Unit 01:

Input, Processing, and Output

Anthony Estey
CSC 110: Fundamentals of Programming: I
University of Victoria
Just in cased you missed it in the intro slides…

2
Setting up your environment

u You can write python code (for in-class activities and assignments), in
any editor or programming environment
u We recommend:
u Windows: Notepad++ (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/) (this is what you’ll use
in lab)
u Mac: either Atom (https://atom.io/) or Sublime
(https://www.sublimetext.com/)
Install Python

u You may already have Python installed but you want to ensure it is the
correct version
u See the following slides on how to check what version you have
u Download and install Python 3.7 - pick the download for your
Operating System (Windows, macOS, Linux) from:
https://www.anaconda.com
u Ensure you check off the box:
“Add Anaconda to my PATH environment variable”
Running Python on Mac OS

You will cover more on command line use in Lab1 but these basics will
get you started…
u Opening a Terminal:
https://youtu.be/gJMY3t4QJUo
u Running Python in interactive mode (and check your Python version):
https://youtu.be/j_T_5ePDeZI
u Running Python in script mode:
https://youtu.be/I7aCyggZ43E
Running Python on Windows

You will cover more on command line use in Lab1 but these basics will
get you started…
u Opening a command prompt window:
https://youtu.be/rh0l4GRh24k
u Running Python in interactive mode (and check your Python version):
https://youtu.be/8bwPMdD3h6o
u Running Python in script mode:
https://youtu.be/oTD-WNRLltU
Command-line

To open:
u Mac: ⌘+<space> opens Spotlight: then type Terminal
u Windows: <ctrl>+<esc> opens Start Menu: then type cmd
Command Description
ls (Mac) or dir (Windows) list the contents of the directory
cd <foldername> change directory into given folder
cd .. go back up to parent directory
pwd print working directory (the directory
you are in)
python <filename> run the given python file
Unit 01 Overview

u Reading:
u Textbook: 2.1 – 2.5, 2.7 – 2.9
u Learning Objectives: (You should be able to…)
u Display output with the print function using Python
u Add comments to your code
u Create, use, and modify variables
u Differentiate between the different variable types, and when to use each
u Perform arithmetic calculations on data
u Define and call simple function in python (without arguments)
u Use functions to control the flow of execution within a python program

8
Beginning to write programs

u A typical computer program performs a three-step process

u obtain input: any data the program receives while it is running
u perform some processing on the input: this could be simple (e.g., arithmetic
calculation) or complex (e.g., something we would classify as ‘artificial
intelligence’)
u produce output: based on the input and processing
u The three-step process can also be made arbitrarily complex
u For example, after obtaining input and performing processing...
u ... some other input may be needed.
u We will work backwards, looking at output first

9
Displaying output with the print() function

u Terminology:
u Function: some pre-written code that performs an operation
u Pythons print() function: displays textual output onto the screen/console
u Argument: the data given to a function
u The argument we will give to the print function is the text we want displayed

u Example:
u print("Anthony") à outputs Anthony to the console
u print is the function being used, or called
u "Anthony" is the argument being passed to the print function

10
Writing your first python program:

u In an editor, type the following:

u Save the file with .py as extension, for example myprogram.py

u In the command-line, go to the directory the file is saved, and then
execute the program by typing python followed by the file name:

11
What does this tell us about statement execution order?

u Statements are executed in the order they appear

u From top to bottom
u This is often referred to as running in sequential order
u In the next two units we will see how to:
u control which sequences of statements that are executed
u repeat a sequence of statements as many times as needed
u … but for now let’s focus on some basic python statements

12
Comments

u Notes of explanation within a program

u Ignored by the Python interpreter at run-time
u Purpose is to communicate information to another human

u Comments begin with the # symbol, and all text on the remainder of
the given line is considered to be part of the comment

u Example:
# printing course textbook information
print("Starting out with Python")
print("Fourth Edition")

13
What about errors?

u Sometimes when we run our code we get syntax errors

u These will be difficult to interpret at first, but will start making more
sense as we practice with Python

14
Variables

u A variable is a name that represents a value stored in memory

u Why?
u It’s much easier to refer to a name than an actual computer memory address
u We assign a value to a variable with the = operator
u The result of the expression on the right hand side of the = is stored to variable
named on the left side of the =
u Examples:
u num = 5 # stores 5 to the variable named num
u name = "Anthony” # stores "Anthony" to variable name
u num = num + 3 # adds num (5) + 3 to get 8
# then stores 8 to the variable num

15
Variable naming rules

u Rules for naming variables in Python:

u First character must be a letter or an underscore (_)
u After the first character, letters, digits, or underscores can be used
u Variable names are case-sensitive
u Variable names cannot be a Python keyword

u General convention: a variable name should reflect its use

u We will use typical Python naming conventions:
u Begin with a lower-case letter
u Multi-word variable names will have words separated with _
u Ex: last_name = "estey"

16
Python keywords

u Taken from
https://docs.python.org/3/reference/lexical_analysis.html

17
Types

Example Values Type Description

"Anthony" string type: a sequence of 0 or more
"csc110” str characters enclosed in quotations
"some words"
5, -9, 11523 int integer type: a negative or positive
whole number
4.2, 3.14, -8.2223 float float type: a negative or positive
floating point number (includes
decimals)

18
Python math operators

Symbol Operation Description

+ addition Adds two numbers
- subtraction Subtracts one number from another
* multiplication Multiples one number by another
/ floating point Divides one number by another
division - the result is a floating point number
// integer Divides one number by another
division - the result is an integer
- the decimal portion is truncated
% remainder Divides one number by another and gives the
remainder of the division
- the result (remainder) is an integer
** exponent Raises one number to the power of another
19
Operator precedence

Precedence Description
Highest Operations enclosed in brackets: ( )
Exponents: **
Multiplication/Division: *, /, //, %
Lowest Addition/subtraction: +, -

20
Effects of operators and types
Operator Applied to Results in
+, -, *, //, %, ** int, int int
/ int, int float
+, -, *, /, //, %, ** float, float float
float, int float
+, -, *, /, //, %, **
int, float float
+ str, str str
-, /, //, %, ** str, str ERROR
str, int str
*
int, str str

21
Defining a function

u We’ve seen how print() works, but how do we design our own?

u General form: u Concrete example:

# function description # prints Anthony

def fn_name(): def print_name():
tab statement1 name = "Anthony"
tab statement2 print(name)
tab …

22
Function naming rules def print_name():

u Rules: def calculate_area():

u Cannot use key words as a function name
u Cannot contain spaces
u First character must be a letter or underscore
u All other characters must be a letter, number or underscore
u Uppercase and lowercase characters are distinct
u We will use typical Python function naming conventions:
u Begin with a lowercase letter
u Typically will contain a verb (action word)
u Multi-word variable names have words separated with ‘_’

23
Defining vs calling a function

u Defining a function allows us to name and group a set of statements

that perform a specific task…
u but the function is not executed unless the function is called

2 functions are defined

(print_greeting and main), but
are not executed until called

when the program begins, there

is a call to the main function,
which will execute main

inside the main function there is

a call to print_greeting()

24
This changes the flow of execution!

u Before all statements were executed from top to

bottom. Often specific statements only need to be
executed at specific times.
u Defined functions are only executed when called

25
Escape sequences

u How do we print Anthony said, "Welcome everyone!"

u Problem - quotations within our string!

Escape sequence Effect

\n output prints a new line
\t output prints a tab
\" output prints quotations
\\ output prints backslash

26
Putting it all together

u Write a program that produces the following output:

27
Exercise #2

u Write a program that has functions that print out the area and
perimeter of a circle. Assume the circle has a radius of 5.
u !"#$ = &" '
u (#")*#+#" = 2&"

28
Magic Numbers

u A magic number is an unexplained numeric value that appears in a

program’s code. Example:

amount = balance * 0.069

u What is the value of 0.069? An interest rate? A fee percentage? Only

the person who wrote the code knows for sure!

29
The problem with magic numbers

u It can be difficult to determine the purpose of the number

u If the magic number is used in multiple places in the program, and

needs to be updated, it is very tedious to update it in every location

u You take the risk of making a mistake each time you type in the magic
number in the program’s code, and maybe only one occurrence has a
very minor typo…
u Suppose you meant to type 0.069, but typed .0069 instead. This error can be
hard to see, but would cause mathematical errors in your program.

30