Programming in Python –

Lecture#1

Adeel-ur-Rehman
 Programming in Python

Scheme of Lecture
What is Python?
History of Python
Installation of Python
Interactive Mode
Python Basics
Functions
String Handling
Data Structures
Using Modules

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 Programming in Python

What is Python?
Python is a computer programming
language which is:
 General-purpose
 Open source
 Object-oriented
 Interpreted

Used by hundreds of thousands of

developers around the world in areas
such as:
 Internet scripting
 System programming
 User interfaces
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 Programming in Python

What is Python?
Combines remarkable power with
very clear syntax.
Also usable as an extension language.
Has portable implementation:
 Many brands of UNIX
 Windows
 OS/2
 Mac
 Amiga
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 Programming in Python

History of Python
Created in the early 1990s
By Guido van Rossum.
At Stichting Mathematisch Centrum in the
Netherlands.
As a successor of a language called ABC.
Guido remains Python’s principal author.
Includes many contributions from others.

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 Programming in Python

Installation of Python
The current production versions are
Python 2.7.8 and Python 3.4.2.
Download Python-2.7.8.tgz file from the URL:
http://www.python.org/download/
Unzip and untar it by the command:
 tar -zxvf Python-2.7.8.tgz
Change to the Python-2.7.8 directory and run:
 ./configure to make the Make file
 make to create ./python executable
 make install to install ./python

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 Programming in Python

Interactive Mode
On Linux systems, the Python is already
installed usually.
But it does not have any unique interface
for programming in it.
An attractive interface is IDLE which
does not get automatically installed with
the Linux distribution.
Type python on the console and then try
the statement print “Python Course” on
the invoked interpreter prompt.
To use the interpreter prompt for
executing Python statements is called
interactive mode.
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 Programming in Python

Operators in Python
Operators Description

lambda Lambda Expression

or Boolean OR

and Boolean AND

not x Boolean NOT

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 Programming in Python

Operators in Python
Operators Description

in, not in Membership tests

is, is not Identity tests

<, <=, >, >=, !=, Comparisons

==
| Bitwise OR

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 Programming in Python

Operators in Python
Operators Description

^ Bitwise XOR

& Bitwise AND

<<, >> Shifts

+, - Addition and
Subtraction
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 Programming in Python

Operators in Python
Operators Description
*, /, % Multiplication,
Division and
Remainder
+x, -x Positive, Negative
~x Bitwise NOT
** Exponentiation
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 Programming in Python

Operators in Python
Operators Description

x.attribute Attribute reference

x[index] Subscription

x[index:index] Slicing

f(arguments, ...) Function call

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 Programming in Python

Operators in Python
Operators Description

(expressions, ...) Binding or tuple

display
[expressions, ...] List display

{key:datum, ...} Dictionary display

`expressions, ...` String conversion

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 Decision Making Programming in Python

Statements
# Decision Making in Python
number = 23
guess = int(raw_input('Enter an integer : '))
if guess == number:
print 'Congratulations, you guessed it’
print "(but you don't win any prizes!)"
elif guess < number:
print 'No, it is a little higher than that.'
else:
print 'No, it is a little lower than that.'
print 'Done'

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 Programming in Python

Loops
Loops makes an execution of a program
chunk iterative.
Two types of loops in Python:
 for loop
 while loop
When our iterations are countable , we
often use for loop.
When our iterations are uncountable,
we often use while loop.

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 Programming in Python

While Loop Example

# While Loop Demonstration
number = 23
stop = False
while not stop:
guess = int(raw_input('Enter an integer : '))
if guess == number:
print 'Congratulations, you guessed it.'
stop = True
elif guess < number:
print 'No, it is a little higher than that.'
else:
print 'No, it is a little lower than that.'
else:
print 'The while loop is over.'
print 'I can do whatever I want here.'
print 'Done.'
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 Programming in Python

For Loop Example

# For Loop Demonstration
for i in range(1, 5):
print i # 1 2 3 4
else:
print 'The for loop is over.'

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 Programming in Python

The break Statement

The break statement is used to break out
of a loop statement.
i.e., stop the execution of a looping
statement.
 even if the loop condition has not become
false
 or the sequence of items has been completely
iterated over
An important note is that if you break
out of a for or while loop, any loop else
block is not executed.
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 Using The break
Programming in Python

Statement
# Demonstrating break statement
while True:
s = raw_input('Enter something : ')
if s == 'quit':
break
print 'Length of the string is', len(s)
print 'Done'
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 Programming in Python

The continue Statement

It means:
 To skip the rest of the statements in
the current loop cycle.
 and to continue to the next iteration
of the loop.
Here is an example of continue
statement:

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 Using The continue Programming in Python

Statement
while True:
s = raw_input('Enter something : ')
if s == 'quit':
break
if len(s) < 4:
continue
print 'Sufficient length'

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 Programming in Python

The pass Statement

The pass statement does nothing.
It can be used when a statement is
required syntactically but the
program requires no action.
For example:
while True:
pass # Busy-wait for keyboard
interrupt
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 Programming in Python

Functions
Functions are reusable pieces of
programs.
They allow us to give a name to a block
of statements.
We can execute that block of
statements by just using that name
anywhere in our program and any
number of times.
This is known as calling the function.
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 Programming in Python

Functions
Functions are defined using the def
keyword.
This is followed by an identifier name for
the function.
This is followed by a pair of parentheses
which may enclose some names of
variables.
The line ends with a colon and this is
followed by a new block of statements
which forms the body of the function.
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 Programming in Python

Defining a function
def sayHello():
print 'Hello World!' # A new block
# End of the function
sayHello() # call the function

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 Programming in Python

Function Parameters
Are values we supply to the function to
perform any task.
Specified within the pair of parentheses in the
function definition, separated by commas.
When we call the function, we supply the
values in the same way and order.
the names given in the function definition are
called parameters.
the values we supply in the function call are
called arguments.
Arguments are passed using call by value
(where the value is always an object
reference, not the value of the object).
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 Programming in Python

Using Function Parameters

# Demonstrating Function Parameters
def printMax(a, b):
if a > b:
print a, 'is maximum'
else:
print b, 'is maximum'
printMax(3, 4) # Directly give literal values
x = -5
y = -7
printMax(x, y) # Give variables as arguments
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 Programming in Python

Local and Global Variables

While declaring variables inside a
function definition:
 They are not related in any way to other
variables with the same names used outside
the function
 That is, variable declarations are local to the
function.
This is called the scope of the variable.
All variables have the scope of the block
they are declared in, starting from the
point of definition of the variable.
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 Programming in Python

Using Local Variables

# Demonstrating local variables
def func(x):
print 'Local x is', x
x=2
print 'Changed local x to', x
x = 50
func(x)
print 'x is still', x
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 Programming in Python

Local and Global Variables

Global variables are used for assigning to
a variable defined outside the function.
This is used to declare that the variable
is global i.e. it is not local.
It is impossible to assign to a variable
defined outside a function without the
global statement.
We can specify more than one global
variables using the same global
statement.
For example, global x, y, z .
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 Programming in Python

Using global variables

# demonstrating global variables
def func():
global x
print 'x is', x
x=2
print 'Changed x to', x
x = 50
func()
print 'Value of x is', x
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 Programming in Python

The return Statement

The return statement is used to return from a function
i.e. break out of the function.
We can optionally return a value from the function as
well.
Note that a return statement without a value is
equivalent to return None.
None is a special value in Python which presents
nothingness.
For example, it is used to indicate that a variable has
no value if the variable has a value of None.
Every function implicitly contains a return None
statement.
We can see this by running print someFunction() where
the function someFunction does not use the return
statement such as
def someFunction():
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 Programming in Python

The return Statement

# Demonstrating the return
Statement
def max(x, y):
if x > y:
return x
else:
return y
print max(2, 3)
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 Programming in Python

Strings
A string is a sequence of
characters.
Strings are basically just words.
Usage of strings:
 Using Single Quotes (')
 Using Double Quotes(")
 Using Triple Quotes (''' or """)

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 Important Features of
Programming in Python

Strings
Escape Sequences.
 These are the characters starting from
‘\’ (backslash).
 ‘\’ means that the following character
has a special meaning in the current
context.
 There are various escape characters
(also called escape sequences).
 Some of them are:
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 Programming in Python

Escape Sequences
Escape Sequence Description
\n Newline. Position the
screen cursor to the
beginning of the next line.
\t Horizontal tab. Move the
screen cursor to the next
tab stop.
\r Carriage return. Position
the screen cursor to the
beginning of the current
line; do not advance to the
next line.

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 Programming in Python

Escape Sequences
\a Alert. Sound the system bell
(beep)

\\ Backslash. Used to print a

backslash character.

\” Double quote. Used to print

a double quote character.

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 Important Features of
Programming in Python

Strings
Raw Strings.
 To avoid special processing on a
string such as escape sequences
 Specify a raw string by prefixing r or
R to the string
 e.g., r"Newlines are indicated by \n."

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 Important Features of
Programming in Python

Strings
Unicode Strings.
 Unicode is a standard used for
internationalization
 For writing text in our native language
such as Urdu or Arabic, we need to
have a Unicode-enabled text editor
 To use Unicode strings in Python, we
prefix the string with u or U
 E.g., u"This is a Unicode string."

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 Important Features of
Programming in Python

Strings
Strings are immutable.
 Once created, cannot be changed
String literal concatenation.
 Placing two string literals side by side
get concatenated automatically by
Python.
 E.g., 'What\'s ' "your name?" is
automatically converted to "What's
your name?" .
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 Programming in Python
Some Important String
Methods
# Demonstrating some String Methods
name = 'Swaroop' # This is a string object
if name.startswith('Swa'):
print 'Yes, the string starts with "Swa"'
if 'a' in name:
print 'Yes, it contains the string "a"'
if name.find('war') != -1:
print 'Yes, it contains the string "war"'
delimiter = '-*-'
mylist = [‘Pakistan', 'China', 'Finland', 'Brazil']
print delimiter.join(mylist)
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 Programming in Python
Python’s Built-in Data
Structures
Structures which hold data
together.
Used to store a collection of related
data.
There are three built-in data
structures in Python:
 List
 Tuple
 Dictionary
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 Programming in Python

List
A data structure that holds an
ordered collection of items.
i.e. you can store a sequence of
items in a list.
The list of items should be
enclosed in square brackets
separated by commas.
We can add, remove or search for
items in a list.
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 Programming in Python

Using a List
# List Demonstration
shoplist = ['apple', 'mango', 'carrot',
'banana']
print 'I have', len(shoplist), 'items to
purchase.'
print 'These items are:',
for item in shoplist:
print item,
print '\nI also have to buy rice.'
shoplist.append('rice')
print 'My shopping list now is', shoplist
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 Programming in Python

Using a List
shoplist.sort()
print 'Sorted shopping list is', shoplist
print 'The first item I will buy is',
shoplist[0]
olditem = shoplist[0]
del shoplist[0]
print 'I bought the', olditem
print 'My shopping list now is', shoplist
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 Programming in Python

List
We can access members of the list
by using their position.
Remember that Python starts
counting from 0.
if we want to access the first item
in a list then we can use mylist[0]
just like arrays.
Lists are mutable; these can be
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 Programming in Python

Tuple
Tuples are just like lists except that
they are immutable.
i.e. we cannot modify tuples.
Tuples are defined by specifying
items separated by commas within
a pair of parentheses.
Typically used in cases where a
statement or a user-defined
function can safely assume that the
collection of values i.e. the tuple of
values used will not change.
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 Programming in Python

Using Tuples
# Tuple Demonstration
zoo = ('wolf', 'elephant', 'penguin')
print 'Number of animals in the zoo is', len(zoo)
new_zoo = ('monkey', 'dolphin', zoo)
print 'Number of animals in the new zoo is',
len(new_zoo)
print new_zoo # Prints all the animals in the new_zoo
print new_zoo[2] # Prints animals brought from zoo
print new_zoo[2][2] # Prints the last animal from zoo

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 Programming in Python

Dictionary
A dictionary is like an address-book
used to find address/contact details of a
person by knowing only his/her name.
i.e. we associate keys (name) with
values (details).
Note that the key must be unique.
i.e. we cannot find out the correct
information if we have two persons with
the exact same name.

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 Programming in Python

Dictionary
We can use only immutable values
(like strings) for keys of a dictionary.
But We can use either immutable or
mutable values for values.
This basically means to say that we
can use only simple objects as keys.
Pairs of keys and values are
specified in a dictionary by using
the notation:
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 Programming in Python

Dictionary
d = {key1 : value1, key2 : value2 }.
Notice that:
 the key and value pairs are separated
by a colon
 pairs are separated themselves by
commas
 all this is enclosed in a pair of curly
brackets or braces

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 Programming in Python

Using Dictionaries
# Dictionary Demonstration
ab={ 'Swaroop' : 'python@g2swaroop.net',
'Miguel' : 'miguel@novell.com',
'Larry' : 'larry@wall.org',
'Spammer' : 'spammer@hotmail.com' }
print "Swaroop's address is %s" % ab['Swaroop']
# Adding a key/value pair
ab['Guido'] = 'guido@python.org'

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 Programming in Python

Using Dictionaries
# Deleting a key/value pair
del ab['Spammer']
print "\nThere are %d contacts in the
address-\ book\n" % len(ab)
for name, address in ab.items():
print 'Contact %s at %s' % (name,
address)
if ab.has_key('Guido'):
print "\nGuido's address is %s" % ab['Guido']
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 Programming in Python

Sequences
Lists, tuples and strings are
examples of sequences.
Two of the main features of a
sequence is:
 the indexing operation which allows us
to fetch a particular item in the
sequence
 and the slicing operation which allows
us to retrieve a slice of the sequence
i.e. a part of the sequence
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 Programming in Python

Using Sequences
# Sequence Demonstration
shoplist = ['apple', 'mango', 'carrot',
'banana']
# Indexing or 'Subscription'
print shoplist[0]
print shoplist[1]
print shoplist[2]
print shoplist[3]
print shoplist[-1]
print shoplist[-2]
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 Programming in Python

Using Sequences
# Slicing using a list
print shoplist[1:3]
print shoplist[2:]
print shoplist[1:-1]
print shoplist[:]

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 Programming in Python

Using Sequences
# Slicing using a string
name = 'swaroop'
print name[1:3]
print name[2:]
print name[1:-1]
print name[:]

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 Programming in Python

References
Lists are examples of objects.
When you create an object and
assign it to a variable, the variable
only refers to the object and is not
the object itself.
i.e. the variable points to that part
of our computer's memory where
the list is stored.
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 Programming in Python

Objects and References

# Demonstrating object slicing
shoplist = ['apple', 'mango', 'carrot', 'banana']
mylist = shoplist # Referencing i.e. aliasing
del shoplist[0]
print 'shoplist is', shoplist
print 'mylist is', mylist
mylist = shoplist[:] # Slicing i.e. copying
del mylist[0]
print 'shoplist is', shoplist
print 'mylist is', mylist
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 Programming in Python

Modules
We can reuse code in our program by defining
functions once.
What if we want to reuse a number of
functions in other programs we write?
The solution is modules.
A module is basically a file containing all our
functions and variables that we have defined.
The filename of the module must have a .py
extension.
A module can be imported by another program
to make use of its functionality.
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 Programming in Python

The sys Module

sys stands for System
The sys module contains system-level
information, like:
 The version of Python you're running.
 i.e., (sys.version or sys.version_info),
 And system-level options like the maximum
allowed recursion
 i.e., depth (sys.getrecursionlimit() and
sys.setrecursionlimit()).

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 Programming in Python

Using sys module

# A use of sys module
import sys
print 'The command line arguments used
are:'
for i in sys.argv: # list of command-line args
print i
print '\n\nThe PYTHONPATH is', sys.path, '\n'

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 Programming in Python

The os module
os stands for Operating System.
The os module has lots of useful
functions for manipulating files and
processes – the core of an
operating system.
And os.path has functions for
manipulating file and directory
paths.
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 Programming in Python

Using os module
# A use of os module
import os
print os.getcwd()
os.chdir(“/dev”)
print os.listdir(os.getcwd())
print os.getpid()
print os.getppid()
print os.getuid()
print os.getgid()
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 Programming in Python

The Module Search Path

When a module named os is
imported, the interpreter searches for
a file named ‘os.py’ in the:
 Current directory
 In the list of directories specified by the
environment variable PYTHONPATH.
 In an installation-dependent default path;
 on UNIX, this is usually ‘.:/usr/local/lib/python’.

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 Programming in Python

The Module Search Path

Actually, modules are searched in
the list of directories given by the
variable sys.path.
 Which is initialized from the directory
containing the input script (or the
current directory).
 PYTHONPATH
 Installation-dependent default.
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 Programming in Python

Byte-Compiled .pyc files

Importing a module is a relatively costly affair.
So Python does some optimizations to create
byte-compiled files with the extension .pyc .
If you import a module such as, say,
module.py, then Python creates a
corresponding byte-compiled module.pyc.
This file is useful when you import the module
the next time (even from a different program)
 i.e., it will be much faster.
 These byte-compiled files are platform-independent.

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 The from.. import
Programming in Python

statement
If we want to directly import the argv
variable into our program, then we can
use the from sys import argv statement.
If we want to import all the functions,
classes and variables in the sys module,
then we can use the from sys import *
statement.
This works for any module.
In general, avoid using the from..import
statement and use the import statement
instead since our program will be much
more readable ASC,that
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