Instructor : Seyed Sadjad Abedi-Shahri
Programming is the process of creating a set of instructions or logic that can be understood and executed by a computer to perform a specific task or solve a problem. It involves breaking down complex problems into smaller, more manageable steps that the computer can follow.
Programming languages are the tools used to communicate instructions to computers. They provide a structured way to express algorithms, which are sets of rules or procedures for solving problems. Different programming languages have their own syntax (rules for writing code) and semantics (meaning of the code).
Python is a popular, high-level, general-purpose programming language known for its simplicity, readability, and versatility. It was created by Guido van Rossum in the late 1980s and first released in 1991.
To start programming in Python, you need to set up the Python environment on your computer. This involves installing the Python interpreter and an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) or a code editor. In this bootcamp, we will be using the Anaconda distribution and the Spyder IDE.
Anaconda is a popular open-source distribution of Python and other data science packages. It comes bundled with Python, the Conda package manager, and various pre-installed libraries and tools for data science, machine learning, and scientific computing.
To install Anaconda, follow these steps:
After the installation is complete, you will have access to the Anaconda Navigator, which is a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows you to launch applications and manage conda packages, environments, and channels.
Spyder (Scientific Python Development Environment) is a powerful IDE that comes bundled with Anaconda. It provides a user-friendly interface for writing, debugging, and executing Python code, as well as advanced features such as code completion, code exploration, and integration with popular scientific libraries like NumPy, SciPy, and Matplotlib.
To launch Spyder, you can either:
spyder.The Spyder IDE consists of three main panels:
Python’s syntax is designed to be simple, readable, and easy to learn. Here’s a quick overview of some essential syntax elements:
1# This is a single-line comment
2
3"""
4This is a
5multi-line comment
6"""
Python uses indentation to define code blocks instead of curly braces or keywords like begin and end. Proper indentation is crucial for Python code to run correctly.
1if condition:
2 # Indented block
3 statement1
4 statement2
5else:
6 # Indented block
7 statement3
Variables in Python don’t need to be explicitly declared. You can assign values to variables directly.
1x = 5 # Integer
2y = 3.14 # Float
3name = "Sadjad Abedi" # String
4is_true = True # Boolean
Python supports several built-in data types, including:
Python supports two main types of numbers: integers and floating-point numbers.
1x = 31 # Integer
2y = 3.14 # Float
3z = 1 + 3j # Complex number
Strings in Python are sequences of characters enclosed in single quotes (’), double quotes ("), or triple quotes (’’’ or """).
1name = "Sadjad Abedi"
2message = 'Hello, World!'
3multiline = """This is
4a multiline
5string."""
Lists are ordered collections of items, which can be of different data types.
1fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"] # List of strings
2numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] # List of integers
3mixed = [1, "apple", 3.14, True] # Mixed data types
1len(fruits) # Get the length of the list
2fruits[0] # Access the first element
3fruits[-1] # Access the last element
4fruits[1:3] # Get a slice (from index 1 to 3)
5fruits.append("orange") # Add an element to the end
6fruits.insert(1, "kiwi") # Insert an element at a specific index
7fruits.remove("banana") # Remove the first occurrence of an element
8fruits.pop(2) # Remove the element at a specific index
Python provides several built-in functions for handling input and output operations, allowing you to interact with users and work with files.
The input() function is used to get user input from the console or terminal. It takes an optional prompt string as an argument and returns the user’s input as a string.
1name = input("Enter your name: ")
2print("Hello, " + name)
By default, input() returns a string.
If you need to work with other data types, such as integers or floats, you can use type conversion functions like int() or float().
1age = int(input("Enter your age: "))
2weight = float(input("Enter your weight (kg): "))
The print() function is used to display output to the console or terminal.
1print("Hello, World!")
You can print multiple values by separating them with commas, and you can customize the separator and end characters using the sep and end parameters, respectively.
1print("Apple", "Banana", "Cherry", sep=", ") # Output: Apple, Banana, Cherry
2print("Hello", end="")
3print("World") # Output: HelloWorld
Python provides several functions and methods for working with files, including reading from and writing to files.
To write to a file, you first need to open it in write mode (“w”) or append mode (“a”). Then, you can use the write() method to write data to the file.
1file = open("data.txt", "w") # Open a file for writing
2file.write("Hello, World!")
3file.close() # Don't forget to close the file
To read from a file, you need to open it in read mode (“r”). Then, you can use methods like read() or readline() to read the contents of the file.
1file = open("data.txt", "r")
2content = file.read() # Read the entire file
3print(content)
4file.close()
Alternatively, you can use a for loop to read the file line by line.
1file = open("data.txt", "r")
2for line in file:
3 print(line.strip()) # Strip leading/trailing whitespace
4file.close()
Python also provides a convenient with statement to automatically handle opening and closing files.
1with open("data.txt", "r") as file:
2 content = file.read()
3 print(content)