Introduction to Python

Hello Engineers! Hope you all are doing great. In today’s tutorial, I am giving you a detailed lecture on Python programming language. As I am writing this tutorial for beginners, that’s why I will discuss each & everything in detail, so it’s going to be a very lengthy tutorial and I have divided it in parts.

We will start from basic concepts in Python and will slowly move towards advanced concepts. It’s going to be a quite long bumpy ride but I will try my best to make it as smooth as I can. So, let’s get started with basic Introduction to Python Language:

Introduction to python

• Python is a multi-purpose, object-oriented High-Level Programming language, with applications in multiple areas, including scripting, machine learning, data sciences, scientific learning, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
• It is the most popular language of 2019, and it is going to flourish exponentially in upcoming years because of its versatility & flexibility.

• Organizations like Google, NASA, and CIA are using it already.
• Python processes at RUNTIME by the INTERPRETER, so you don’t need to compile your program before executing it.
• There are three major versions of Python programming language are available i.e. 1.X, 2.X and 3.X. They have sub-versions such as 2.2.3 and 3.3.1.

So, the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) which I am going to use is PyCharm Community Edition.

• PyCharm Community Edition is free of cost and an open-source. You can use it easily.
• Jetbrains developed this for professional developers.

Prerequisites for Python

As, I have told earlier, I will start from very basics and will cover almost everything about Python, so if you follow & practice this tutorial completely then you will surely learn Python, even if you are a beginner and know nothing about programming. But still it would be better, if you have:

• knowledge of some basic concepts like loops, control statements, variables, etc.
• It is not required to learn any other programming language before you learn python.
• It is not required to have an engineering background to learn this language.
• If you are from any other disciplines like Sciences, Social sciences or any other academic field, you can still learn it.

Uses of Python

• As, I have mentioned earlier, python is used in various areas like Machine learning, scripting, scientific computing, Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing etc.
• So many communities are forced to use python these days, such as:
  • Network Engineers.
  • Software Engineers.
  • Data Analysts.
  • Mathematicians.
  • Scientists.
  • Accountants.
  • Website & App Developers.
• Wide range of jobs are using this multi-purpose language, namely:
  • Desktop application development.
  • Mobile application development.
  • Web application development.
  • Automation Scripts.
  • Machine learning.
  • Artificial intelligence.
  • Software testing.
  • Hacking.
  • Mathematics.
  • Networks.

I hope now you have the idea of Python importance these days. So, let’s move on to the next step.

DATA SCIENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING

Data science and machine learning are the main reasons, why programmers are learning this language.

• Python offers a different framework and libraries, for example, PyBrain, PyMySQL, and NumPy.
• Python experience allows you more than R Language.
• You can create scripts to automate material and go with web developments, and so on, respectively.
•  If you want to work in machine learning, you can easily work with Python.
• Some of the examples of machine learning are, google chatbots. They answer your questions and queries through python algorithms.

Download & Install Python

Enough with the theoretical stuff, now let’s get our hands on Python software:

• First of all, you need to download Python, they have provided Python for Windows, Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X etc.
• At the time of this writing, Python 3.8.3 is the latest version, so download & install it.
• Make sure you check the Python path when you continue, otherwise, it will not work in the future.
• Next, we need to download PyCharm, which is the IDE for professional developers.
• You will find two versions on its download page i.e. Professional and Community.
• We are going to download community version for now, as we are in learning phase.
• You can download PyCharm for Windows, Mac & Linux.
• After downloading the PyCharm, simply install it.
• During installation, you need to check on the
  • 64-bit launcher.
  • Add launcher dir to the PATH.
  • Create Associations .py
• I have ticked these 3 options, as shown in below image:

• Now click on the Next button and then click on Install and PyCharm will be installed on your computer.
• You need to restart your computer for adding launcher dir to the PATH.

Creating First Python Project on PyCharm

• Click the PyCharm icon and open the IDE.
• On its first run, it will ask for the UI theme, which I am going to select Dracula, as I like the dark one.
• Now, click on “Create New Project, select the location where you want to save your file and then click close.

We have created our first project in PyCharm and next we need to add python files in this project. So let’s start with the first Python program.

• In the left window titled Project, we have a tree structure of our files.
• These are library files which are necessary for running the project successfully, we will discuss them later.
• So, in this Project Panel, we need to right click on our Project Folder and then New and then select Python File, as shown in the figure on right side.
• Give a name to your file, as I have named it myy.py.
• Now let’s write our first line of code:

print(“my world, my rules”)

• Click on Run in top menu bar then select Run. You can also use the shortcut key (Alt+shift+F10).
• IDE will ask you to select the file for execution, so we need to select our python file.
• Once you select your python file, a new dialog box will open up at the bottom, and you will find your string printed there i.e. my world, my rules.
• Here’s the screenshot of our first Python code in Pycharm:

• So, we have successfully executed our first Python code in PyCharm.

So, that was all for today. I hope now you have a better understanding of what python is and why its so popular. If you have any questions, please feel free to as kin comments. In the next lecture, we will have a look at datatypes in python. Till then take care and have fun !!!

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