1.

Introduction to Python
Introduction

Python is a high-level, interpreted, interactive and object-oriented scripting language. Python is

designed to be highly readable. It uses English keywords frequently where as other languages
use punctuation, and it has fewer syntactical constructions than other languages.

 Python is Interpreted − Python is processed at runtime by the interpreter. You do not

need to compile your program before executing it. This is similar to PERL and PHP.
 Python is Interactive − You can actually sit at a Python prompt and interact with the
interpreter directly to write your programs.
 Python is Object-Oriented − Python supports Object-Oriented style or technique of
programming that encapsulates code within objects.
 Python is a Beginner's Language − Python is a great language for the beginner-level
programmers and supports the development of a wide range of applications from simple
text processing to WWW browsers to games.

History of Python

Python was developed by Guido van Rossum in the late eighties and early nineties at the
National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in the Netherlands.

Python is derived from many other languages, including ABC, Modula-3, C, C++, Algol-68,
SmallTalk, and Unix shell and other scripting languages.

Python is copyrighted. Like Perl, Python source code is now available under the GNU General
Public License (GPL).

Python is now maintained by a core development team at the institute, although Guido van
Rossum still holds a vital role in directing its progress.

Python Features

Python's features include −

 Easy-to-learn − Python has few keywords, simple structure, and a clearly defined
syntax. This allows the student to pick up the language quickly.
  Easy-to-read − Python code is more clearly defined and visible to the eyes.
 Easy-to-maintain − Python's source code is fairly easy-to-maintain.
 A broad standard library − Python's bulk of the library is very portable and cross-
platform compatible on UNIX, Windows, and Macintosh.
 Interactive Mode − Python has support for an interactive mode which allows interactive
testing and debugging of snippets of code.
 Portable − Python can run on a wide variety of hardware platforms and has the same
interface on all platforms.
 Extendable − You can add low-level modules to the Python interpreter. These modules
enable programmers to add to or customize their tools to be more efficient.
 Databases − Python provides interfaces to all major commercial databases.
 GUI Programming − Python supports GUI applications that can be created and ported
to many system calls, libraries and windows systems, such as Windows MFC,
Macintosh, and the X Window system of Unix.
 Scalable − Python provides a better structure and support for large programs than shell
scripting.

Apart from the above-mentioned features, Python has a big list of good features, few are listed
below −

 It supports functional and structured programming methods as well as OOP.

 It can be used as a scripting language or can be compiled to byte-code for building large
applications.
 It provides very high-level dynamic data types and supports dynamic type checking.
 It supports automatic garbage collection.
 It can be easily integrated with C, C++, COM, ActiveX, CORBA, and Java.

Environment setup

Python is available on a wide variety of platforms including Linux and Mac OS X. Let's
understand how to set up our Python environment.

https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/
Local Environment Setup

Open a terminal window and type "python" to find out if it is already installed and which
version is installed.

 Unix (Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, AIX, HP/UX, SunOS, IRIX, etc.)

 Win 9x/NT/2000

 Macintosh (Intel, PPC, 68K)

 OS/2

 DOS (multiple versions)

 PalmOS

 Nokia mobile phones

 Windows CE

 Acorn/RISC OS

 BeOS

 Amiga

 VMS/OpenVMS

 QNX

 VxWorks

 Psion

 Python has also been ported to the Java and .NET virtual machines

Getting Python

The most up-to-date and current source code, binaries, documentation, news, etc., is available
on the official website of Python https://www.python.org/

You can download Python documentation from https://www.python.org/doc/. The

documentation is available in HTML, PDF, and PostScript formats.
Installing Python

Python distribution is available for a wide variety of platforms. You need to download only the
binary code applicable for your platform and install Python.

If the binary code for your platform is not available, you need a C compiler to compile the
source code manually. Compiling the source code offers more flexibility in terms of choice of
features that you require in your installation.

Here is a quick overview of installing Python on various platforms −

Unix and Linux Installation

Here are the simple steps to install Python on Unix/Linux machine.

 Open a Web browser and go to https://www.python.org/downloads/.

 Follow the link to download zipped source code available for Unix/Linux.
 Download and extract files.
 Editing the Modules/Setup file if you want to customize some options.
 run ./configure script
 make
 make install

This installs Python at standard location /usr/local/bin and its libraries

at /usr/local/lib/pythonXX where XX is the version of Python.

Windows Installation

Here are the steps to install Python on Windows machine.

 Open a Web browser and go to https://www.python.org/downloads/.

 Follow the link for the Windows installer python-XYZ.msi file where XYZ is the version
you need to install.
 To use this installer python-XYZ.msi, the Windows system must support Microsoft
Installer 2.0. Save the installer file to your local machine and then run it to find out if
your machine supports MSI.
 Run the downloaded file. This brings up the Python install wizard, which is really easy to
use. Just accept the default settings, wait until the install is finished, and you are done.
Macintosh Installation

Recent Macs come with Python installed, but it may be several years out of date.
See http://www.python.org/download/mac/ for instructions on getting the current version along
with extra tools to support development on the Mac. For older Mac OS's before Mac OS X 10.3
(released in 2003), MacPython is available.

Jack Jansen maintains it and you can have full access to the entire documentation at his website
− http://www.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython.html. You can find complete installation details for Mac
OS installation.

Setting up PATH

Programs and other executable files can be in many directories, so operating systems provide a
search path that lists the directories that the OS searches for executables.

The path is stored in an environment variable, which is a named string maintained by the
operating system. This variable contains information available to the command shell and other
programs.

The path variable is named as PATH in Unix or Path in Windows (Unix is case sensitive;
Windows is not).

In Mac OS, the installer handles the path details. To invoke the Python interpreter from any
particular directory, you must add the Python directory to your path.

Setting path at Unix/Linux

To add the Python directory to the path for a particular session in Unix −

 In the csh shell − type setenv PATH "$PATH:/usr/local/bin/python" and press Enter.
 In the bash shell (Linux) − type export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin/python" and
press Enter.
 In the sh or ksh shell − type PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin/python" and press Enter.
 Note − /usr/local/bin/python is the path of the Python directory

Setting path at Windows

To add the Python directory to the path for a particular session in Windows −
At the command prompt − type path %path%;C:\Python and press Enter.

Note − C:\Python is the path of the Python directory

Python Environment Variables

Here are important environment variables, which can be recognized by Python −

Sr.No. Variable & Description

1 PYTHONPATH

It has a role similar to PATH. This variable tells the Python interpreter where to
locate the module files imported into a program. It should include the Python
source library directory and the directories containing Python source code.
PYTHONPATH is sometimes preset by the Python installer.

2 PYTHONSTARTUP

It contains the path of an initialization file containing Python source code. It is

executed every time you start the interpreter. It is named as .pythonrc.py in Unix
and it contains commands that load utilities or modify PYTHONPATH.

3 PYTHONCASEOK

It is used in Windows to instruct Python to find the first case-insensitive match

in an import statement. Set this variable to any value to activate it.

4 PYTHONHOME

It is an alternative module search path. It is usually embedded in the

PYTHONSTARTUP or PYTHONPATH directories to make switching module
libraries easy.
Running Python

There are three different ways to start Python −

Interactive Interpreter

You can start Python from Unix, DOS, or any other system that provides you a command-line
interpreter or shell window.

Enter python the command line.

Start coding right away in the interactive interpreter.

$python # Unix/Linux
or
python% # Unix/Linux
or
C:> python # Windows/DOS

Here is the list of all the available command line options −

Sr.No. Option & Description

1 -d

It provides debug output.

2 -O

It generates optimized bytecode (resulting in .pyo files).

3 -S

Do not run import site to look for Python paths on startup.

4 -v
 verbose output (detailed trace on import statements).

5 -X

disable class-based built-in exceptions (just use strings); obsolete starting with
version 1.6.

6 -c cmd

run Python script sent in as cmd string

7 file

run Python script from given file

Script from the Command-line

A Python script can be executed at command line by invoking the interpreter on your
application, as in the following −

$python script.py # Unix/Linux

or

python% script.py # Unix/Linux

or

C: >python script.py # Windows/DOS

Note − Be sure the file permission mode allows execution.

Integrated Development Environment

You can run Python from a Graphical User Interface (GUI) environment as well, if you have a
GUI application on your system that supports Python.

 Unix − IDLE is the very first Unix IDE for Python.

 Windows − PythonWin is the first Windows interface for Python and is an IDE with a
GUI.
 Macintosh − The Macintosh version of Python along with the IDLE IDE is available
from the main website, downloadable as either MacBinary or BinHex'd files.

If you are not able to set up the environment properly, then you can take help from your system
admin. Make sure the Python environment is properly set up and working perfectly fine.

Note − All the examples given in subsequent chapters are executed with Python 2.4.3 version
available on CentOS flavor of Linux.

We already have set up Python Programming environment online, so that you can execute all
the available examples online at the same time when you are learning theory. Feel free to
modify any example and execute it online.