Introduction to Programming

in Python
Introduction to Python basics
Goals
• Become comfortable in Python
• Basic types and mathematical operations
• Calling functions
• Defining functions
• Using return correctly
• Design recipe in Python

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Top programming languages

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Role of programming languages
• When you click an icon for an application,
a program is run in machine language.
Machine language is designed for
particular hardware, rather than being
human-friendly and general.

• People use high-level languages to

express computation naturally and
generally.

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Running a Python program
• Uses an interpreter like Wing 101
• Translates one statement at a time
• Stops when one error is found

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What does a Python program look like?
• A series of statements
• Assignment statements
• Control statements
• Function calls

• May include function definitions

• Made up of statements

• May include new type definitions

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Some Python Basics
• Written using regular mathematical notation
3+4
5 * (3 + 4) – 1
• Two numeric types
• Integers
• floating point numbers
• Strings, booleans, lists

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Assignment Statements
v = expr
• = is the assignment operator ("becomes” or "is")
• v is any variable name
• expr is any Python expression
• How it works:
1. Evaluate expr
2. "Assign” that value to v
• Assignment statements do not return a value. They only have an
effect.

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A very simple Python program
x = 2 * (4 + 12)
y=x+8
z=y*y
q = 2.5 + 4.2
w = "hi"
u=w+w

What are the values of x, y, z, q, w, u?

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Numeric types
• Integers in Python are stored exactly

• Other numbers are approximated by floating point values

• Representation error

• Two different numeric types:

• 3 is of type Int
• 3.0 is of type Float

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Basic mathematical operations
• Addition (+), Subtraction (-), Multiplication (*):
• If combining two Int values, the result is an Int
• If combining two Float values, or a Float and an Int, the result is a Float

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Basic mathematical operations
• Division: x / y
• The result is a Float for any numerical values x and y (even if both are Int)

• Integer division: x // y
• The result is the integer part of the division
• If x and y are both Int, the result is an Int
• If either x or y is a Float, the result is a Float

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Other mathematical operations
• Remainder: x % y
• x and y should both be Int

• Exponents: x ** y
• (any of Int Float) (any of Int Float) -> (any of Int Float)
• returns x raised to the power of y

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More useful things to know
• Python precedence operations are standard math precedence rules
(BEDMAS)

• Use ## or # for comments (from beginning or middle of line)

• Do not use dash in variable names

• Use underscore instead

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Calling functions in Python
• fn_name(arg1, arg2, ..., argN)
• built-in function or a user-defined fn_name
• must have correct number of arguments
• separate arguments by single comma
• examples:
abs(-3.8) → 3.8
len("Hello There") → 11
max(3,5.2,9) →9
min("ABC", "AA") → "AA"

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The math Module
• A Python module is a way to group together information, including a
set of functions
• The math module includes constants and functions for basic
mathematical calculations
• To use functions from math
• Import the math module into your program
• Use math.fn or math.const to reference the function or constant you want

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The math Module
import math
math.sqrt(25)
math.log(32,2)
math.log(32.0, 10)
math.floor(math.log(32.0, math.e))
math.factorial(10)
math.cos(math.pi)
sqrt(100.3)

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More math functions
>>> import math
>>> dir(math)
[..., 'acos', 'asinh', 'atan', 'ceil', 'cos', 'cosh', 'degrees', 'e', 'exp', 'factorial',
'floor', 'log', 'log10', 'pi', 'pow', 'radians', 'sin', 'sqrt', 'tan', 'trunc', ...]
>>> help(math.floor)
Help on built-in function floor in module math:
floor(...)
floor(x)
Return the floor of x as an integer. This is the largest integral value <= x.

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Creating new functions in Python
• def fn_name (p1, p2, ..., pN):
statement
...
statement
• Indent each statement the same amount
• For a function to return a value, include
return answer
where answer is the value the function returns
• If there is no return statement or a return statement without an expression for
answer, the function will return None (which is the default with a Python
function).
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Example: Write a Python function that consumes
3 different integers and returns the middle value
def middle(a,b,c):
largest = max(a,b,c)
smallest = min(a,b,c)
mid = (a+b+c)-largest–smallest
return mid

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Design recipe for functions
• When writing functions in Python, we should include:
• Purpose statement
• Contract
• Examples
• Function body

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Design recipe
• Purpose statement:
• Explicitly indicate what the function does, including how the parameters are
used
• Use "returns"
• Contract
• Types of consumed and returned values
• Include any needed requirements on parameters
• Examples
• fn(arg1, arg2, ...) → expected
• middle(4,2,8) → 4
• middle(3,2,1) → 2
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Example
def middle(a,b,c):
’’’ returns the middle (median) value of a,b,c

middle: Int Int Int -> Int

requires: a,b,c are all different

Examples:
middle(4,2,8) => 4
middle(3,2,1) => 2
‘’’

largest = max(a,b,c)
smallest = min(a,b,c)
mid = (a+b+c) - largest – smallest
return mid
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Python’s docstring
• Python provides a convenient way to associate documentation with a
function.
• A string included after the function header becomes the help
documentation for that function.
• As this will require more than one line, we will use special string
delimiters: three single quotes before and after our design recipe
steps.

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Basic docstring usage

Coding area Python Shell

def middle(a, b, c): >>> help(middle)
‘’’ returns middle value of Help on function middle in module __main__:
a, b, c
‘’’ middle(a, b, c)
lr = max(a, b, c) returns middle value of
sm = min(a, b, c) a, b, c
mid = (a + b + c) - lr - sm
return mid

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Why we use the design recipe
• It provides a place to start.

• Contracts and purpose can reduce simple syntax errors.

• Good design and template choices can

• reduce logical errors
• provide better solutions

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What goes in the body of a Python function?
• Assignment statements
• May introduce new, local variables

• Calls to other functions

• Built-in functions
• User-defined functions

• return statement
• Will be last code executed when present

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Variables in functions are local
• In middle,
largest, smallest, mid
are local variables.

• They do not exist outside of middle.

• In general, a variable initialized inside a function only exists in that

function.

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Example: Write a Python function to compute
the area of a circle with nonnegative radius r
import math
def area_circle(radius):
‘’’ returns the area of a circle with
the given radius

area_circle: Float -> Float

requires: radius >=0

Examples:
area_circle(0.0) => 0.0
area_circle(1.0) => 3.14159265
’’’

return math.pi * radius * radius

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Indentation in Python
• A small change in indentation will lead to error
def tens_digit(n):
’’’ returns the tens digit in n
tens_digit: Nat -> Nat
Examples:
tens_digit(1234) => 3
tens_digit(4) => 0
’’’
div10 = n // 10
tens = div10 % 10
return tens
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Investigating return further
def total_digits(secret): Assume
ones = secret % 10
tens = secret // 10
sum = ones + tens
return

>>> d = total_digits(74)

• What is the value of d?

• How would you write the contract of total_digits?
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And even further
def total_digits(secret):
ones = secret % 10
tens = secret // 10
sum = ones + tens Assume

def calculation(secret):
s = total_digits(secret)
return secret - s

c = calculation(74)
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More on Basic Types in Python
• Remember that the differences between integers and floating point
numbers can complicate calculations

• Python has many built-in conversion functions from one basic type to
another

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How to get the type we want
• float: Int → Float
• float(1) → 1.0
• float(10) → 10.0
• float: Str → Float
• float("34.1") → 34.1
• float("2.7.2") → Error
• float("23") → 23.0
• float: Float → Float
• float(23.4) → 23.4

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More casting functions
• int: (any of Float Str Int) → Int
• int(4.7) → 4
• int(3.0/4) → 0
• int(-12.4) → -12
• int("23") → 23
• int("2.3") → Error

• str: (any of Int Float Str) → Str

• str(3) → "3”
• str(42.9) → "42.9"

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Review
• Become comfortable in Python
• Basic types and mathematical operations
• Calling functions
• Defining functions
• Using return correctly
• Design recipe in Python

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