Introduction to Python

Introduction

● Name
● # of years in 77
● Project / Department
● Programming Experience
Topics
● What is Python?
● Identifiers
● Basic Syntax
● Common Data Types
● Operators
● String Operators and Methods
● List Operators and Methods
● Set Operators and Methods
● Dictionary Operators and
Methods
● Conditional Statements
● Iterative Statements
● Functions
● Exceptions
What is Python?

● Python is a programming language

● Python is interpreted
● Python is beginner friendly
What is Python?

Major Python versions:

● Python 2.7 - Released July 2010

● Python 3.7 - Released June 2018 (We will use this)

Python 2.xx and 3.xx are INCOMPATIBLE

Check your Python version
Python Programming Modes

● Interactive Mode
● Script Mode
Demo
Hello World: Interactive Edition
Demo
Hello World: Script Edition
Identifiers
Identifiers

● Used to identify ‘something’ in a python program

○ variables
○ functions
○ modules
○ classes*
Identifiers: Rules

● Starts with a letter or an underscore

● Followed by zero or more: letters, underscores and numbers
● Word should not be reserved
Identifiers: Reserved Words

and as assert break class

continue def del elif else

except exec finally for from

global if import in is

lambda not or pass raise

return try while with yield

True False None async await

Identifiers: Exercise

1. H3llo 6. $test
2. 1world 7. del
3. w0rld 8. and_or
4. _1Hi 9. for
5. __hello_world_1_ 10. My_@var
Basic Syntax
Basic Syntax: Comments

Comments are ignored by the interpreter

# This is a comment

print(“Hi!”) # Comment after statements

Basic Syntax: Defining Strings

A string is a sequence of characters

Use either single quotes or double quotes to declare a string

● “Hello World”
● ‘This is a string’
● ‘1234567890’
● “”
Basic Syntax: Assignment

Use “=” to assign a value to a variable

● my_string = “Hello World”

● my_number = 1234
● name = “James”
● my_var = my_number
● x = y = z = “multiple assignments”
● one, two, three = 1, 2, 3
Basic Syntax: Waiting for user input

Use input() to accept user input

name = input(“Please enter your name: “)

print(name)
Common Data Types
Common Data Types

● None ● String
● Boolean ● List
● Numbers ● Tuple
○ Integer ● Set
○ Float ● Dictionary
○ Complex
Common Data Types: None

● Signifies an “Empty” variable

● Only one possible value: None
Common Data Types: Boolean

● Two possible values: True, False

Common Data Types: Number

● Integers
○ 1, -3, 0, 10000000
● Floats
○ 1.3, -3.5, 0.0, 3.14
● Complex*
○ 3j, 0.5j, 1 + 2j
Common Data Types: Strings

● Text values
● Examples:
○ “Hello world!”
○ “Everything inside these quotes are strings! Like 1, 2,
3, and true or false!”
Common Data Types: Lists

● An ordered collection of items

● Mutable - can add, remove, or edit items
● Does not require elements to be of the same type
● Examples:
○ [“red”, “orange”, “yellow”, “green”]
○ [“mix”, 10, 2.5]
○ [[“a”, “b”, “c”], [1, 2, 3]]
Common Data Types: Sets

● An unordered collection of unique items

● Mutable - can add and remove items
● Does not require elements to be of the same type
● Examples:
○ {2, 4, 6, 8, 10}
○ {“nuggets”, “fries”, “burger”}
Common Data Types: Dictionaries

● An unordered collection of key-value pairs

● Mutable - can add, remove, or edit items
● Does not require keys and/or values to be of the same type
● Examples:
○ {“cat”: “kitten”, “dog”: “puppy”, “owl”: “owlet”}
○ {2018: “Catriona”, 2017: ”Demi-Leigh”, 2016: “Iris”,
2015: “Pia”, 1969: “Gloria”}
Operators
Operators: Types

● Arithmetic
● Comparison
● Assignment
● Logical
● Membership
● Identity
● Bitwise*
Operators: Arithmetic

● Addition (+)
● Subtraction (-)
● Multiplication (*)
● Division (/)
● Modulus (%)
● Exponent (**)
● Floor Division (//)
Operators: Comparison

● Equals ( == )
● Not Equal ( != )
● Greater than ( > )
● Less than ( < )
● Greater than equal ( >= )
● Less than equal ( <= )
Operators: Assignment

● Assignment ( = )
● Add assign ( += )
● Subtract assign ( -= )
● Multiply assign ( *= )
● Divide assign ( /= )
● Modulus assign ( %= )
● Exponent assign ( **= )
● Floor Division assign ( //= )
Operators: Logical

● and
● or
● not
Operators: Membership

● in
● not in
Operators: Identity

● is
● is not
String Operations and Methods
String Operations and Methods

len(string) Get length of the string (number of characters)

+ Concatenate strings

* Generate repeated strings

string[i] Get ith character (0-based index)

string[-i] Get ith to the last character

string[i:j] Get substring from position i (inclusive) to j (exclusive) (0-based index)

string[i:j:k] Generate string containing every kth letter in substring from i to j (0-based
index)
String Operations and Methods

string.strip() Generates new string without leading and trailing whitespace

string.lower() Generate new string with all characters converted to lowercase

string.upper() Generate new string with all characters converted to uppercase

string.replace(x, y) Generate new string by replacing all occurrences of x with y

string.split(x) Divides the string into a list of strings using the separator x

x in string Returns True if x is found in the string, False otherwise

x not in string Returns True if x is NOT found in the string, False otherwise
String Formatting

“Hi, I am {}. I am {} years old.”.format(“James”, 20)

“Hi, I am {name}. I am {age} years old. My dad’s name is also

{name}.”.format(age=20, name=“James”)

“Total cost is {cost:.2f}. It rounds to

{cost:.0f}.”.format(cost=99.0123)

f”Henlo, I am {name}”
List Operations and Methods
List Operations and Methods

list() or [] Initialize new empty list

[x, y, z] Initialize new list with values x, y, and z

my_list[i] Get/assign ith item of the list (0-based index)

my_list[-i] Get/assign ith to the last item of the list

my_list[i:j] Get/assign sublist from item i (inclusive) to j (exclusive) (0-based index)

my_list[i:j:k] Get/assign every kth item in sublist from i to j (0-based index)

List Operations and Methods

len(my_list) Get number of items in the list

my_list.append(x) Append x to the end of the list

my_list.insert(i, x) Insert x to the ith position of the list (0-based index)

del my_list[i] Delete ith item (0-based index)

my_list1 + my_list2 Combine items in my_list1 and my_list2 into a new list

my_list.sort() Sorts the items in the list

List Operations and Methods

max(my_list) Get max item in the list

min(my_list) Get min item in the list

list(my_list) or my_list[:] Creates a shallow copy of the list

list(my_set) or list(my_tuple) Creates a list out of the items from a set or tuple

x in my_list Returns True if x is found in the list, False otherwise

x not in my_list Returns True if x is NOT found in the list, False otherwise
Set Operations and Methods
Set Operations and Methods

set() Initialize new empty set

{x, y, z} Initialize new set with values x, y, and z

my_set.add(x) Adds x to the set

my_set.remove(x) Removes x from the set (raises KeyError if not present)

my_set.discard(x) Removes x from the set if present

len(my_set) Get number of items in the set

Set Operations and Methods
x in my_set
x not in my_set
my_set1.issubset(my_set2)
my_set1.union(my_set2)
my_set1.intersection(my_set2)
my_set1.difference(my_set2)
Returns True if x is found in the set, False otherwise
Returns True if x is NOT found in the set, False otherwise
Returns True if every element of my_set1 is found in my_set2,
False otherwise
Combine items in my_set1 and my_set2 into a new set
Create new set with items that are common in my_set1 and
my_set2
Creates a new set from items that are in my_set1 but not in
my_set2
Set Operations and Methods

max(my_set) Get max item in the set

min(my_set) Get min item in the set

set(my_set) or my_set.copy() Creates a shallow copy of the set

set(my_list) or set(my_tuple) Creates a set out of the items from a list or tuple
Dictionary Operations and
Methods
Dictionary Operations and Methods

dict() or {} Initialize new empty dictionary

{k1: v1, k2: v2, …, Initialize new dictionary with keys k1, k2, … , kn, with matching values v1,
kn: vn} v2, …, vn

my_dict[key] Get/assign value for key

del my_dict[key] Remove key from dictionary

my_dict.keys() Get all available keys

my_dict.values() Get all available values

Dictionary Operations and Methods

my_dict.items() Generate a list of (key, value) tuples

key in my_dict Check if key exists in dictionary

len(my_dict) Count number of entries

Conditional Statements
Conditional Statements

Question: How do you execute statements based on a condition?

Answer: Use conditional statements!

For Python, use if statements

Conditional Statements: If Syntax

if <condition>:
<statements to run>
elif <another condition>:
<other statement>
else: # if all conditions are false
<default statement>
Conditional Statements: If Syntax Example

x = 10

if x < 10:
print(“x is less than 10”) # won’t run
elif x > 10:
print(“x is greater than 10”) # won’t run
else: # if all conditions are false
print(“x is equal to 10”) # this will run
Conditional Statements: If Syntax Exercise

x = ?

if x % 3 == 0:
print(“foo”)

if x % 5 == 0:
print(“bar”)
Conditional Statements

By default, all NON-ZERO / NON-NONE / NON-EMPTY are considered True

True False

1 0

-1 None

[1, 2, 3] []

{‘a’ : 1} {}

“hello” “”
Iterative Statements
Iterative Statements

Question: How do you run statements until a condition is satisfied?

Answer: Use Iterative Statements!

Also known as loops

For Python, use while or for statements

Iterative Statements: While Syntax

while <condition>:
<statements to run repeatedly>
Iterative Statements: While Syntax Example

x = 0 OUTPUT:

while x < 5: 0
print(x) 1
x += 1 2
3
4
Iterative Statements: While Syntax Exercise

my_list = ["Apple", "Orange", "Banana", "Strawberry", "Pineapple"]

while my_list:
element = my_list[0]
print(element)
del my_list[0]
Iterative Statements: For Syntax

for <variable_name> in <iterable>:

<statements that use variable_name>
Iterative Statements: For Syntax Example

my_list = [1, 3, “meow”, 7] OUTPUT:

for i in my_list: 1
print(i) 3
meow
7
Iterative Statements: Iterables

● String
● List
● Tuple
● Set
● Dictionary
● Range function
● Enumerate function
Iterative Statements: For Syntax Exercise

Write a for loop that prints out this pattern:

*
**
***
****
*****
Iterative Statements: Break and Continue

● Use break to prematurely exit from a loop

● Use continue to skip the current iteration
Iterative Statements: Break Example

for x in range(1, 1000): OUTPUT:

if x % 7 == 0: 1
break 2
print(x) 3
4
5
6
Iterative Statements: Continue Example

for x in range(10): OUTPUT:

if x % 2 == 0: 1
continue 3
print(x) 5
7
9
Functions
Functions

A function is a block of reusable code.

Examples:
● print
● input
● len
● max
● min
Functions: Syntax

def function_name(param1, param2, …, paramN):

<function_code>
<optional return>

● When a function doesn’t return a value, it returns None by default

Functions: Example

Returning function No return function

def my_average(a, b): def print_average(a, b):

average = (a + b) / 2 average = (a + b) / 2
return average print(average)

ave = my_average(4, 6) print_average(4, 6)

print(ave)
Functions: Default parameter values

You can define a function with default parameter values

def print_stars(count=3):
print(“*” * count)

print_stars() # can call without parameter

print_stars(5) # can still call with parameter
Exceptions
Exceptions

An exception is an event that signals that something wrong happened in your

program
Exceptions: Scenario

Accept two numbers from a user, dividend =

then print the quotient. float(input(“Enter Dividend: “))
divisor =
float(input(“Enter Divisor: “))

print(dividend / divisor)
Exceptions: Scenario

dividend = What if the user entered non-numeric

float(input(“Enter Dividend: “)) inputs?
divisor =
float(input(“Enter Divisor: “)) What if the user entered 0 as divisor?

print(dividend / divisor)
Exceptions: Try-Catch Syntax

try:
<Statements that might throw exceptions>
except <optional exception type>:
<Statements to handle exception>
else:
<Statements to execute if no exception happened>
Exceptions: Try-Catch Example

try:
dividend = float(input(“Enter Dividend: “))
divisor = float(input(“Enter Divisor: “))
print(dividend / divisor)
except ValueError: # exception when input string is not a number
print(“Invalid input number”)
except ZeroDivisionError: # exception when divisor is zero
print(“Divisor cannot be zero”)
else:
print(“No exception detected”)
Exceptions: Raising Exceptions

You can raise your own exceptions to signal errors. e.g. in your function
Use the raise keyword:

raise Exception(“Exception Message”)

Exceptions: Raising Exceptions Example

def param_cannot_be_10(param):
if param == 10:
raise Exception(“Parameter cannot be 10”)
print(“Parameter is ” + str(param))

try:
param_cannot_be_10(10)
except Exception as e:
print("In except clause: " + str(e))
Submission of homework

Email to rjosapasap@gmail.com