Learning Python Programming

Learning Python Programming

is a high-level natural and general-purpose programming language developed by Guido van Rossum that is used for web development, data analysis, game building and scientific computing. It has been in use since the late 1990s and was first introduced to the public in 1991. The name comes from Greek, “Python” meaning snake or serpent (which is an allusion to its usage as a scripting language). A python program consists of blocks called lines (or sentences) with variables which can be assigned values and functions, and operators which add, subtract and copy elements. Python supports object-oriented, procedural programming and dynamic typing. Some of the main uses are web development, science and engineering, statistical modeling, database design and optimization. Although it has been around since the 1960s, the popularity of python grew during the last decade, because the rise of demand for fast and easy-to-use software tools due to technological advancements and growing competition between organizations through the internet. As a result, many companies now offer courses to help companies improve their skills and knowledge in python. In this article, we will discuss python concepts.

Python Basics

Object Oriented Programming

Object-oriented programming or OOP is a computer programming paradigm where objects, instead of programs, exist independently of each other. Objects are self-contained entities that make up objects and represent the data that they contain. They are also called abstractions in programming. This means that we cannot change or change anything about our objects. For instance, if you want to get information about the weather outside your house, then you do not actually need to know how the system works, but instead, you can simply focus on the weather outside your house, which doesn’t affect everything else. Object-oriented languages are designed to work well with one another and therefore it is important to understand them before getting into more complex ones. An example of an OOP is Java, which is a very similar language, but they both focus on representing objects.

Data Types

Data types are sets of data that describes the physical properties or characteristics of something. They allow us to refer to data like they represent real people, animals, etc., instead of just numbers. One of the most common data types is string, which means that there are only two characters. We can define this as strings are composed of two characters, the first is the first character, and the second is the second character with the following formatting: {first} {second}. If the first character is a period, then the second character will come after it, so we must enclose them using {}, for example {a}. Another common data type is float. The float function returns floating point number for any value you input. Floating-point numbers are represented in decimal fractions, so 2.5 would equal 2.2. There are several others. Many programmers use integers to store the values that you expect, such as true, false, 0, 1, etc. Float values are stored in fixed precision and are more suited for small-scale computations like counting or solving math problems. When working with large-scale calculations, integers may become inaccurate. You should always convert your numeric data to floats. You can use decimals too, but their accuracy may skew. You can learn more here.

Variables

Variables can be defined to hold the values that are assigned to these variables. Variables are the key to coding. Without them, we cannot run our code. To start writing your code, you must define your data types, variables, and the conditions which are needed to run the code. For instance, let’s say you have a list, that contains different lists of items: item1, item2, …. You would always have a variable for every single item in the list, and when the code wants to execute some task that requires the whole list to be changed, you would add the variable to the condition statement. Now you will want to get rid of some of those variables because you don't need them anymore. This step makes your code cleaner and easier to read, and easier to maintain.

Lists

Lists are ordered collections of data objects. Lists have indexes, meaning that we can use them to access our specific elements in the list. Each index of a list represents a single item of the collection in the order in which it appears in the list. However, indexes are not unique in a list. Therefore, some indexes might be larger than others. This means that the same index can have multiple items, which creates sub-lists. By combining pointers with loops, we can create sub-lists of an item. Therefore, we can create new lists from existing lists, which can avoid duplicate elements. By the end of this section, you should have a better understanding of what lists are.