Introduction to Python

Part 1

COMPSCI 260
27 / 28 August 2014
Part 1 Topics:
• Python language and how to run it
• Basic data types and syntax
• Control structures
• Important data structures in Python: lists
(strings), tuples, and dictionaries
• Function declarations
The Python Programming Language
• Dynamically vs. statically typed
• Automated memory management
• General purpose programming / scripting
language
• Thanks to a ton of modules and libraries
• https://pypi.python.org/
Python Interactive Shell
• Python interactive shell inside Eclipse
 Python on command line
• Collect Python code into a text file
• Save it with .py suffix, say script.py
• Open a terminal on your machine
• Then type: python script.py Arg1 Arg2 …
Python Data Types & Syntax
• Numerical data types
• a = 34 (integer)
• a = 34.0 (floating point numbers – single & double precision)
• a = True (boolean)

• Characters are strings of length 1 (More on strings later!)

• c = “u” OR c = ‘u’

• Converting (casting) from one type to another

• int(), float(), double(), boolean(), str()
• i = int(“3”)

• Check type of variables with type()

• type(34) = int
Python Data Types & Syntax (cont’d)
• Whitespace matters!
• Think curly braces ( ‘{‘ ) in C or Java
• All lines with the same indentation are part of the same block/scope
• Example:
if check == 1:
do something...
else:
if check2 == 1:
do something...

• Comments (start with ‘#’)

• Example:

if check == 1:
# comments can be on their own line
do something... # or inline with code
Mathematical & Logical Operations
• Addition, subtraction, multiplication
o 2 + 2, 42 – 6, 4*3
• Division (type matters)
o 3/2=?
• Modulus
o 3%2=1
• Exponentiation
o 3 ** 2 = 9
• Logical operators
o and, or, not
o ==, !=, <, <=, >, >=
print Statement
• Places output on the screen
i = 34
print i

• Use comma between variables you want

printed on the same line (i.e., comma will
suppress a newline)
print i
print i,j

• Useful for debugging!

Control Structures
• if-else statement:
if check == 1:
do something...
elif (check == 2) and (not embarrassed):
do something...
else:
at least do something...

• while statement
while i < 40:
do something
 Control Structures (cont’d)
• for statement
for i in [1,2,4]:
print i

• break and continue

for i in range(50):
if (i == 0) or (i == 1):
continue

for i in range(50):
if i == 10:
break

• http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/controlflow.html
 Lists
• Creating a list
list0 = [] # create empty list manually

list1 = ['a', 1, 324.3] # create with values

list2 = list(list1) # creates a copy of list1

• Lists are mutable – can be changed in place

list1 = ['a', 1, 324.3]
list1[0] = 'b'
del list1[1]

• Can iterate over lists with for loops

for item in list1:
print item

• List can group many different data types

a = [99, 'bottles of beer', ['on', 'the', 'wall']]

 Lists (cont’d)
• List comprehension
[str(x) for x in [1,2,3]]
à ['1', '2', '3']

• Slicing
a = [99, 'bottles of beer', ['on', 'the', 'wall']]
print a[0:2]
à [99, 'bottles of beer']
print a[1:]
à ['bottles of beer', ['on', 'the', 'wall']]

• Reverse indexing
print a[-1]
à ['on', 'the', 'wall']
print a[-3:-1]
à [99, 'bottles of beer']

• Delete elements
del a[1]
print a
à [99, ['on', 'the', 'wall']]
Lists (cont’d)
a = [0, 1, 2]
b = [3, 4]
a + b à [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
a * 3 à [0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2]

a.append(5) à [0, 1, 2, 5]
a.pop(1) à [0, 2, 5]
a.insert(1, 42) à [0, 42, 2, 5]
a.reverse() à [5, 2, 42, 0]
a.sort() à [0, 2, 5, 42]
sorted(a) à [0, 2, 5, 42]

print len(a)
à 4
 Strings
• A string is similar to a list of characters
a = 'hello'
print a[0]
à 'h'
print a[1:4]
à 'ell'
print a[-1]
à 'o'

for c in a:
print c,
à h e l l o

• But a string is immutable

• Test: Try to change a single character in a string variable
a[0] = 'j'
 Strings
• To create a string:
strvar1 = 'abc'

strvar2 = str(123) # can cast objects as strings

strvar5 = ''
strvar5 += 'cr'
strvar5 += 'ude' # concatenation

• String formatting

# using string formatting

strvar3 = 'Pi is about %.4f' % 3.142951
à 'Pi is about 3.1430’

# more formatted strings

strvar4 = '%s Student #%d!' % ('Hello',42)
à 'Hello Student #42!'
String Operations
'hello' + 'world' à 'helloworld' # concatenation

'hello' * 3 à 'hellohellohello' # repetition

'hello'[::-1] à 'olleh' # reversing by slice

len('hello') à 5 # size

'hello' < 'jello' à 1 # comparison

'e' in 'hello' à True # membership

'hello'.find('lo') à 3 # finding substrings

'hello_world'.count('o') à 2 # counting substrings

# splitting strings
'hello_world'.split('_') à ['hello','world']

# remove whitespace
'hello_world \n'.strip() à 'hello_world'
Practice Time:
• Use 15 minutes to practice with Part1.py in
Tutorial 1

• Use 15 minutes to practice with Part2.py in

Tutorial 1
 Tuples
• Create a tuple
tup = ()
tup = ('32', 4, 'yes', 3.14)

• Quite similar to a list

tup[1:4]
à (4, 'yes', 3.14)

• But tuples are immutable

tup[1] = 12 à error

• http://docs.python.org/2/library/functions.html#tuple
 Dictionaries
• Dictionary are "associative arrays" mapping keys to
values: {key: value}
d = {
'Marky':'Mark', 'Funky':'Bunch', 3:'4', (1,2):[1,2,3]
}

• Dictionary assignment & operations

print d.keys() à [(1, 2), 'Funky', 3, 'Marky']
print d.values() à [[1, 2, 3], 'Bunch', '4', 'Mark']
print d.items()
à [((1, 2), [1, 2, 3]), ('Funky', 'Bunch'), (3, '4'),
('Marky', 'Mark')] # a list of key-value pairs in tuples

print d['Marky'] à 'Mark'

d['Donnie'] à error # raises KeyError exception
d['Donnie'] = 'Wahlberg' # value assignment

# check for presence of key # iterate over keys

d.has_key('Donnie') for dkey in d:
# item deletion print dkey
del d['Marky']
Practice Time:
• Use 15 minutes to practice with Part3.py in
Tutorial 1
 Function Declarations
def func1(arg1, arg2):
function statements
return val # Optional

• Functions are pass-by-(object)-reference

def f1(a):
a.append(4)

b = [1,2,3]
f1(b)

def f2(a):
a = 4

b = [1,2,3]
f2(b)
Pointers (or Reference vs. Copy)

• Suppose you perform the following:

list1 = [1,3,4]
list2 = list1
list3 = list(list1)
list3.append(6)
list2.append(5)

o What are list1, list2, and list3 now?

• Be careful not to confuse references with copies

o Use casting functions like str(), list() when you need to make copies
o For dictionaries, use copy() and deepcopy()
Practice Time:
• Use 20 minutes to practice with Part4.py in
Tutorial 1