UNIT 1:

INTRODUCTION TO
PYTHON
Máster Universitario en Mecánica de Fluidos Computacional
LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Describe the syntax of Python
• Employ conditional structures in Python to branch the
behavior of a software
• Employ looping structures in Python to repeat sequences or
blocks of actions
• Define functions in Python to encapsulate and organize code
• Describe the behavior of different types of data structures
• Employ appropriate data structures to create effective software

OPT 2
UPV
ASSUMPTIONS

• You have some working knowledge of any programming

language used in Engineering: MATLAB, C/C++, R, Python,
etc.

• You feel comfortable with some basic programming structures

• Conditionals (If)
• Looping (While, For, etc.)
• Functions
• Object-oriented programming?

• You have some patience and resilience to deal with bugs and
unexpected errors ☺ OPT 3
UPV
VARIABLES, DATA
TYPES AND Basic foundations

OPERATORS
OPT 4
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BASIC DATA TYPES AND VARIABLES

• Variables don't need to be previously x = 3

declared
y = 2.23
• The type of the variable is dynamic
z = "Hello world"
• Basic data types
w = 'Again, hello word'
• Integer numbers (int)
print("This message will be printed on the screen")
• Floating point numbers (float)
print(x)
• Text (str)
• Boolean (bool, True/False) print("The value of y is " + str(y) + " and the
string w contains " + w )
• Some common operators nombre = input("Please, type your name: ")
• We use + to concatenate strings or add
edad = int( input("Please, type your age: " ) )
numbers
• We use the print function to print
messages in the standard output
(console)
• We use input to read information from OPT
the keyboard (str) 5
UPV
ARITHMETIC OPERATORS

Operator Description Example

+ Adds two values a = 1 + 23.4
b = a + 33
- Substracts two values a=5–7
b = a – 11.2
* Multiplies two values a=3*4
b = a * 1.2
/ Floating point division between two values. a = 4/2
Always returns a floating point value b = a/1.3
// Integer division. Always returns an integer a = 9//3
b = a//2
% Division modulus. a=3%2
** Power a value to some given value a = 4 ** 2
b = a**2

OPT 6
UPV
COMPARISONS AND BOOLEAN OPERATORS

Comp Description Examples

ar.
<, > True if the first value is lower/greater than the 3<2 Oper. Description Examples
second, False otherwise 3>2
1<2 and True if both values or expressions are evaluated to 3<2 and 3>5
1>2 True, False otherwise 3<2 and (3%2 ==
a<b 1)
2<3 and 5>3
<=, >= True if the first value is lower/greater than or 3<=2
a and b
equal to the second value, False otherwise 3>=2
2<=2 or True if both values or expressions are evaluated to 3<2 or 3>5
2>=2 True, False otherwise 3<2 or (3%2 == 1)
a<=b 2<3 or 5>3
a or b
== True if both values are equal, False otherwise 3 == 3
4 == 5.2 not True if the expression or value is evaluated to False, not 3>2
a == b False otherwise not 1>2
not a>b
!= True if both values are different, False 3!=3
otherwise 4 != 5.2
a != b

OPT 7
UPV
CONDITIONAL Branching the logic of
your code

STRUCTURES
OPT 8
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CONDITIONAL STRUCTURES
if ... elif ... else

• We use conditional structures when we x = int( input("Introduce a number") )

want to branch the logic of our program
if x > 20 :
• When do I need a conditional structure?
if x % 2 == 1:
• You want to carry out some actions in a
specific condition (If) print("I'm odd")
• You want to carry out different actions print("I am greater than 20")
according to specific conditions (If ... Elif
... Else) elif x > 10 :

• In Python, we can use the if ... elif ... Else print("I am a number between 11 and 20")
structure else :
• We don't use { } for delimiting code x = x**2
blocks. Indentation defines code blocks. print("Before, I was less than or equal to 10,
• We can have nested conditional structures but now I am " + str(x))

OPT 9
UPV
CONDITIONAL STRUCTURES
Match - Case

• From Python 3.1 onwards, they lang = input("What's the programming language you want to
introduced match and case learn? ")

structure match lang:

• Similar to switch case in other case "JavaScript":
programming languages print("You can become a web developer.")
case "Python":
• There is no need for break
print("You can become a Data Scientist")
statement after each case. case "PHP":
• _ represents the default action (no print("You can become a backend developer")
case "Java":
previous matches)
print("You can become a mobile app developer")
case _:
print("The language doesn't matter, what matters is
solving problems.")

OPT 10
UPV
 LOOPING Repeating code blocks

STRUCTURES
OPT 11
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LOOPING STRUCTURES
for

• We use looping structures when we want for i in range(0, 10, 2):

to repeat multiple times the same block of
instructions print(i)

• Types of looping:
• Known number of times
• Unknown number of times
• for loops are typically used when we
know beforehand how many times we
want to repeat a block of instructions
• A given number of times (i.e., n)
• For each element in a given data structure
• We can use range to iterate using a
typical for structure found in other
programming languages
• No {} and indentation is a must
OPT 12
UPV
LOOPING STRUCTURES
for

• We can use for to iterate over ítems in a mylist=[1,5,"Hello",3.2]

collection or data structure
for x in mylist:
• It is safer than using índices
print(x)
• Python lists:
mylist.append(3) #Adds 3 to the end of the list
• They are ordered collections (not sorted)
that may have multiple data types mylist[0]="Pepe" #Overrides first element
• They are dynamic print(mylist[0]) #Access first element
• We can access elements form the start (0, print(mylist[1])
1, ..., n-1) and the end (-1, -2, -3, ..., -n).
print(mylist[4])
print(mylist[-1]) #Access last element
del mylist[0] #Delete element
print(mylist)

OPT 13
UPV
LOOPING STRUCTURES
while

• We typically use a while loop when we hidden_password = "1234"

don't know beforehand how many times
we want to repeat a code block password = ""

• It is general, and it can loop similarly to a

while password != hidden_password:
for loop. It subsumes for loops
password=input("Please input a correct password")
• While loops iterate while a certain
condition is met
print("You passed the security control!")

OPT 14
UPV
LOOPING STRUCTURES
while

• We typically use a while loop when we mylist=[1,5,"Hello",3.2]

don't know beforehand how many times
we want to repeat a code block i = 0
while i < len(mylist):
• It is general, and it can loop similarly to a print(mylist[i])
for loop. It subsumes for loops i=i+1
j=0
• While loops iterate while a certain
condition is met
while j < 20:
print(j)
• There is no native do-while
j=j+2

OPT 15
UPV
 Create code recipes

FUNCTIONS
OPT 16
UPV
FUNCTIONS
Creating code recipes

• Functions allow us to define code blocks def normalize(value, mu, sigma): #This defines the
that will be used in several parts of the function or code recipe
code. They are code recipes.
#value, mu, and sigma represent the inputs. The
• Functions are: recipe depends on this inputs
• Declared when first defined. It defines and den = value - mu
stores the code récipe
return den/sigma #It returns a value
• Called when needed in action
• Their result typically depends on an input #Up to this point we have just stored normalized, but
• They typically provide one or several never executed it!
outputs as a result of applying the recipe
• Why functions? normalize(3, 1.4, 2) #Now we execute the code recipe
with some specific inputs
• Avoids code repetition → More
maintainable normalize(a,b,c) #I can also call the function using
• Makes the code more readable variables as inputs, or even expressions!
• Allows you to share your code
• Generalizes your code OPT 17
UPV
 OTHER DATA Learn more...

STRUCTURES
OPT 18
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TUPLES
Static data structure

• They work like lists, however they are my_tuple = (1,5,"Hello",3.2)

immutable.
for elem in my_tuple :
print(elem)
• Once created, they don't change
print(my_tuple[0])
print(my_tuple[1])
• How do I modify an existing tuple? print(my_tuple[3])
Impossible. Create a new one
print(my_tuple[-1])

• More memory efficient and faster

OPT 19
UPV
DICTIONARIES
Indexed key-value

• For lists, you access elements by user_ages = { '45883251E': 23, '21885251F': 18, '11895
providing an index position, as they are 231A' : 42 }
an ordered collection
user_ages['11111111B'] = 49
• Dictionaries are not ordered (i.e., there is
print(user_ages['21885251F'])
no numerical position).
print('11895231A' in user_ages)
• The information in a dictionary is
accessed by providing a key, that for key in user_ages.keys():
uniquely identifies the value stored value = user_ages[key]
• They are known as key-value structures, print(key, value)
as you need keys to access and store
values
• When do we use dictionaries?
• Fast access to unordered information
• Less memory efficient
• Counting items
• Defining complex data structures (e.g. OPT 20
JSON) UPV
 OPT
UPV

THANK YOU!
anconpei@eio.upv.es
Andrea Conchado Peiró
Víctor Sánchez Anguix vsanchez@eio.upv.es