Chapter 1

Welcome to the Python world!

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 Python – an introduction
Pythn is a very powerful programming language, but at the same time, very easy to write
and has an easy-to-understand syntax – one of the most “readable” programming
languages

Main characteristics:

• Object oriented language (OOP)

• Open source
• Interpreted language
• Portable

Areas in which is most widely used:

• Web Development (Django, Flask)
• Machine Learning
• Big data
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 Python – an introduction

There are multiple Python implementations available:

1. Cpython (C written Python) – most widely used; main focus of this course
2. Jpython (Python that runs in the Java Virtual Machine)
3. IronPython (Python that runs in .NET)

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 Python – an introduction
In Python we will encounter multiple types of files:

1) .py – main files to be used when writing code

2) .pyc – files obtained after the interpretation of the .py ones (bytecode)
3) .pyd - Python Software Foundation - PYD files – using same format as the .DLL ones

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 Python install
The main focus of this course will be python3.6

To check if this version is installed on your OS, open a terminal and write:

python36

OR

python

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 Installing Python
For downloading and installing the official Python versions:

https://www.python.org/downloads/ - any of 3.6/3.7/3.8 versions can be used

The PyCharm IDE can be downloaded from:

https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/ - we are recommending the Community

Edition

For Linux users:

yum search python followed by yum install python”xxx” – for centos/fedora

apt search python followed by apt install python”xxx” - for ubuntu

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 Python 3.6 Windows Install

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 Python 3.6 Windows Install

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 Python 3.6 Windows Install

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 Tools used for writing Python code
In order to familiarize with the Python syntax, we will use REPL (read-eval-print-loop) – the main
prompt

Other IDE’s that can be used:

1) Visual Studio Code
2) Spyder
3) IPython Notebook
4) Anaconda

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 Strings

Concatenation of strings:

>>> "first" "second"

'firstsecond'
>>> "first" + "second"
'firstsecond'
>>>

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 String – basic operations
Upperacasing:

>>> "hello world".upper()

'HELLO WORLD'
>>>

Lowercasing:

>>> "HELLO WORLD".lower()

'hello world'
>>>

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 String – basic operations
Capitalization

>>> "hello world". capitalize()

'Hello world'
>>>

Determining the length of a string

>>> "HELLO WORLD".__len__()
11
>>> len("HELLO WORLD")
11
>>>

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 String – basic operations
Replacing part of a string

>>> "Hello world".replace('world','World')

'Hello World'
>>>

Searching among a string

>>> "Hello world".find('world')

6
>>>

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 String – basic operations
Using join() to concatenate multiple string using a specific string as delimiter

>>> s = '-'
>>> seq = ("a", "b", "c");
>>> s.join( seq )
'a-b-c'
>>>

Converting a number to a string

>>> str(34)
'34'
>>>

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 Numbers, variables, basic data types
Variables

To better understand variables we can name them aliases – they are used to identify
specific memory location, in order to access them. Upon reaching the chapter of objects
we will be able to give a much better definition for them.
Following basic data types can be saved in the memory: int, float, string, None etc.

a = 3 – as specified, “a” will be a name used to point to a certain memory location,

containing an integer value – in this case 3

>>> a = 3
>>> a
>>> 3

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 Integer
int – represents integer values and used in decimal format
>>> 10
10 - decimal in python
>>> 3 * 4
12 - multiplicaton
>>> 3 + 4
7 - adding
>>> 4 - 3
1 - substraction
>>> 4 ** 2
16 – raise to power
>>> 4/2
2 - division
>>>

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 Integer – other numerical bases
>>> 0b10
2 - binary in python
>>> 0o10
8 - octal in python
>>> 0x10
16 - hexadecimal in python
>>>
>>> int(3.5)
3
>>> int(-3.5)
-3
>>> int("496")
496 - string converted to integer

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 Float
Float – floating decimal numbers

>>> 3.125
3.125
>>> 3e2
300.0
>>> 3e1
30.0
>>> float(8)
8.0
>>> float("1.618")
1.618 - string converted to a float value

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 Float
>>> float("nan")
Nan (not a number)
>>> float("inf")
inf
>>> float("-inf")
-inf
>>> 3.0 + 1
4.0
>>>

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 None
• Used for representing the absence of a value

>>> None
>>> a = None
>>> print(a)
None

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 Bool
• Used for representing Boolean values (True/False)

>>> True
True
>>> False
False
>>> bool(0)
False
>>> bool(-1)
True
>>> bool(0.0)
False

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 Bool – evaluating other data types
>>> bool(0.207)
True
>>> bool(-1.117)
True
>>> bool([])
False
>>> bool([1,5,9])
True
>>> bool("")
False
>>> bool("Spam")
True
>>>

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 Bool – evaluating other data types
>>> bool("False")
True
>>> bool(False)
False
>>>

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 Complex values
>>> z = 2 + 3j
>>> z.real
2.0
>>> z.imag
3.0
>>> abs(3 + 4j)
5.0
>>z.conjugate()
>>> pow(3 + 4j, 2)
(-7+24j)
>>>
>>> complex(2,3)
(2+3j)

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 Reading user input data
Capturing user-input as a string from the terminal – using input()
>>> response = input("Please enter your name: ")
Please enter your name: Telacad
>>> response
'Telacad'

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 Reading user input data
>>> name = input("What's your name? ")
What's your name? Telacad
>>> print("Nice to meet you " + name + "!")
Nice to meet you Telacad!
>>> age = input("Your age? ")
Your age? 34
>>> print("So, you are already " + str(age) + " years old, " + name + "!")
So, you are already 34 years old, Telacad!

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 Reading user input password
>>> import getpass
>>> pswd = getpass.getpass('Password:')
Password:
>>> pswd
'parola'
>>>

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 Exercises
1. Read an user-input string and concatenate it with “ Academy teaches the Python”.
Further concatenate with the numerical value of 3 and with the following string: “ because
Python 2 no longer has official support in 2020”. Print the final result. All concatenations
must be performed in separate instructions.

2. Write a program that prompts the user to input an username and a password. The result of
the program must be printed in the following format:
Username: “username_user_input”
Password: “password_user_input

3. Convert a float value to an integer one. What’s difference do you observe in the result?

4. Add a float value with a complex one. Print the real and imaginary parts, followed by the
module of the result

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 5. Having the following string: message = “Telecom Academy is teaching a lot of online
courses” - replace “teaching” with “offering”.
6. Save in a variable the rest of the division of 5 and 2. Print the value from that variable.
7. Havng the following string: colors = ‘blue,red,green’, use the split(“,”) method and print the
result.

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