Python Basics

Fall 2020
USIU-Africa
 Hello World
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We will use Idle to write and run our Python
programs. Typing idle at the command prompt.
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Once launched, we can print the string “Hello
World!” like this:

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 Multi-line Strings
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Notice on the previous slide that a string can be
limited by double or single qoutes.
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A normal Python string goes on one line.
Breaking it produces an error. But a multiline
can span many lines
>>> s3 = "one
SyntaxError: EOL while scanning string literal

>>> s = """Welcome to
Python programming.
I hope that you
will enjoy yourself"""
>>>

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 Numbers
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Python has two number types: integers and
floats.
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Use + , -, *, and / to add, subtract, multiply, and
divide, respectively.
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Use // for integer division and % for remainder
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Python variables are not declared. The type is
inferred after the fact. You can check the type
like this: >>> a = 6
>>> type(a)
<class 'int'>

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 Repeating and Concatenating
Strings
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To repeat a string, use the * operator.
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To concatenate strings, use the + operator.

>>> "happy" * 3
'happyhappyhappy'

>>> s1 = "Hello"
>>> s2 = "World"
>>> s3 = s1 + " " + s2
>>> print(s3)
Hello World

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 Some Builtin Functions
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To find the biggest number, use max
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To find the length of a string use len
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To convert a string into an int use int
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To convert an int into a string use str
>>> 9 + 'th' + ' month'
>>> max(8, 7, 1, 9, 3) Traceback (most recent call last):
9 File "<pyshell#52>", line 1, in <module>
>>> len('September') 9 + 'th' + ' month'
9 TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'
>>> len('one') >>> str(9) +
3 SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> str(9) + 'th' + ' month'
'9th month'

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 Python Script
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All the commands we typed at the Python shell
prompt can be put in a file called a script.
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In Idle, go to the File menu and select New File
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Type your Python statements and save your
script with a .py extension.
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Click Run then Run Module (or press F5)
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The output appears at the shell prompt.

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Reading Input

8
Reading Numbers

9
 Tutorials
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Recommended Python Tutorials:

https://python.swaroopch.com/
http://anh.cs.luc.edu/python/hands-on/3.1/Hands
-onPythonTutorial.pdf

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