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HowtoStartProgramminginPython:15StepswikiHow

HowtoStartProgramminginPython
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SixParts:

Edited7daysago

InstallingPython(Windows)

LearningBasicConcepts

UsingthePythonInterpreterasaCalculator

CreatingYourFirstProgram

BuildingAdvancedPrograms

SamplePrograms

Doyouwanttostartlearninghowtoprogram?Gettingintocomputer
programmingcanbedaunting,andyoumaythinkthatyouneedtotake
classesinordertolearn.Whilethatmaybetrueforsomelanguages,thereare
avarietyofprogramminglanguagesthatwillonlytakeadayortwotograsp
thebasics.Pythoninoneofthoselanguages.YoucanhaveabasicPython
programupandrunninginjustafewminutes.SeeStep1belowtolearnhow.

Part1of5:InstallingPython(Windows)

DownloadPythonforWindowssystems.TheWindowsPythoninterpretercan
bedownloadedforfreefromthePythonwebsite.Makesuretodownloadthe

correctversionforyouroperatingsystem.
Youshoulddownloadthelatestversionavailable,whichwas3.4atthetimeof
thiswriting.
OSXandLinuxcomewithPythonalreadyinstalled.Youwillnotneedtoinstall
anyPythonrelatedsoftware,butyoumaywanttoinstallatexteditor.
MostLinuxdistributionsandOSXversionsstillusePython2.X.Thereareafew
minordifferencesbetween2&3,mostnotablythechangestothe"print"
statement.IfyouwanttoinstallanewerversionofPythononOSXorLinux,
youcandownloadthefilesfromthePythonwebsite.

InstallthePythoninterpreter.Mostuserscaninstalltheinterpreterwithout
changinganysettings.YoucanintegratePythonintotheCommandPromptby

enablingthelastoptioninthelistofavailablemodules.[1]

Installatexteditor.WhileyoucancreatePythonprogramsinNotepador
TextEdit,youwillfinditmucheasiertoreadandwritethecodeusingaspecialized

texteditor.ThereareavarietyoffreeeditorstochoosefromsuchasNotepad++
(Windows),TextWrangler(Mac),orJEdit(Anysystem).

Testyourinstallation.OpenCommandPrompt(Windows)ofyourTerminal
(Mac/Linux)andtype p y t h on .Pythonwillloadandtheversionnumberwillbe

displayed.YouwillbetakentothePythoninterpretercommandprompt,shownas >>>.
Type p r i nt ( " H e ll o , Wo r l d! ") andpress Enter .Youshouldsee
thetext Hello,World!displayedbeneaththePythoncommandline.

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Part2of5:LearningBasicConcepts

UnderstandthatPythondoesn'tneedtocompile.Pythonisaninterpreted
language,whichmeansyoucanruntheprogramassoonasyoumakechangesto

thefile.Thismakesiterating,revising,andtroubleshootingprogramsismuchquicker
thanmanyotherlanguages.
Pythonisoneoftheeasierlanguagestolearn,andyoucanhaveabasic
programupandrunninginjustafewminutes.

Messaroundintheinterpreter.Youcanusetheinterpretertotestoutcode
withouthavingtoadditityourprogramfirst.Thisisgreatforlearninghowspecific

commandswork,orwritingathrowawayprogram.

LearnhowPythonhandlesobjectsandvariables.Pythonisanobjectoriented
language,meaningeverythingintheprogramistreatedasanobject.Thismeans

thatyouwillnotneedtodeclarevariablesatthebeginningofyourprogram(youcando
itatanytime),andyoudonotneedtospecifythetypeofvariable(integer,string,etc.).

Part3of5:UsingthePythonInterpreterasaCalculator
Performingsomebasiccalculatorfunctionswillhelpgetyoufamiliarwith
Pythonsyntaxandthewaynumbersandstringsarehandled.

Starttheinterpreter.OpenyourCommandPromptorTerminal.Type py th on
atthepromptandpress Enter .ThiswillloadthePythoninterpreterandyouwill

betakentothePythoncommandprompt( >>>).
Ifyoudidn'tintegratePythonintoyourcommandprompt,youwillneedto
navigatetothePythondirectoryinordertoruntheinterpreter.

Performbasicarithmetic.YoucanusePythontoperformbasicarithmeticwith
ease.Seetheboxbelowforsomeexamplesonhowtousethecalculator

functions.Note: #designatescommentsinPythoncode,andtheyarenotpassed
throughtheinterpreter.
>>>3+7
10
>>>10010*3
70
>>>(10010*3)/2#Divisionwillalwaysreturnafloatingpoint(decimal)number
35.0
>>>(10010*3)//2#Floordivision(twoslashes)willdiscardanydecimalresults
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35
>>>23%4#Thiscalculatestheremainderofthedivision
3
>>>17.53*2.67/4.1
11.41587804878049

Calculatepowers.Youcanusethe * * operatortosignifypowers.Pythoncan
quicklycalculatelargenumbers.Seetheboxbelowforexamples.

>>>7**2#7squared
49
>>>5**7#5tothepowerof7
78125

Createandmanipulatevariables.YoucanassignvariablesinPythontoperform
basicalgebra.ThisisagoodintroductiontohowtoassignvariableswithinPython

programs.Variablesareassignedbyusingthe = sign.Seetheboxbelowfor
examples.
>>>a=5
>>>b=4
>>>a*b
20
>>>20*a//b
25
>>>b**2
16
>>>width=10#Variablescanbeanystring
>>>height=5
>>>width*height
50

Closetheinterpreter.Onceyouarefinishedusingtheinterpreter,youcancloseit
andreturntoyourcommandpromptbypressing ^Ctrl + Z (Windows)or

^Ctrl + D (Linux/Mac)andthenpressing Enter .Youcanalsotype qu it () and

press Enter .

Part4of5:CreatingYourFirstProgram

Openyourtexteditor.Youcanquicklycreateatestprogramthatwillgetyou
familiarwiththebasicsofcreatingandsavingprogramsandthenrunningthem

throughtheinterpreter.Thiswillalsohelpyoutestthatyourinterpreterwasinstalled
correctly.

Createa"print"statement."Print"isoneofthebasicfunctionsofPython,andis
usedtodisplayinformationintheterminalduringaprogram.Note:"print"isoneof

thebiggestchangesfromPython2toPython3.InPython2,youonlyneededtotype
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"print"followedbywhatyouwanteddisplayed.InPython3,"print"hasbecomea
function,soyouwillneedtotype"print()",withwhatyouwantdisplayedinsidethe
parentheses.

Addyourstatement.Oneofthemostcommonwaystotestaprogramming
languageistodisplaythetext"Hello,World!"Placethistextinsideofthe"print()"

statement,includingthequotationmarks:
print("Hello,World!")
Unlikemanyotherlanguages,youdonotneedtodesignatetheendofaline
witha ; .Youalsowillnotneedtousecurlybraces( { } )todesignate
blocks.Instead,indentingwillsignifywhatisincludedinablock.

Savethefile.ClicktheFilemenuinyourtexteditorandselectSaveAs.Inthe
dropdownmenubeneaththenamebox,choosethePythonfiletype.Ifyouare

usingNotepad(notrecommended),select"AllFiles"andthenadd".py"totheendofthe
filename.
Makesuretosavethefilesomewhereeasytoaccess,asyouwillneedto
navigatetoitinthecommandprompt.
Forthisexample,savethefileas"hello.py".

Runtheprogram.OpenyourCommandPromptorTerminalandnavigatetothe
locationwhereyousavedyourfile.Onceyouarethere,runthefilebytyping

h e ll o . p y andpressing Enter .Youshouldseethetext Hello,World!

Testoften.OneofthegreatthingsaboutPythonisthatyoucantestoutyournew
programsimmediately.Agoodpracticeistohaveyourcommandpromptopenat

thesametimethatyouhaveyoureditoropen.Whenyousaveyourchangesinyour
editor,youcanimmediatelyruntheprogramfromthecommandline,allowingyouto
quicklytestchanges.

Part5of5:BuildingAdvancedPrograms

Experimentwithabasicflowcontrolstatement.Flowcontrolstatementsallow
youtocontrolwhattheprogramdoesbasedonspecificconditions.[2]These

statementsaretheheartofPythonprogramming,andallowyoutocreateprogramsthat
dodifferentthingsdependingoninputandconditions.The wh il e statementisagood
onetostartwith.Inthisexample,youcanusethe w hi le statementtocalculatethe
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Fibonaccisequenceupto100:
#EachnumberintheFibonaccisequenceis
#thesumoftheprevioustwonumbers
a,b=0,1
whileb<100:
print(b,end='')
a,b=b,a+b
Thesequencewillrunaslongas(while)bislessthan(<)100.
Theoutputwillbe 1123581321345589
The e n d =' ' commandwilldisplaytheoutputonthesamelineinsteadof
puttingeachvalueonaseparateline.
Thereareacouplethingstonoteinthissimpleprogramthatarecriticalto
creatingcomplexprogramsinPython:
Makenoteoftheindentation.A : indicatesthatthefollowinglineswill
beindentedandarepartoftheblock.Intheaboveexample,the
p r in t ( b ) and a , b = b , a+ b arepartofthe w hi le block.
Properlyindentingisessentialinorderforyourprogramtowork.
Multiplevariablescanbedefinedonthesameline.Intheabove
example,aandbarebothdefinedonthefirstline.
Ifyouareenteringthisprogramdirectlyintotheinterpreter,youmust
addablanklinetotheendsothattheinterpreterknowsthatthe
programisfinished.

Buildfunctionswithinprograms.Youcandefinefunctionsthatyoucanthencall
onlaterintheprogram.Thisisespeciallyusefulifyouneedtousemultiple

functionswithintheconfinesofalargerprogram.Inthefollowingexample,youcan
createafunctiontocallaFibonaccisequencesimilartotheoneyouwroteearlier:[3]
deffib(n):
a,b=0,1
whilea<n:
print(a,end='')
a,b=b,a+b
print()

#Laterintheprogram,youcancallyourFibonacci
#functionforanyvalueyouspecify
fib(1000)
Thiswillreturn 01123581321345589144233377610987

Buildamorecomplicatedflowcontrolprogram.Flowcontrolstatementsallow
youtosetspecificconditionsthatchangehowtheprogramisrun.Thisis

especiallyimportantwhenyouaredealingwithuserinput.Thefollowingexamplewill
usethe i f , e li f (elseif),and el se tocreateasimpleprogramthatevaluates
theuser'sage.[4]
age=int(input("Enteryourage:"))

ifage<=12:
print("It'sgreattobeakid!")
elifageinrange(13,20):
print("You'reateenager!")
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else:
print("Timetogrowup")

#Ifanyofthesestatementsaretrue
#thecorrespondingmessagewillbedisplayed.
#Ifneitherstatementistrue,the"else"
#messageisdisplayed.
Thisprogramalsointroducesafewotherveryimportantstatementsthatwillbe
invaluableforavarietyofdifferentapplications:
i n pu t ( ) Thisinvokesuserinputfromthekeyboard.Theuserwill
seethemessagewrittenintheparentheses.Inthisexample,the
i n pu t ( ) issurroundedbyan i nt () function,whichmeansall
inputwillbetreatedasaninteger.
r a ng e ( ) Thisfunctioncanbeusedinavarietyofways.Inthis
program,itischeckingtoseeifthenumberinarangebetween13and
20.Theendoftherangeisnotcountedinthecalculation.

Learntheotherconditionalexpressions.Thepreviousexampleusedthe"less
thanorequal"(<=)symboltodetermineiftheinputtedagemetthecondition.You

canusethesameconditionalexpressionsthatyouwouldinmath,buttypingthemisa
littledifferent:
ConditionalExpressions.[5]
Meaning

Symbol PythonSymbol

Lessthan

<

<

Greaterthan

>

>

Lessthanorequal

<=

Greaterthanorequal

>=

Equals

==

Notequal

!=

Continuelearning.ThesearejustthebasicswhenitcomestoPython.Although
it'soneofthesimplestlanguagestolearn,thereisquiteabitofdepthifyouare

interestedindigging.Thebestwaytokeeplearningistokeepcreatingprograms!
Rememberthatyoucanquicklywritescratchprogramsdirectlyintheinterpreter,and
testingyourchangesisassimpleasrunningtheprogramfromthecommandlineagain.
TherearelotsofgoodbooksavailableforPythonprogramming,including,
"PythonforBeginners","PythonCookbook",and"PythonProgramming:An
IntroductiontoComputerScience".
Thereareavarietyofsourcesavailableonline,butmanyarestillgeared
towardsPython2.X.Youmayneedtomakeadjustmentstoanyexamplesthat
theyprovide.
ManylocalschoolsofferclassesonPython.OftentimesPythonistaughtin
introductoryclassesasitisoneoftheeasierlanguagestolearn.

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SamplePrograms

SamplePython
InterpreterStartup
Code

SamplePython
CalculatorCode

SampleEasyPython
Program

Wecouldreallyuseyourhelp!
Canyoutellusabout

Canyoutellusabout

Canyoutellusabout

Canyoutellusabout

Adobe
Photoshop?

PChacks?

accounting?

managing
employees?

YesIcan

YesIcan

YesIcan

YesIcan

Tips
Pythonisoneofthesimplercomputerlanguages,butitstilltakesa
littlededicationtolearn.Italsohelpstohavesomebasicalgebra
understanding,asPythonisverymathematicsfocused.

SourcesandCitations
1. https://developers.google.com/edu/python/setup
2. http://www.stavros.io/tutorials/python/
3. http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html
4. http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ex30.html
5. http://anh.cs.luc.edu/python/hands
on/3.1/handsonHtml/ifstatements.html

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Categories:FeaturedArticles|Python
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