VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &

TECHNOLOGY

Python Application Programing-18EC646

Variables, expressions and statements
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

Module 1
• Topic 1: Why should you learn to write programs
• Topic 2: Variables, expressions and statements
• Topic 3: Conditional execution
• Topic 4: Functions
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

Topic 2 : Variables, expressions and statements

2.1 Values and types
2.2 Variables
2.3 Variable names and keywords
2.4 Statements
2.5 Operators and operands
2.6 Expressions
2.7 Order of operations
2.8 Modulus operator
2.9 String operations
2.10 Asking the user for input
2.11 Comments
2.12 Choosing mnemonic variable names
2.13 Debugging
2.15 Exercises
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.1 Values and types

A value is one of the basic things a program works with, like a letter or a number. The values we have seen so far are 1, 2, and “Hello,
World!”
These values belong to different types: 2 is an integer, and “Hello, World!” is a string, so called because it contains a “string” of letters.
You (and the interpreter) can identify strings because they are enclosed in quotation marks.
The print statement also works for integers. We use the python command to start the interpreter.
python
>>> print(4)
4
If you are not sure what type a value has, the interpreter can tell you.
>>> type('Hello, World!')
<class ‘str’>
>>> type(17)
<class ‘int’>
>>> type(3.2)
<class ‘float’>
>>> type('17')
<class ‘str’>
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.1
WhenValues andaTypes
you type large integer, you might be tempted to use commas between groups of three
digits, as in 1,000,000. This is not a legal integer in Python, but it is legal:
>>> print(1,000,000)
100
Well, that’s not what we expected at all! Python interprets 1,000,000 as a commaseparated
sequence of integers, which it prints with spaces between.
This is the first example we have seen of a semantic error: the code runs without producing an
error message, but it doesn’t do the “right” thing.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.2 Variables
One of the most powerful features of a programming language is the ability to manipulate variables. A variable is a
name that refers to a value.
An assignment statement creates new variables and gives them values:
>>> message = 'And now for something completely different'
>>> n = 17
>>> pi = 3.1415926535897931
This example makes three assignments. The first assigns a string to a new variable named message; the second
assigns the integer 17 to n; the third assigns the (approximate) value of π to pi.
To display the value of a variable, you can use a print statement:
>>> print(n)
17
>>> print(pi)
3.141592653589793
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.2 Variables

The type of a variable is the type of the value it refers to.

>>> type(message)
<Class ‘str’>
>>> type(n)
<class ‘int’>
>>> type(pi)
<class ‘float’>
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.3 Variable names and keywords

Programmers generally choose names for their variables that are meaningful and document what the variable is used for.
Variable names can be arbitrarily long. They can contain both letters and numbers, but they cannot start with a number. It
is legal to use uppercase letters, but it is a good idea to begin variable names with a lowercase letter (you’ll see why later).
The underscore character ( _ ) can appear in a name. It is often used in names with multiple words, such as my_name or
airspeed_of_unladen_swallow. Variable names can start with an underscore character, but we generally avoid doing this
unless we are writing library code for others to use.
If you give a variable an illegal name, you get a syntax error:
>>> 76trombones = 'big parade'
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> more@ = 1000000
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> class = 'Advanced Theoretical Zymurgy'
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.4 Statements
A statement is a unit of code that the Python interpreter can execute. We have seen two kinds of statements: print being
an expression statement and assignment.
When you type a statement in interactive mode, the interpreter executes it and displays the result, if there is one.
A script usually contains a sequence of statements. If there is more than one statement, the results appear one at a time
as the statements execute.
For example, the script
print(1)
x=2
print(x)
produces the output
1
2
The assignment statement produces no output
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.5 Operators and operands

Operators are special symbols that represent computations like addition and multiplication. The values the operator is applied to are called operands.
The operators +, -, *, /, and ** perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation, as in the following examples:
20+32
hour-1
hour*60+minute
minute/60
5**2
(5+9)*(15-7)
There has been a change in the division operator between Python 2.x and Python 3.x. In Python 3.x, the result of this division is a floating point result:
>>> minute = 59
>>> minute/60
0.9833333333333333
The division operator in Python 2.0 would divide two integers and truncate the result to an integer:
>>> minute = 59
>>> minute/60
0
To obtain the same answer in Python 3.0 use floored ( // integer) division.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.6 Expressions
An expression is a combination of values, variables, and operators. A value all by itself is considered an expression, and so
is a variable, so the following are all legal expressions (assuming that the variable x has been assigned a value):
17
x
x + 17
If you type an expression in interactive mode, the interpreter evaluates it and displays the result:
>>> 1 + 1
2
But in a script, an expression all by itself doesn’t do anything! This is a common source of confusion for beginners.
Exercise 1: Type the following statements in the Python interpreter to see what they do:
5
x=5
x+1
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.7 Order of operations

When more than one operator appears in an expression, the order of evaluation depends on the rules of
precedence. For mathematical operators, Python follows mathematical convention. The acronym
PEMDAS is a useful way to remember the rules:
• Parentheses have the highest precedence and can be used to force an expression to evaluate in the
order you want. Since expressions in parentheses are evaluated first, 2 * (3-1) is 4, and (1+1)**(5-2) is 8.
You can also use parentheses to make an expression easier to read, as in (minute * 100) / 60, even if it
doesn’t change the result.
• Exponentiation has the next highest precedence, so 2**1+1 is 3, not 4, and 3*1**3 is 3, not 27.
• Multiplication and Division have the same precedence, which is higher than Addition and Subtraction,
which also have the same precedence. So 2*3-1 is 5, not 4, and 6+4/2 is 8, not 5.
• Operators with the same precedence are evaluated from left to right. So the expression 5-3-1 is 1, not 3,
because the 5-3 happens first and then 1 is subtracted from 2.
When in doubt, always put parentheses in your expressions to make sure the computations are
performed in the order you intend.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.8 Modulus operator

The modulus operator works on integers and yields the remainder when the first operand is divided by the second.
In Python, the modulus operator is a percent sign (%). The syntax is the same as for other operators:
>>> quotient = 7 // 3
>>> print(quotient)
2
>>> remainder = 7 % 3
>>> print(remainder)
1
So 7 divided by 3 is 2 with 1 left over.
The modulus operator turns out to be surprisingly useful. For example, you can check whether one number is
divisible by another: if x % y is zero, then x is divisible by y.
You can also extract the right-most digit or digits from a number. For example, x % 10 yields the right-most digit of
x (in base 10). Similarly, x % 100 yields the last two digits.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.9 String operations

The + operator works with strings, but it is not addition in the mathematical sense. Instead it performs concatenation, which means
joining the strings by linking them end to end. For example:
>>> first = 10
>>> second = 15
>>> print(first+second)
25
>>> first = '100‘
>>> second = '150‘
>>> print(first + second)
100150
The * operator also works with strings by multiplying the content of a string by an integer. For example:
>>> first = 'Test '
>>> second = 3
>>> print(first * second)
Test Test Test
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.10 Asking the user for input

Sometimes we would like to take the value for a variable from the user via their keyboard. Python provides a built-in function called
input that gets input from the keyboard1 . When this function is called, the program stops and waits for the user to type something.
When the user presses Return or Enter, the program resumes and input returns what the user typed as a string.
>>> inp = input()
Hello How are you?
>>> print(inp)
Hello How are you?
put from the user, it is a good idea to print a prompt telling the user what to input. You can pass a string to input to be displayed to
the user before pausing for input:
>>> name = input('What is your name?\n')
What is your name?
Dr Anitha
>>> print(name)
Dr Anitha
The sequence \n at the end of the prompt represents a newline, which is a special character that causes a line break.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.10 Asking the user for input

If you expect the user to type an integer, you can try to convert the return value to int using the int() function:
>>> prompt = 'What...is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?\n'
>>> speed = input(prompt)
What...is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
17
>>> int(speed)
17
>>> int(speed) + 5
22
But if the user types something other than a string of digits, you get an error:
>>> speed = input(prompt)
What...is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
What do you mean, an African or a European swallow?
>>> int(speed)
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10:
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.11 Comments
As programs get bigger and more complicated, they get more difficult to read. Formal languages
are dense, and it is often difficult to look at a piece of code and figure out what it is doing, or
why.
For this reason, it is a good idea to add notes to your programs to explain in natural language
what the program is doing. These notes are called comments, and in Python they start with the
# symbol:
# compute the percentage of the hour that has elapsed
percentage = (minute * 100) / 60
In this case, the comment appears on a line by itself. You can also put comments at the end of a
line:
percentage = (minute * 100) / 60 # percentage of an hour
Everything from the # to the end of the line is ignored; it has no effect on the program.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.11 Comments

Comments are most useful when they document non-obvious features of the code. It is
reasonable to assume that the reader can figure out what the code does; it is much more
useful to explain why.
This comment is redundant with the code and useless:
v = 5 # assign 5 to v
This comment contains useful information that is not in the code:
v = 5 # velocity in meters/second.
Good variable names can reduce the need for comments, but long names can make complex
expressions hard to read, so there is a trade-off.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.12 Choosing mnemonic variable names

As long as you follow the simple rules of variable naming, and avoid reserved words, you have a lot of choice when you name your
variables. In the beginning, this choice can be confusing both when you read a program and when you write your own programs. For
example, the following three programs are identical in terms of what they accomplish, but very different when you read them and try to
understand them.
a = 35.0
b = 12.50
c=a*b
print(c)
hours = 35.0
rate = 12.50
pay = hours * rate
print(pay)
x1q3z9ahd = 35.0
x1q3z9afd = 12.50
x1q3p9afd = x1q3z9ahd * x1q3z9afd
print(x1q3p9afd)
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.12 Choosing mnemonic variable names

The Python interpreter sees all three of these programs as exactly the same but humans see
and understand these programs quite differently.
Humans will most quickly understand the intent of the second program because the
programmer has chosen variable names that reflect their intent regarding what data will be
stored in each variable.
We call these wisely chosen variable names “mnemonic variable names”. The word
mnemonic2 means “memory aid”.
We choose mnemonic variable names to help us remember why we created the variable in the
first place.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.13 Debugging
At this point, the syntax error you are most likely to make is an illegal variable name, like
class and yield, which are keywords, or odd~job and US$, which contain illegal characters.
If you put a space in a variable name, Python thinks it is two operands without an
operator:
>>> bad name = 5
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> month = 09
File "", line 1 month = 09 ^
SyntaxError: invalid token
>>> principal = 327.68
>>> interest = principle * rate
NameError: name 'principle' is not defined
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

2.13 Debugging
The runtime error you are most likely to make is a “use before def;” that
is, trying to use a variable before you have assigned a value. This can
happen if you spell a variable name wrong:
Variables names are case sensitive, so LaTeX is not the same as latex. At
this point, the most likely cause of a semantic error is the order of
operations.
For example, to evaluate 1/2π, you might be tempted to write >>> 1.0 /
2.0 * pi
But the division happens first, so you would get π/2, which is not the
same thing! There is no way for Python to know what you meant to write,
so in this case you don’t get an error message; you just get the wrong
answer.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

Exercises
Exercise 2: Write a program that uses input to prompt a user for their name and then welcomes them.
Enter your name: Chuck
Hello Chuck
Exercise 3: Write a program to prompt the user for hours and rate per hour to compute gross pay.
Enter Hours: 35
Enter Rate: 2.75
Pay: 96.25
Exercise 4: Assume that we execute the following assignment statements: width = 17 height = 12.0
For each of the following expressions, write the value of the expression and the type (of the value of the expression).
1. width//2
2. width/2.0
3. height/3
4. 1 + 2 * 5
5. Use the Python interpreter to check your answers.
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

Exercises
Exercise 5: Write a program which prompts the user for a Celsius temperature, convert the temperature to
Fahrenheit, and print out the converted temperature.
(C*(9/5))+32
Exercise 6: Mention three types of error encountered in python programs. Explain the basic built in blocks of
python with an example python program to display format number(Fn=2 2n) for a ‘n’ value promoted by the
users
Fn=22n
Exercise 7: Write a python program to calculate the area of square, rectangle and circle. Print the results.
Take input from user.
(s2, w*h, pi*r2 )

Exercise 8: Predict the output and justify your answer: (i)11%9 (ii) 7.7//7 (iii) (200-70)*10/5 (iv)not “False”
(v)5*1**2
{ Ans: 2,1.0,260.0,True,5}
 VIDYA VIKAS INSTITUTE
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

Exercises
N=int(input('enter the length of the y[n]=int(input())
sequence')) print(y)
x=[0,0,0,0,0] z=[0,0,0,0,0]
print('enter num1') w=[0,0,0,0,0]
for n in range(N): for n in range(N):
x[n]=int(input()) z[n]=x[n]+y[n]
print(x) w[n]=x[n]*y[n]
y=[0,0,0,0,0] print(z)
print('enter num2') print(w)
for n in range(N):