Introduction to Python

Lecture 1: Setting up your

University of Cyprus
Python Environment Department of
Computer Science

Pavlos Antoniou
Data Science job ads
• Indeed.com is the biggest job
site in the U.S
• Most job ads in data science
involve Python & SQL
• People frequently compare R &
Python, but when it comes to
getting a data science job,
there are only half as many for
R as for Python.
– Statisticians → R
– Machine Learning people → Python
Source: https://www.kdnuggets.com/2019/06/data-science-jobs-report.html
Why Python?
• One of the best languages used by data scientists for various data
science projects/applications
• Open source, high level language
• Simple syntax, easy to use
– Python’s syntax, or the words and symbols used in order to make a program
are simple and intuitive. They're basically English words!
– Easy to learn even without having any programming background
• Provides great libraries to deal with data:
– import, store, handle, visualize
– perform statistical analysis
– train algorithms, build models to cluster or predict quantities (outside of the
scope of the current course)
Fundamental knowledge pillars
• Understand data types
– integers, strings, floating point numbers, booleans, lists, dictionaries, tuples,
sets
• Learn loops and conditionals
– Loops execute a block of code several times and conditionals tell the
program when to stop executing that block of code.
• Learn data structures for handling data
– Read data from files, perform basic statistical analysis, filter, slice, select,
sort, fill missing values, aggregate
• Learn useful libraries for visualizing data
Course Schedule
• Lecture 1: Setting up your Python Environment – Install Anaconda
• Lecture 2: Introduction to Jupyter
• Lectures 3-4: Python Standard Library (data types, conditionals, loops, built-in
functions)
• Lecture 5: Exercises on Python Standard Library
• Lecture 6: Introduction to NumPy
• Lecture 7: Introduction to SciPy
• Lecture 8: Exercises on NumPy and SciPy
• Lectures 9-10: Introduction to Pandas (Data Manipulation)
• Lecture 11: Exercises on Pandas
• Lectures 12-13: Introduction to Matplotlib, Seaborn & Plotly (Data Visualization)
• Lectures 14: Introduction to Timeseries
• Lecture 15: Exercises on Timeseries (Data Handling and Visualization)
This Lecture
• Set up a Python computing environment for scientific computing
• There are two main ways people set up Python for scientific
computing on their own machine:
1. By downloading the official Python distribution and installing package by
package with tools like apt-get, pip, etc.
2. By downloading and installing a Python distribution that contains binaries of
many of the scientific packages needed. The major distributions of these
are Anaconda and Enthought Canopy.
• In this course, we will use Anaconda, with its associated package
manager, conda. It has become the de facto package
manager/distribution for scientific use.
Available Python Distributions
• Official Python website: https://www.python.org/
– Available for Windows, macOS, Unix: https://www.python.org/downloads/
– Includes basic data types and associated functions to operate on them
– However, … you need to install important Data Science packages (numpy,
pandas, sklearn) using pip (package management system)
• Anaconda Data Science Platform: https://www.anaconda.com/
– Free for individuals, open-source, easy-to-install Python distribution with
over a 1500 packages (including the package management system conda)
and a GUI named Anaconda Navigator
• Through Anaconda Navigator you can gain access to some very useful applications
such as Jupyter Notebook and Spyder IDE
– Powered by Anaconda company, but with free community support
Install Anaconda
• Step 1: Go to https://www.anaconda.com
• Step 2: Download the version of Anaconda targeting your Operating
System (prefer 64 bit). For all available installers see here:
https://www.anaconda.com/products/distribution#Downloads
Install Anaconda
• Step 3: Double-click on the executable file
– To get the installation of Anaconda started on your operating system open
the executable file in your Download folder
• Step 4: Click Next
Install Anaconda
• Step 5: Click I agree to the terms and conditions
Install Anaconda
• Step 6: Select Who You Want To Give Anaconda To
– This step will ask you if you want to install Anaconda just for you or for all
the users using this PC. Click “Just-Me”, or “All users”, depending on your
preference. Both options will do, but to select “all users” you will need admin
privileges.
Install Anaconda
• Step 7: Select the installation location
– Make sure that you have at least the right amount of space available to
install Anaconda subdirectory comparing it to the space required.

If “Just Me” was selected If “All Users” was selected

Install Anaconda
• Step 8: Select the environment variables
– Depending on if you have any version of Python already installed on your
operating system, or not, to do different set-up.
• Python is not usually included by default on Windows, however we can check if any
version exists on the system. To know if you have Python Installed:
– Go to Start Menu and type “Command Prompt” or “cmd” to open it.

– Type the following command and hit the Enter key “python --version”
– If nothing happens, you don’t have Python installed. Otherwise, you will get the version.
Install Anaconda
• Step 8: Select the environment variables
– If You Are Installing Python For The First Time
• Check the Add Anaconda to my PATH environment variable. This will let you
use Anaconda in your command prompt.
Install Anaconda
• Step 8: Select the environment variables
– If You Already Have Python Installed
• Leave Add Anaconda to my PATH environment variable unchecked.
• Leaving it unchecked means that you will have to use Anaconda Command Prompt in
order to use Anaconda.

• So, unless you

add the PATH
later, you will not
be able to use
Python from your
command prompt
(cmd).
Install Anaconda
• Step 9: Click Install and then Finish
Install Anaconda
• Step 10: See if Python is installed
– If everything went right you can repeat the step 7 by opening your command
prompt (cmd) and enter “python --version”.
– If everything is right, you’ll see this result:
Install Anaconda
• Bonus step: Add Anaconda to Path
– You’ve left the Add Anaconda to my PATH environment variable unchecked
and want to add it to your PATH?
• By adding Anaconda to your Path, it’ll become possible to use Anaconda from your
Command Prompt (or PowerShell).
– Here is a great video to help you Add Anaconda to your Path:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf5u2chPBjY&t=933s
– This is it, you are now ready to use Python with Anaconda.
Getting started with Anaconda
• Anaconda Distribution contains conda and Anaconda Navigator as
well as Python and hundreds of scientific packages.

Courtesy of https://medium.com/@kumarankita764/new-features-of-anaconda-5-3-5bfdfe9b4240
Getting started with Anaconda
• Conda works as a command line interface called Anaconda Prompt
on Windows and via terminal on macOS and Linux.
• Navigator is a desktop graphical user interface (GUI) that allows you
to launch applications and easily manage conda packages,
environments, and channels without using command-line
commands.
• You can try both conda and Navigator to see which is right for you
to manage your packages and environments.
– You can even switch between them, and the work you do with one can be
viewed in the other
• We will try a simple programming exercise in Python using both
Anaconda Navigator and conda to get familiar with them
Python program using Anaconda Navigator
• Launch Anaconda Navigator on Windows:
– Go to Start Menu and type “anaconda navigator” →
• Launch Anaconda Navigator on macOS:
– Open Launchpad, then click the Anaconda Navigator
icon:

• Launch Anaconda Navigator on Unix/Linux:

– Open a terminal and type “anaconda-navigator”
Anaconda Navigator
• The following applications are available by default in Navigator:
– JupyterLab*
– Jupyter Notebook*
– Spyder*
– PyCharm*
– VSCode*
– Glueviz
– Orange 3 App
– RStudio
– Anaconda Prompt (Windows only)
– Anaconda PowerShell (Windows only)

(*) Applications that can be used to write and run programs (Integrated Development Environment – IDE)
Anaconda Navigator
Run Python in Spyder IDE
• Launch Spyder by clicking Spyder’s Launch button.
• In the new file on the left,
delete any placeholder text,
then type or copy/paste
print("Hello Anaconda")
• In the top menu, click
File → Save As and name
your new program hello.py
• Run your new program by
clicking the triangle Run button.
• You can see your program’s output in the bottom right Console pane.
• From Spyder’s top menu bar, select File → Quit
Run Python in JupyterLab
• Launch JupyterLab by clicking JupyterLab’s Launch button.
• This will launch a new browser window (or a new tab on an existing
browser window) showing the Notebook Dashboard.
• In the middle of the Launcher tab there is a button labeled with the
Python version you installed. Click it and create a new Notebook.
Run Python in JupyterLab
• Rename your Notebook
– Right click on the filename (shown on the tab). You can name it to whatever
you’d like, but for this example we’ll use MyFirstAnacondaNotebook.ipynb
• In the first line of the Notebook, type print("Hello Anaconda")
• Save your Notebook by either clicking the save and create
checkpoint icon or by selecting File → Save Notebook in top menu.
• Run your new program by clicking the Run button or selecting Run
from the top menu.
Run Python in JupyterLab
• From JupyterLab’s top
menu bar, select File →
Shutdown
• Click the Show Down
button in the popup window

• Close the window or tab

Run Python program without IDE
• Start Python
– At Anaconda Prompt in Windows (or terminal in
Linux or macOS), type python and press Enter
– The >>> means you are in Python.
• Write a Python program
– At the >>>, type print("Hello Anaconda!") and press Enter.
– When you press enter, your program runs. The words “Hello Anaconda!”
print to the screen. You’re programming in Python!
• Exit Python
– Type exit() and press Enter.
Run Python program with IDE
• Launch Spyder or JupyterLab from the command line
• In the Anaconda Prompt (terminal on Linux or macOS), type
spyder and press Enter
– Spyder should start up just like it did when you launched it from Anaconda
Navigator
– Close Spyder the same way you did in the previous exercise
• In the Anaconda Prompt (terminal on Linux or macOS), type
jupyter lab and press Enter
– JupyterLab should start up just like it did when you launched it from
Anaconda Navigator
– Close it the same way you did in the previous exercise.
Install or update Python packages
• At some point, you may wish to install additional Python packages
that are not included in the Anaconda distribution. In general, these
can be installed via Anaconda Prompt with the following command:
– conda install package_name
– If this does not work, you may also be able to install the package using the
pip package management tool: pip install package_name
• You can update packages by using:
– conda update package_name
– pip also supports upgrades using the --upgrade flag:
pip install --upgrade package_name
• Important note: While you can use both conda and pip to install
packages, you should not attempt to update conda packages with
pip, as doing so can lead to environment problems.
Hands on
• Download and install Anaconda
• Run the following examples:
– Open JupyterLab from Anaconda Navigator and create/run a Python
program that prints your name
– Open Spyder from Anaconda Prompt (or terminal on Linux or macOS) and
create/run a Python program that prints your surname
APPENDIX
• JupyterLab: This is an extensible working environment for
interactive and reproducible computing, based on the Jupyter
Notebook and Architecture.
• Jupyter Notebook: This is a web-based, interactive computing
notebook environment. We can edit and run human-readable docs
while describing the data analysis.
• Qt Console: It is the PyQt GUI that supports inline figures, proper
multiline editing with syntax highlighting, graphical calltips and more.
• Spyder: Spyder is a scientific Python Development Environment. It is
a powerful Python IDE with advanced editing, interactive testing,
debugging and introspection features.
APPENDIX
• VS Code: It is a streamlined code editor with support for
development operations like debugging, task running and version
control.
• Glueviz: This is used for multidimensional data visualization across
files. It explores relationships within and among related datasets.
• Orange 3: It is a component-based data mining framework. This
can be used for data visualization and data analysis. The workflows
in Orange 3 are very interactive and provide a large toolbox.
• Rstudio: It is a set of integrated tools designed to help you be more
productive with R. It includes R essentials and notebooks.