Introduction to Python Programming

Table of Contents

• History
• Syntax
• Data Types
• Conditional statements
• Loops
• Functions
• Arrays

History

Python is a high-level, beginner-friendly programming language created for code readability. This programming language supports object-oriented, functional, and structured programming. It was created by Guido van Rossum in 1991 and is regarded as one of the most popular programming languages.

What is it used for?

• server web development
• software development
• math
• system scripts

Syntax

Indentation - Python uses indentation to indicate a block of code, it usually comes after loops, and you can apply this by pressing the tab key. 

Comments - Starts with a #, doesn't affect the code in any way, used for explaining codes

Variables - Containers for storing data, x = 5 ( your assigning the integer 5 to the variable x )

Data types

Simple Built-in Data types

str - or string is used for texts

int, float, complex - numeric integers

sequence - list, tuple, range

mapping - dict

boolean - bool, has 2 possible values either true or false

set - set, frozenset

You can use constructor functions to turn certain data types to others.

For example: str(4) is "4" indicating that this is a string

Conditional statements

If statement - used for making decisions, it runs only if a given statement is true, if it is false there is usually an else if (elif) or else statement telling us that if the first condition is true check this or do this.

You can specify the condition to meet using these logical conditions:

equal - ==

not equal - !=

less than <

greater than >

Loops

While loop - executes as long as the condition remains true

For loop - iterates over a sequence and it does not require an indexing variable

Break statement - stops loop even if the condition is true

Continue statement - stop the current iteration and continue with the next

Functions

A block of code that only runs when it is called. It includes parameters that are used to pass data into the function, returning some data as a result.

To call a function you use the function's name followed by an open and closed parenthesis.for example: function() 

Arrays

Used to store multiple values in a single variable. You can create a list of items by using [] after the variable like this: list1 = [ "value1", "value2", ... ] and so on.

FAQ

What are some weaknesses of Python?

It has slow speed and heavy memory usage. It also lacks support for mobile environments, database access, and multi-threading.  

Is Python hard to learn?

It is one of the easiest, beginner-friendly programming languages to learn

How many people are using Python?

Millions of users

Why is it called Python?

It got its name from the 1970's comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus.