Python Jumpstart

Python Jumpstart
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 1
Why do I care about the
Python Commands version?
Python Syntax, Data Types, Functions, …
▪ Indentation defines scope
▪ Python code blocks do not have explicit statement scope delimiters
▪ Indentation amount is relative
▪ Data Types
▪ Statements
▪ Import
▪ Print
▪ Conditional
▪ Functions
▪ Looping
Python Data Types
Python Data Types - Examples
Python Scope and Conditions
In your IDE or terminal window type the following commands at the end of your
program and then run it to see the output:
# This is a comment ← Comments aren't printed

← Blank lines are nice for formatting
print() ← This simply prints a blank line
print ("Helloworld!") ← prints "Helloworld!"
num = 1 ← Assigns the value 1 to variable "num"
if num < 1: ← Note the conditional ends with a :
print ("I'm less than 1!") ← Note indentation (be consistent)
print ("Goodbye Cruel World!")
← Nothing happens. Why?
What happens if num = 0, 1, or >1?
Python Scope and Conditions
print ("Helloworld!") Note ":" after each condition.
num = 1 Note indentation after each ":"
if num < 1: ← "if"Code
Existing Statement and condition
print ("I'm less than 1!") ← Conditional block defined by indentation
elif num == 1: ← "else if" statement & condition
print ("I'm equal to 1!") ← Single line conditional block
Add This Code
else: ← "else" statement (optional)
print ("I'm greater than 1! ") ← Single line conditional block
Run the Program
Note: You can have as many "elif"
statements as you need
Python Conditions and String Concatenation
print ("Helloworld!")
num = 1 num = input("Input a number: ")
if num < 1:
Insert Here:
print ("I'm less than 1!") Run the program.
print ("Goodbye Cruel World!") What happens ?
elif num == 1:
print ("I'm equal to 1!")
else:
print ("I'm greater than 1! ")
print ("Value is: " + str(num))
print ("Value is: ", num)
Replace: © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 8
num = 1
num = input("Input a number: ")
num = int( input("Input a number: ") )
if num < 1:
print ("I'm less than 1!")
elif num == 1:
else:
print ("Value is: ", num) ERROR!
"num" is assigned the string
representation of your number. Need
to convert it to an integer.
num = 1
num = int(input("Input a number: ")) ← Accepts input from the terminal &
if num < 1: places the result in the variable "num"
elif num == 1:
The output looks "almost" the same:
This concatenates the "Value" string with the
else: character representation of the
print ("ValueConcatenates Strings
is: " + str(num)) ← value contained in the variable "num"
print ("Value is: ", num) ← This prints the string followed by the
character representation of "num"
Note the spacing in the second print stmt
Conditional & Logical Operators
Python Looping
for count in range(5) Loop from 0 to 4
for count in range(2,5) Loop from 2 to 4
for count in range(len(MyList)) Loop from 0 to end of the list
for fruit in basket Loops through a List, Tuple or Dictionary
while count < 5 Must increment count
while True Infinite loop. End with break statement
Looping with "for" in Python
1. Insert the "for" statement and indent
num = 1
all remaining lines. These form the
for count in range(3):
block of the "for" loop.
num = int(input("Input a number: "))
2. Run the program
if num < 1:
print (Goodbye Cruel World!")
elif num == 1:
else:
Looping with "while" in Python
num = 1
#for count in range(3): 1. Comment out the "for" statement
while num > 0: 2. Insert the "while" statement
num = int(input("Input a number: ")) 3. Run the program
if num < 1: How has the behavior changed?
print (Goodbye Cruel World!")
elif num == 1:
else:
Dictionaries in Python
• A dictionary is different than a list or a tuple. Each element in a dictionary
must contain a key followed by a value. This key value association is
typically referred to as name-value pairs. Dictionaries are defined by curly
braces {}.
• Here's a dictionary {"car":"corvette","age":7, "food":"pizza"} .The value in
a dictionary is accessed by its key. Dictionaries are sometimes
called maps or associative arrays
Add this to your code and run:
What is the result?
print("\nMy Dictionary Example:")
MyExample = {"Type":"MS250","Ports":48,"Name":"Switch1","Loc":"Building 5"}
print (len(MyExample), MyExample)
print (MyExample["Name"]," in ",MyExample["Loc"]," is a ",MyExample["Type"])
Parsing JSON with Python
What is JSON?
• JSON stands for Java Script Object Notation
• Consists of text-based name-value pairs making it simple for applications
to store and exchange data
• Designed to be lightweight, readable, and minimal, avoiding excessive
text which has sometimes been the complaint of XML (another text-
based protocol for exchanging and storing data)
• The structure and parsing of JSON is the same as Python dictionaries
and lists
• In JSON, data is set up in name value pairs just like a Python dictionary;
however, in JSON, dictionaries are referred to as objects
Concept : JSON
▪ JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) [
▪ A data-interchange text format {
▪ Really just "first_name": "Joe",
"last_name": "Montana"
▪ Collections of name/value pairs
},
▪ Object {} {
▪ Ordered list of values "first_name": "Jerry",
▪ Array [] "last_name": "Rice"
}
]
Practice with Dictionaries
1. Copy the following code
2. Run the program
Devices={"model1":"MR52","model2":"MR84","model3":"MR42"}
for model in Devices:
print("Device Model: " + Devices[model])
Sample Output:
Device Model MR52
Device Model MR84
Device Model MR42
Sending a REST API request
1. Copy the following code with a valid Dashboard API key (like your home lab's)
2. Run the program
import requests
import json
api_key = '<insert api key between single quotes>'
org_url = 'https://dashboard.meraki.com/api/v0/organizations'
meraki_headers = {'x-cisco-meraki-api-key': api_key, 'content-type': 'application/json'}
# get all of the organizations this api key has access to
response = requests.get(org_url, headers=meraki_headers)
json_output = json.loads(response.text)
# loop through the json_output and print each row

Sample Output:
for row in json_output:

{u'id': 650207196201616360, u'name':
u'Meraki DevNet Lab'}
print(row)
Org ID: 650207196201616360
print("Org ID: " + str(row['id'])) Org Name: Meraki DevNet Lab
print("Org Name: " + row['name']) © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 20
Deeply nested JSON structures
In JSON, objects and arrays are often nested several layers in order to organize data.
Looking at the following structure from the inside and moving outward you see that we've
nested an array inside an object which itself is nested inside an object.
With this structure starting from the outside and moving in we see that switches is the key
with the object fixed being its value. But notice that fixed is also a key and its value is the
array of switch types. As a result, to get the actual types we need to dig a little deeper.
myvar={"switches":{"fixed":["2900","3650","3850","9300","9500"]}}
print(myvar["switches"]["fixed"][0])
print("My list of access switches are:", end=" ")
for f in myvar["switches"]["fixed"]:
print(f, end=" ") © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 21
Python Functions – Defining Your Own
Python Functions Defined - Examples
Python Functions Defined - Calling
print ("I'm not a function")
def my_function():
print("Hey I'm a function!")
def brett(val):
for i in range(val):
print("I'm a function with args!")
my_function()
brett(5)
Thanks for Playing ☺
Content Credit: Cisco DevNet team, Paul Marsh, Meraki API team

Python Jumpstart

Uploaded by

Python Jumpstart

Uploaded by

Python Jumpstart

# This is a comment ← Comments aren't printed

api_key = '<insert api key between single quotes>'

meraki_headers = {'x-cisco-meraki-api-key': api_key, 'content-type': 'application/json'}

# get all of the organizations this api key has access to

response = requests.get(org_url, headers=meraki_headers)

# loop through the json_output and print each row

for row in json_output:

You might also like