Introduction to Python
Programming
General Information
• Unlike C/C++ or Java, Python statements do not end in a
semicolon
• Whitespace is meaningful in Python: especially
indentation and placement of newlines.
• In Python, indentation is the way you indicate the scope
of a conditional, function, etc.
• Look, no braces!
• Python is interpretive, meaning you don’t have to write
programs.
• You can just enter statements into the Python
environment and they’ll execute
INDENTATION
matters in Python
how you denote blocks of code
x = float(input("Enter a number for x: "))
y = float(input("Enter a number for y: "))
if x == y:
print("x and y are equal")
if y != 0:
print("therefore, x / y is", x/y)
elif x < y:
print("x is smaller")
else:
print("y is smaller")
print("thanks!")
6.0001 LECTURE 2 12
The Python Shell
• Because Python is interpretive, you can do simple things with the
shell
• At the prompt, type python
• You should have a >>> prompt
• Type in:
print(“hello, world”)
• You have written your first Python program
• Save it as as HelloWorld.py
• You must provide the .py extension
• Type python HelloWorld.py
• Note that Linux is case sensitive
Python and type
Python determines the data types
in a program automatically. “Dynamic Typing”
● That is, you don’t declare variables to be a specific type
● A variable has the type that corresponds to the value you assign to it
But Python’s not casual about types, it
enforces them after it figures them out. “Strong Typing”
So, for example, you can’t just append an integer to a string. You must
first convert the integer to a string itself.
>>>
x = “the answer is ” # Decides x is string.
y = 23 # Decides y is integer.
print x + y # Python will complain about this.
type(x)
type(y)
INPUT/OUTPUT: print
used to output stuff to console
keyword is print
x = 1
print(x)
x_str = str(x)
print("my fav num is", x, ".", "x =", x)
print("my fav num is " + x_str + ". " + "x = " + x_str)
6.0001 LECTURE 2 5
INPUT/OUTPUT: input("")
prints whatever is in the quotes
user types in something and hits enter
binds that value to a variable
text = input("Type anything... ")
print(5*text)
input gives you a string so must cast if working
with numbers
num = int(input("Type a number... "))
print(5*num)
6.0001 LECTURE 2 6
Variables
• As in every language, a variable is the name of a
memory location
•
• Names are case sensitive and cannot start with a
number. They can contain letters, numbers, and
underscores.
bob Bob _bob _2_bob_ bob_2 BoB
• There are some reserved words which can not be
used as variables:
and, assert, break, class, continue, def,
del, elif, else, except, exec, finally, for,
from, global, if, import, in, is, lambda,
not, or, pass, print, raise, return, try,
while
Variables
●
No need to declare
●
Need to assign (initialize)
●
use of uninitialized variable raises exception
●
Not typed
if friendly: greeting = "hello world"
else: greeting = 12**2
print greeting
●
If you try to access a name before it’s been properly
created (by placing it on the left side of an
assignment), you’ll get an NameError error.
Variables
●
You can also assign to multiple names at the same
time.
>>> x, y = 2, 3
>>> x
2
>>> y
3
Variables
Assignment manipulates references
x = y does not make a copy of y
x = y makes x reference the object y references
Very useful; but beware!
Example:
>>> a = [1, 2, 3]
>>> b = a
>>> a.append(4)
>>> print b
[1, 2, 3, 4]
Changing a shared list
a = [1, 2, 3] a
1 2 3
b=a 1 2 3
b
a.append(4) 1 2 3 4
b
Changing an integer
a=1 a 1
a
b=a 1
b new int object created
by add operator (1+1)
a 2
a = a+1 old reference deleted
by assignment (a=...)
b 1
Comments
• All code must contain comments that describe what it
does
• In Python, lines beginning with a # sign are comment
lines
# This entire line is a comment
x=5 # Set up loop counter
Operators
• Arithmetic operators we will use:
• + - * / addition, subtraction/negation, multiplication,
division
•% modulus, a.k.a. remainder
• ** exponentiation
• precedence: Order in which operations are computed.
• * / % ** have a higher precedence than + -
1 + 3 * 4 is 13
• Parentheses can be used to force a certain order of evaluation.
(1 + 3) * 4 is 16
Expressions
• When integers and reals are mixed, the result is a real
number.
• Example: 1 / 2.0 is 0.5
• The conversion occurs on a per-operator basis.
• Integer division truncates :-(
• 7 / 3 * 1.2 + 3 / 2
• 2 * 1.2 + 3 / 2
• 2.4 + 3 / 2
• 2.4 + 1
• 3.4
Math Functions
• Use this at the top of your program: from math import *
Beginning Python 16
Relational Operators
• Many logical expressions use relational operators:
Beginning Python 17
Logical Operators
• These operators return true or false
The if Statement
• Syntax:
if <condition>:
<statements>
x = 5
if x > 4:
print(“x is greater than 4”)
print(“This is not in the scope of the
if”)
The if/else Statement
if <condition>:
if <condition>:
<statements>
statements
else:
[elif condition:
<statements>
statements] ...
else:
statements
CONTROL FLOW - BRANCHING
if <condition>: if <condition>:
<expression> <expression>
<expression> <expression>
... ...
elif <condition>:
if <condition>: <expression>
<expression> <expression>
<expression> ...
... else:
else: <expression>
<expression> <expression>
<expression> ...
...
<condition> has a value True or False
evaluate expressions in that block if <condition> is True
6.0001 LECTURE 2 11
The for Loop
• This is similar to what you’re used to from C or Java, but not the same
• Syntax:
for variableName in groupOfValues:
<statements>
• variableName gives a name to each value, so you can refer to it in the statements.
• groupOfValues can be a range of integers, specified with the range function.
Example:
for x in range(1, 6):
print x, "squared is", x * x
Output:
1 squared is 1
2 squared is 4
3 squared is 9
4 squared is 16
5 squared is 25
Range
• The range function specifies a range of integers:
range(start, stop) - the integers between start
(inclusive) and stop (exclusive)
• It can also accept a third value specifying the change between
values.
range(start, stop, step) - the integers between start
(inclusive) and stop (exclusive) by step
Example:
for x in range(5, 0, -1):
print x
print "Blastoff!"
Output:
5
4
3
2
1
Blastoff!
The while Loop
• Executes a group of statements as long as a condition is True.
• Good for indefinite loops (repeat an unknown number of times)
• Syntax:
while <condition>:
<statements>
• Example:
number = 1
while number < 200:
print number,
number = number * 2
Grouping Indentation
0
In Python: In C: Bingo!
---
---
---
3
---
for i in range(20): for (i = 0; i < 20; i++) ---
---
if i%3 == 0: { 6
---
---
print i if (i%3 == 0) { ---
9
---
if i%5 == 0: printf("%d\n", i); ---
---
print "Bingo!" if (i%5 == 0) { 12
---
---
print "---" printf("Bingo!\n"); } ---
15
Bingo!
} ---
---
printf("---\n"); ---
18
---
} ---
break STATEMENT
immediately exits whatever loop it is in
skips remaining expressions in code block
exits only innermost loop!
while <condition_1>:
while <condition_2>:
<expression_a>
break
<expression_b>
<expression_c>
6.0001 LECTURE 2 21
Strings
• String: A sequence of text characters in a program.
• Strings start and end with quotation mark " or apostrophe '
characters.
• Examples:
"hello"
"This is a string"
"This, too, is a string. It can be very long!"
• A string may not span across multiple lines or contain a "
character.
"This is not
a legal String."
"This is not a "legal" String either."
Strings-operators
●
"hello"+"world" "helloworld" # concatenation
●
"hello"*3 "hellohellohello" # repetition
●
"hello"[0] "h" # indexing
●
"hello"[-1] "o" # (from end)
●
"hello"[1:4] "ell" # slicing
●
len("hello") 5 # size
●
"hello" < "jello" 1 # comparison
●
"e" in "hello" 1 # search
●
escapes: \n \t etc.
'single quotes' "double quotes" """triple quotes""" r"raw
strings"
String Functions
• len(string) - number of characters in a string
• str.lower(string) - lowercase version of a
string
• str.upper(string) - uppercase version of a
string
• str.isalpha(string) - True if the string has
only alpha chars
• Many others: split, replace, find, format, etc.
– >>> "hello..{0}".format("world")
– 'hello..world'
Other Built-in Types
• tuples, lists, sets, and dictionaries
• They all allow you to group more than one item of data
together under one name
• You can also search them
Tuples
• Unchanging Sequences of Data
• Enclosed in parentheses:
tuple1 = (“This”, “is”, “a”, “tuple”)
print(tuple1)
• This prints the tuple exactly as shown
Print(tuple1[1])
• Prints “is” (without the quotes)
Tuples
key = (lastname, firstname)
point = x, y, z # parentheses optional
x, y, z = point # unpack
lastname = key[0]
singleton = (1,) # trailing comma!!!
empty = () # parentheses!
tuples vs. lists->tuples are immutable
Lists
• Changeable sequences of data
Lists are created by using square brackets:
breakfast = [ "coffee", "tea", "toast",
"egg" ]
• You can add to a list:
breakfast.append("waffles")
breakfast.extend(["cereal", "juice"])
• Same operators as for strings
a+b, a*3, a[0], a[-1], a[1:], len(a)
Lists
>>> a = range(5) # [0,1,2,3,4]
>>> a.append(5) # [0,1,2,3,4,5]
>>> a.pop() # [0,1,2,3,4]
5
>>> a.insert(0, 42) # [42,0,1,2,3,4]
>>> a.pop(0) # [0,1,2,3,4]
42
>>> a.reverse() # [4,3,2,1,0]
>>> a.sort() # [0,1,2,3,4]
Dictionaries
• Groupings of Data Indexed by Name
• Dictionaries are created using braces
sales = {}
sales["January"] = 10000
sales["February"] = 17000
sales["March"] = 16500
• The keys method of a dictionary gets you all of the keys as a
list
• Hash tables, "associative arrays"
{"January":10000, "February":17000,"March":16500}
• Lookup :
sales["March"]
Dictionaries
●
Keys, values, items:
sales.keys() -> [“January,“February”,“March”]
sales.values() -> [10000,17000,16500]
sales.items() ->
[(“January”,10000),(“February”,17000),(“March”:16500)]
●
Presence check:
sales.has_key("January") ->
1
sales.has_key("spam") ->
0
●
Values of any type; keys almost any
●
{"name":"Guido", "age":43, ("hello","world"):1,
42:"yes", "flag": ["red","white","blue"]}
Dictionaries
● Keys must be immutable:
– numbers, strings, tuples of immutables
● these cannot be changed after creation
– reason is hashing (fast lookup technique)
– not lists or other dictionaries
● these types of objects can be changed "in place"
– no restrictions on values
● Keys will be listed in arbitrary order
– again, because of hashing
Sets
• Sets are similar to dictionaries in Python, except that they
consist of only keys with no associated values.
• Essentially, they are a collection of data with no
duplicates.
• They are very useful when it comes to removing
duplicate data from data collections.
• Can do set operations – union(|),intersection(&),
difference(-) and symmetrical difference (^), x in set
>>> s = {1,2,3,2,1}
>>> s
set([1, 2, 3])
>>> s = set([1,2,2,3,3,1,1])
>>> s
set([1, 2, 3])
STRINGS
think of as a sequence of case sensitive characters
can compare strings with ==, >, < etc.
len() is a function used to retrieve the length of the
string in the parentheses
s = "abc"
len(s) evaluates to 3
6.0001 LECTURE 3 4
STRINGS
square brackets used to perform indexing into a string
to get the value at a certain index/position
s = "abc"
index: 0 1 2 indexing always starts at 0
index: -3 -2 -1 last element always at index -1
s[0] evaluates to "a"
s[1] evaluates to "b"
s[2] evaluates to "c"
s[3] trying to index out of bounds, error
s[-1] evaluates to "c"
s[-2] evaluates to "b"
s[-3] evaluates to "a"
6.0001 LECTURE 3 5
STRINGS
can slice strings using [start:stop:step]
if give two numbers, [start:stop], step=1 by default
you can also omit numbers and leave just colons
s = "abcdefgh"
s[3:6] evaluates to "def", same as s[3:6:1]
s[3:6:2] evaluates to "df"
s[::] evaluates to "abcdefgh", same as s[0:len(s):1]
s[::-1] evaluates to "hgfedbca", same as s[-1:-(len(s)+1):-1]
s[4:1:-2] evaluates to "ec"
6.0001 LECTURE 3 6
STRINGS
strings are “immutable” – cannot be modified
s = "hello"
s[0] = 'y' gives an error
s = 'y'+s[1:len(s)] is allowed,
s bound to new object
"hello"
"yello"
6.0001 LECTURE 3 7
STRINGS AND LOOPS
these two code snippets do the same thing
bottom one is more “pythonic”
s = "abcdefgh"
for index in range(len(s)):
if s[index] == 'i' or s[index] == 'u':
print("There is an i or u")
for char in s:
if char == 'i' or char == 'u':
print("There is an i or u")
6.0001 LECTURE 3 9
CODE EXAMPLE:
ROBOT CHEERLEADERS
an_letters = "aefhilmnorsxAEFHILMNORSX"
word = input("I will cheer for you! Enter a word: ")
times = int(input("Enthusiasm level (1-10): "))
i = 0
while i < len(word): for char in word:
char = word[i]
if char in an_letters:
print("Give me an " + char + "! " + char)
else:
print("Give me a " + char + "! " + char)
i += 1
print("What does that spell?")
for i in range(times):
print(word, "!!!")
6.0001 LECTURE 3 10
EXERCISE
s1 = "mit u rock"
s2 = "i rule mit"
if len(s1) == len(s2):
for char1 in s1:
for char2 in s2:
if char1 == char2:
print("common letter")
break
6.0001 LECTURE 3 11
