Introduction to python

• What is Python?

  Python is a popular programming language. It was created in 1991 by Guido van Rossum.
  It is used for:
  • web development (server-side),
  • software development,
  • mathematics,
  • system scripting.

  What can Python do?

  • Python can be used on a server to create web applications.
  • Python can be used alongside software to create workflows.
  • Python can connect to database systems. It can also read and modify files.
  • Python can be used to handle big data and perform complex mathematics.
  • Python can be used for rapid prototyping, or for production-ready software development.

  Why Python?

  • Python works on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, etc).
  • Python has a simple syntax similar to the English language.
  • Python has syntax that allows developers to write programs with fewer lines than some other programming languages.
  • Python runs on an interpreter system, meaning that code can be executed as soon as it is written. This means that prototyping can be very quick.
  • Python can be treated in a procedural way, an object-orientated way or a functional way.

  Good to know

  • The most recent major version of Python is Python 3, which we shall be using in this tutorial. However, Python 2, although not being updated with anything other than security updates, is still quite popular.
  • In this tutorial Python will be written in a text editor. It is possible to write Python in an Integrated Development Environment, such as Thonny, Pycharm, Netbeans or Eclipse which are particularly useful when managing larger collections of Python files.

  Python Syntax compared to other programming languages

  • Python was designed to for readability, and has some similarities to the English language with influence from mathematics.
  • Python uses new lines to complete a command, as opposed to other programming languages which often use semicolons or parentheses.
  • Python relies on indentation, using whitespace, to define scope; such as the scope of loops, functions and classes. Other programming languages often use curly-brackets for this purpose.

    Python Quickstart

    Python is an interpreted programming language, this means that as a developer you write Python (.py) files in a text editor and then put those files into the python interpreter to be executed.
    The way to run a python file is like this on the command line:
    C:\Users\Your Name>python helloworld.py
    Where "helloworld.py" is the name of your python file.
    Let's write our first Python file, called helloworld.py, which can be done in any text editor.
    helloworld.py

    print("Hello, World!")

    Run example »
    Simple as that. Save your file. Open your command line, navigate to the directory where you saved your file, and run:
    C:\Users\Your Name>python helloworld.py
    The output should read:
    Hello, World!
    Congratulations, you have written and executed your first Python program.