords.

Example
Legal variable names:

myvar = "John"
my_var = "John"
_my_var = "John"
myVar = "John"
MYVAR = "John"
myvar2 = "John"

Output

John
John
John
John
John
John

Example
Illegal variable names:

2myvar = "John"
my-var = "John"
my var = "John"

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/usr/lib/python3.7/py_compile.py", line 143, in compile
_optimize=optimize)
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 791, in source_to_code
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "./[Link]", line 1
 2myvar = "John"
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
File "/usr/lib/python3.7/py_compile.py", line 147, in compile
raise py_exc
py_compile.PyCompileError: File "./[Link]", line 1
2myvar = "John"
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Multi Words Variable Names

Variable names with more than one word can be difficult to read.

There are several techniques you can use to make them more readable:

Camel Case
Each word, except the first, starts with a capital letter:

myVariableName = "John"

Pascal Case
Each word starts with a capital letter:

MyVariableName = "John"

Snake Case
Each word is separated by an underscore character:

my_variable_name = "John"
Python Variables - Assign Multiple
Values
Many Values to Multiple Variables
Python allows you to assign values to multiple variables in one line:

Example
x, y, z = "Orange", "Banana", "Cherry"
print(x)
print(y)
print(z)

Output

Orange
Banana
Cherry

Note: Make sure the number of variables matches the number of values, or else you will get an
error.

One Value to Multiple Variables

And you can assign the same value to multiple variables in one line:

Example
x = y = z = "Orange"
print(x)
print(y)
print(z)

Output

Orange
Orange
Orange

Unpack a Collection
If you have a collection of values in a list, tuple etc. Python allows you to extract the values into
variables. This is called unpacking.
Example
Unpack a list:

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

x, y, z = fruits
print(x)
print(y)
print(z)

Output

apple
banana
cherry

Python - Output Variables

Output Variables
The Python print() function is often used to output variables.

Example
x = "Python is awesome"
print(x)

Output

Python is awesome

In the print() function, you output multiple variables, separated by a comma:

Example
x = "Python"
y = "is"
z = "awesome"
print(x, y, z)

Output

Python is awesome

You can also use the + operator to output multiple variables:

Example
x = "Python "
y = "is "
z = "awesome"
print(x + y + z)

Output

Python is awesome

Notice the space character after "Python " and "is ", without them the result would be
"Pythonisawesome".

For numbers, the + character works as a mathematical operator:

Example
x = 5
y = 10
print(x + y)

Output

15

In the print() function, when you try to combine a string and a number with the + operator,
Python will give you an error:

Example
x = 5
y = "John"
print(x + y)

Output

TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'

The best way to output multiple variables in the print() function is to separate them with
commas, which even support different data types:

Example
x = 5
y = "John"
print(x, y)

Output

5 John
Python - Global Variables
Global Variables
Variables that are created outside of a function (as in all of the examples above) are known as
global variables.

Global variables can be used by everyone, both inside of functions and outside.

Example
Create a variable outside of a function, and use it inside the function

x = "awesome"

def myfunc():
print("Python is " + x)

myfunc()

Output

Python is awesome

If you create a variable with the same name inside a function, this variable will be local, and can
only be used inside the function. The global variable with the same name will remain as it was,
global and with the original value.

Example
Create a variable inside a function, with the same name as the global variable

x = "awesome"

def myfunc():
x = "fantastic"
print("Python is " + x)

myfunc()

print("Python is " + x)

Output

Python is fantastic
Python is awesome
The global Keyword
Normally, when you create a variable inside a function, that variable is local, and can only be
used inside that function.

To create a global variable inside a function, you can use the global keyword.

Example
If you use the global keyword, the variable belongs to the global scope:

def myfunc():
global x
x = "fantastic"

myfunc()

print("Python is " + x)

Output

Python is fantastic

Also, use the global keyword if you want to change a global variable inside a function.

Example
To change the value of a global variable inside a function, refer to the variable by using
the global keyword:

x = "awesome"

def myfunc():
global x
x = "fantastic"

myfunc()

print("Python is " + x)

Output

Python is fantastic

Python - Variable Exercises

Test Yourself With Exercises
Now you have learned a lot about variables, and how to use them in Python.

Are you ready for a test?

Try to insert the missing part to make the code work as expected: