Introduction to Programming
with Python
1
Programming basics
code or source code: The sequence of instructions in a program.
syntax: The set of legal structures and commands that can be
used in a particular programming language.
output: The messages printed to the user by a program.
console: The text box onto which output is printed.
Some source code editors pop up the console as an external window,
and others contain their own console window.
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Compiling and interpreting
Many languages require you to compile (translate) your program
into a form that the machine understands.
compile execute
source code byte code output
Hello.java Hello.class
Python is instead directly interpreted into machine instructions.
interpret
source code output
Hello.py
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Math commands
Python has useful commands for performing calculations.
Command name Description Constant Description
abs(value) absolute value e 2.7182818...
ceil(value) rounds up pi 3.1415926...
cos(value) cosine, in radians
floor(value) rounds down
log(value) logarithm, base e
log10(value) logarithm, base 10
max(value1, value2) larger of two values
min(value1, value2) smaller of two values
round(value) nearest whole number
sin(value) sine, in radians
sqrt(value) square root
To use many of these commands, you must write the following at
the top of your Python program:
from math import *
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print
print : Produces text output on the console.
Syntax:
print "Message"
print Expression
Prints the given text message or expression value on the console, and
moves the cursor down to the next line.
print Item1, Item2, ..., ItemN
Prints several messages and/or expressions on the same line.
Examples:
print "Hello, world!"
age = 45
print "You have", 65 - age, "years until retirement"
Output:
Hello, world!
You have 20 years until retirement
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input
input : Reads a number from user input.
You can assign (store) the result of input into a variable.
Example:
age = input("How old are you? ")
print "Your age is", age
print "You have", 65 - age, "years until retirement"
Output:
How old are you? 53
Your age is 53
You have 12 years until retirement
Exercise: Write a Python program that prompts the user for
his/her amount of money, then reports how many Nintendo Wiis
the person can afford, and how much more money he/she will
need to afford an additional Wii.
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Repetition (loops)
and Selection (if/else)
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The for loop
for loop: Repeats a set of statements over a group of values.
Syntax:
for variableName in groupOfValues:
statements
We indent the statements to be repeated with tabs or spaces.
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
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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!
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Cumulative loops
Some loops incrementally compute a value that is initialized outside
the loop. This is sometimes called a cumulative sum.
sum = 0
for i in range(1, 11):
sum = sum + (i * i)
print "sum of first 10 squares is", sum
Output:
sum of first 10 squares is 385
Exercise: Write a Python program that computes the factorial of an
integer.
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if
if statement: Executes a group of statements only if a certain
condition is true. Otherwise, the statements are skipped.
Syntax:
if condition:
statements
Example:
gpa = 3.4
if gpa > 2.0:
print "Your application is accepted."
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if/else
if/else statement: Executes one block of statements if a certain
condition is True, and a second block of statements if it is False.
Syntax:
if condition:
statements
else:
statements
Example:
gpa = 1.4
if gpa > 2.0:
print "Welcome to Mars University!"
else:
print "Your application is denied."
Multiple conditions can be chained with elif ("else if"):
if condition:
statements
elif condition:
statements
else:
statements
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while
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
Output:
1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128
13
Logic
Many logical expressions use relational operators:
Operator Meaning Example Result
== equals 1 + 1 == 2 True
!= does not equal 3.2 != 2.5 True
< less than 10 < 5 False
> greater than 10 > 5 True
<= less than or equal to 126 <= 100 False
>= greater than or equal to 5.0 >= 5.0 True
Logical expressions can be combined with logical operators:
Operator Example Result
and 9 != 6 and 2 < 3 True
or 2 == 3 or -1 < 5 True
not not 7 > 0 False
Exercise: Write code to display and count the factors of a number.
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Text Processing
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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."
A string can represent characters by preceding them with a backslash.
\t tab character
\n new line character
\" quotation mark character
\\ backslash character
Example: "Hello\tthere\nHow are you?"
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Indexes
Characters in a string are numbered with indexes starting at 0:
Example:
name = "P. Diddy"
index 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
character P . D i d d y
Accessing an individual character of a string:
variableName [ index ]
Example:
print name, "starts with", name[0]
Output:
P. Diddy starts with P
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Text processing
text processing: Examining, editing, formatting text.
often uses loops that examine the characters of a string one by one
A for loop can examine each character in a string in sequence.
Example:
for c in "booyah":
print c
Output:
b
o
o
y
a
h
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Strings and numbers
ord(text) - converts a string into a number.
Example: ord("a") is 97, ord("b") is 98, ...
Characters map to numbers using standardized mappings such as
ASCII and Unicode.
chr(number) - converts a number into a string.
Example: chr(99) is "c"
Exercise: Write a program that performs a rotation cypher.
e.g. "Attack" when rotated by 1 becomes "buubdl"
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