© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

Contents

1. Getting Started
a. What is Python? 3
b. What is a programming language? 3
c. Downloading & installing IDLE 4
d. My first Python program 5
e. Python Shell vs Python Script 5
f. How to run my Python program? 6

2. Chapter 1: Variables
a. What are variables? 9
b. Get the value of a variable 10
c. Comments 10
d. Update the value of a variable 11
e. Why do we use variables? 11
f. Mathematical operators 12
g. Strings 13
h. String concatenation 14
i. String indexing 15
j. Data types 16
k. Type casting 16
l. Exercise 17

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018 1

 Contents

3. Chapter 2: For-Loop
a. What is a for loop? 20
b. Breakdown (for loop) 21
c. Nested for loop 22
d. Breakdown (nested for loop) 23
e. Exercise 24

4. Chapter 3: While Loop

a. What is a while loop? 27
b. Breakdown (while loop) 28
c. Comparison operators 29
d. Logical operators 29
e. Examples 30
f. Exercise 31

5. Chapter 4: If-Else and Switch

a. What is an if-else statement? 35
b. Breakdown (if statement) 36
c. What is a switch statement? 37
d. Exercise 38

6. Python Syntax Cheat Sheet 41

7. Answer Sheet 42

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Getting Started
What is Python?
Python is a programming language that some of the most
popular websites in the world are built with. This includes
YouTube, Reddit, Spotify and Pinterest. It has also been used to
develop Dropbox and many services, softwares and components
of Google.

Web Development Data Analytics Robotics

Err.. what is programming language?

Just like humans use languages to speak with one another,
computers use programming languages to communicate with
other computers. Python is one of the languages commonly used
to do this.

Human language Computer language

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Getting Started
Download

1. Go to https://www.python.org/downloads/
2. Download Python 3. The first number determines the main
version. (version 3.6.4 is the latest version at the time of writing).

Install
1. Run the installation file which has been downloaded.
2. Click “Continue”
3. Accept the software license agreement.
4. You may customise or accept the default installation folder. If
unsure, just accept the default settings.
5. Installation should begin. Please wait for a few minutes.
6. Voila! You are now ready to program some Python code.

Opening IDLE

Below are the shortcuts to find IDLE.

Windows Macintosh OS
1. Go to Start button. 1. Press cmd + space
2. Type “IDLE” in the “Search 2. Type “IDLE”
programs and files textbox”.

IDLE is an Integrated DeveLopment Environment designed to

provide us with an environment to edit code, and fix bugs.

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Getting Started
My first Python Program
We’re going to write our very first
Python program that will display
“Ahoy Matey” when run.

Ready? Let’s go!

After you have opened IDLE, you

will see the window beside.

Python Shell vs Python Script

Python shell is often used to write short codes to check its output.
If you are planning to write longer codes, programmers usually
use script to do that. Once you run the script, the output will be
displayed in the Python shell. To keep things simple, we will write
all of our Python code in script, not shell.

Python Shell Python Script

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Getting Started
How to run my Python program?

1. Opening a Python Script

In the Python shell,
Windows: Press Ctrl + N
Mac: Press Cmd + N

2. Writing Code
Type the following code:
print (“Ahoy Matey”)

3. Saving your Python Script

Windows: Press Ctrl + S.
Mac: Press Cmd + S.
Save it in any folder that you like.
Just remember where you have saved
Note: Throughout this
it and give it a meaningful name
guide, you will need to
because you will create many scripts.
save your python file
before running it.
4. Running your Python script
Press F5.
In some laptops, you may need to
press the ‘fn’ key along with the F5
key.

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Getting Started
Seeing your result
This window should appear. “Ahoy, matey!” is printed in the shell.
As you can see, you can use print() to show text. Just remember
to use quotes "" to enclose the text.

Let’s keep
moving
Congratulations forward!
! You just learnt
to write your first
line of code.

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018 7

Variables
What are variables?
A variable acts like a container that stores data. For example, we
can use a variable to represent the number of crew members in a
ship. Below is a ship with 10 potatoes. Create a variable called
“crew” by typing “int crew = 10”. “crew” is the variable name, and
10 is the value that it stores. More examples ahead.

In Potato Pirates In Python

crew = 10

In Python, we need 2 components to initialise a variable.

Variable name
Every variable is identified with a name. This name can be
anything you want as long as it’s not a keyword that is
reserved in Python for some built-in functions.

crew = 10

Value
The value stored in this variable “crew” is 10.
Later on, you will see that we can store other
types of values instead of just numbers.
© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018 9
Variables
Get the value of a variable
After storing a value in a variable we can retrieve it by “calling” its
name. The code below demonstrates how to retrieve a value stored
in a variable.

Python Code:
crew = 10 # Set variable “crew” as 10
print(crew) # print the value of “crew”

Psst.. # is a symbol for

comments in Python.

Shell:

Comments ( # symbol )
A comment is a programmer-readable explanation which is usually
used to explain the meaning of certain lines of code. Words
appearing after # will be ignored by the computer. Very useful!

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018 10

Variables
Updating the value of a variable
When you play a Potato King card, you get 2 more potatoes. How
do we increase the value of crew by 2? See below.

crew = 10 # Set variable “crew” as 10

crew = crew + 2 # Increase the value of “crew” by 2
print(crew) # print the value of “crew”

Why do we use variables?

Data is constantly changing. To handle all these changes, the value
needs to be stored in an entity, which can then be modified. For
example, the number of potatoes on a ship keeps changing as we
play the game. We use variables to keep track of all these numbers.

10 crew 6 crew 3 crew

You may start with 10... ..and end up with 3

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Variables
Mathematical Operators
When writing code, BODMAS order of operations still apply. If
you’ve forgotten your BODMAS rules this could help jog your
memory:

Brackets: ( ) Division: / Addition: +

BODMAS
Order Multiplication: * Subtraction: -

Modulo Operator (%)

There is also the modulo (or remainder) operator: %. It returns the
remainder when the number to its left is divided by the number to
its right, for e.g. 9 % 2 = 1

Can you guess the answer? 4) 17

3) 6
1) (4+3)-2 My Prediction: Python Returns __ 2) 81
2) (27*9)/3 My Prediction: Python Returns __ 1) 5
3) 27%(3+4) My Prediction: Python Returns __ Answer
4) 51/(13%10) My Prediction: Python Returns __

Try your best to answer these

questions without coding them

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Variables
Strings
The word ‘string’ is really just a fancy word for a string of letters.
To let the computer know that you’re using a string, put your
letters within quotation marks ("").
Try running the code below on IDLE:

Python Code:
control1 = "for 3 times, " # Create variable “control1”
action1 = "roast" # Create variable “action1”
print(control1) # print the value of control1
print(action1) # print the value of action1

Console:

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Variables
String concatenation
Concatenation? It is just another fancy word for joining strings
together (programmers really love making things sound fancy). To
join strings together, we use the ‘+’ operator. See the third line.

Python Code:

control1 = "for 3 times, " # Create variable “control1”

action1 = "roast" # Create variable “action1”
finalwords = control1 + action1 # Concatenate control1 and action1
print(finalwords) # print the concatenated string

Console:

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Variables
String indexing
Let’s say we have a variable named “bar” storing “POTATO” and
we want to get the letter ‘A’ from this string. We first need to
figure out the position (i.e. index) of ‘A’. If you think the index is 4,
you’re on the right track, but there’s a small catch… The index is 3,
not 4. This is because the first index starts from 0, not 1.

Note: foo and bar are just variable names. They don’t mean anything.

bar = “POTATO”
0 1 2 3 4 5

Let’s extract the letter ‘A’. Below is the Python code to extract it.

Python Code:
bar = "POTATO" # Create variable “bar”
foo = bar[3] # Get the letter ‘A’
print(foo) # print the concatenated string

Console:

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Variables
Data types
There are many different data types in programming like integers,
strings, double, floats, arrays, tuples, bytes and etc which can be
stored as values in variables. We’ll only be focusing on integers and
string for this learning resource.

Data Type

Integer Lists

String Dictionaries

Character Tuples

Boolean ..and many more

Type casting
Python includes methods to convert from one data type to another.
Run the code below on IDLE to convert.
Convert Integer to String
x = 3 # Create variable “x” that stores the integer 3
x_str = str(x) # Converts x from integer to string
print(x_str + " potatoes") # prints the concatenated string
# The final result should print “3 potatoes”

Convert String to Integer

x = "3" # Create variable “x” that stores the string 3
x_int = int(x) # Converts x from string to integer
print(x_int + 2) # prints the integer
# The final result should print 5

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Variables (Exercise)
Getting & Updating Variable

1. Initialise a variable “x” with value 10. Then, add 5 to it.

The final value of x will print 15.
2. Initialise a variable “a” with value 10. Then, divide it by 2.
The final value of “a” will print 5.
3. Initialise a variable “b” with value 12. Then, divide it by 3 &
save the remainder. The final value of “b” will print 0.

Mathematical Operators (Predict the answer without using a computer)

k = 20 + 10 * 20 -20
print(k)
k = ___

z = 100 % 49
print(z)
z = ___

x = 5
x = x + 1
print(x) x = ___
y = x + 10
y = 2*x + 1
print(y) y = ___

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Variables (Exercise)
String Concatenation & Indexing

1) a = "Hello, ", b = "Potato King". Concatenate both strings

and print out "Hello, Potato King".

2) word1 = "POTATO PIRATES". Get the letter ‘S’ from

word1.

Data Types

1) x = "10". Convert x to an integer, and add 20 into it. You

should get 30.
2) y = 7. Convert y into a string and print “7 Potato Kings”.

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For Loop
What is a for loop?
Suppose you wanted to print the word “Mash” 1000 times. How
would you do it? You can write print “Mash” 1000 times but that
would be a little silly. Thankfully, for loops are here to help! For
loops make repetitive tasks very easy to perform. Let’s see how they
are used in Python.

In Potato Pirates In Python

for i in range(0,3,1):
print("Mash")

Type this out in IDLE and see what it does. When you’re done,
let’s take a closer look at each part of the control statement.

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For Loop
Breakdown (for loop)
Let’s take a closer look at the structure of a for loop.

variable start stop step

for i in range(0,1000,1):
Legend
The letter ‘i’ is a variable that we use to represent data in the range function.
Start: When the loop starts, ‘i’ will carry this value
Stop: The loop ends if ‘i’ is more than or equal to this value
Step: Change ‘i’ by this value from one iteration to the next

Below shows the process of how a for loop will work. On the first
iteration, the variable “i” will carry the value of 0. On the next
iteration, it will increase by 1. The iteration continues until the
condition is no longer met.

Iteration Value of i

1st 0 Do you know?

The step can hold
2nd 1 negative values

3rd 2

.. ...

1000th 999

Loop terminates when the

variable “i” is more than or
equal to 1000

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For Loop
Nested for loop
While playing Potato Pirates, did you try stacking several for loop
cards on top of each other? You can do the same in Python as well
by placing for loops into other for loops.

In Potato Pirates In Python

for i in range(0,3,1):
for j in range(0,3,1):
print("Fry")

Loop-ception.
What a beauty!

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For Loop
Breakdown (nested for loop)
Let’s take a closer look

Inner Loop
for i in range(0,3,1):
for j in range(0,3,1):
print("Fry")

Outer Loop
for i in range(0,3,1):
for j in range(0,3,1):
print("Fry")

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For Loop (Exercise)
Basic Questions

1) Generate the following sequence of number: 1,2,3,...,100.

2) Generate the following sequence of number: 3,4,..,20.

Convert Potato Pirates to Python

1) An enemy ship has 10 potato crew. You

attack it with the cards on the left. Show that
the remaining potato crew is 8.

2) The variable y represents the number of

ships you have. You have 2 ships, and the
enemy has 30 potato crew. Show that the
enemy is left with 12 potato crew after the
attack on the left.

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For Loop (Exercise)
Convert Potato Pirates to Python

3) An enemy has 10 potato crew members. It

was attacked by the card deck on the left,
and it has 4 potatoes left. How many cards
does the enemy have?

4) Fill in the blank such that the code below

will perform the code shown on the cards.

Code:
for i in range(5, __, 5):
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 1

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While Loop
What is a while loop?
Unlike for loop which repeats based on some numbers, a while
loop repeats based on a condition. The loop will repeatedly
execute its action until the stated condition becomes false. Let’s
find out how they are used.

In Potato Pirates In Python

while (crew > 4):

print("Mash")

Type this out in IDLE and see what it does. Remember to

declare the variable “crew” first. You can state crew = 10. When
you’re done, let’s take a closer look at each part of the control
statement.

*Note: To force terminate the program, press Ctrl + C

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

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While Loop
Breakdown (while loop)
Let’s take a closer look at the structure of a while loop.
condition

while (crew > 4):

A boolean expression is one which can either take a True or False value. The
condition check of “crew > 4” returns a boolean value. The while loop will
stop running when the value returned by the condition check is false.

Below shows the process of how a while loop will work. Assuming
the enemy begins with 7 crew members. On the first iteration,
while loop will check if the crew is greater than 4. Since 7 > 4 is
true, it will execute Mash to reduce the crew by 2. On the next
iteration, the Mash action will run again as 5 > 4. Finally, it stops at
the third iteration as 3 > 4 is false.

crew = 7 # Create a variable with value 7

while (crew > 4) : # While the crew is less than 4
crew = crew - 2 # Minus 2 from crew

print(crew) # Print the final value of crew

Iteration Value of crew Is crew > 4? Action

1st 7 TRUE Reduce crew by 2

2nd 5 TRUE Reduce crew by 2

3rd 3 FALSE NA

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

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While Loop
Comparison Operators
Comparison operators are used to compare 2 objects which either
return ‘true’ or ‘false’ (also known as booleans). It’s very useful.

Comparison Operators Quick Examples

Equal to == Expression Output

Not equal != 1 == 1 TRUE

Less than < 1 != 1 FALSE

Greater than > 3<4 TRUE

Less than or equal <= 1 > 10 FALSE

to
5 <= 5 TRUE
Greater than or >=
equal to 8 >= 10 FALSE

Logical Operators
Logical operators are typically used with boolean values. When
they are, they return a boolean value. Below are some examples.

Logical Operators Quick Examples

AND and A B A AND B A OR B

OR or TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE

NOT ! TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE

FALSE TRUE FALSE TRUE

FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

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While Loop
Examples
Below are some examples of how comparison and logical operators
are used in Python.

Python Code:

crew1 = 3
crew2 = 5
isDead = False

print(crew1 == 3)
print(crew2 <= 2)
print(crew1 > crew2)
print(crew1 > crew2 and crew2 == 5)
print(crew1 > crew2 or crew2 == 5)
print(not isDead)

Console:

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

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While Loop (Exercise)
Basic Questions

1) Generate this sequence of numbers with while loop: 10,9,...,1.

2) Generate this sequence of numbers with while loop: 10,9,..,5.

Predict the result (Do this without a computer)

crew = 20
while (crew >= 8):
crew = crew - 1
print(crew)
crew = ___

crew = 20
while (crew == 10):
crew = crew - 1
print(crew)
crew = ___

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

31
While Loop (Exercise)
Convert Potato Pirates to Python

1) An enemy ship has 10 potato crew

members. You attack it with the card stack
shown on the left. Show that the enemy is
left with 4 potato crew after the attack.

2) An enemy ship has 20 potato crew

members. You attack it with the card stack
shown on the left. Show that the enemy is
left with 2 potato crew.

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

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While Loop (Exercise)
Convert Potato Pirates to Python

This is the
enemy

A B C

3) Which card stack can deal the highest damage to the enemy?
Code all 3 card stacks in Python.

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33
If-Else and Switch
What is an if-else statement?
If-else statements help us write programs that can make decisions!
We use if-else statements everyday in our lives: “If you are tired; go
to sleep, or else, continue working”, “If you are hungry, eat; or else
skip a meal”. Can you think of one more?

In Potato Pirates In Python

if (crew <= 4):

print("Fry")
else:
print("Mash")

Type the code out in IDLE and see what it does. Remember to
declare the variable “crew”. When you’re done, let’s take a closer
look at the if statement.

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

35
If-Else and Switch
Breakdown (if statement)
Let’s take a closer look at the structure of an if-else statement.
condition

if (crew <= 4):

if (crew <= 4):

# code A
else:
# code B

Legend
Condition: A boolean expression. It will return True or False

Similar to while loops, if statements will execute an action based

on a condition. If a condition is True, it will run code A; else it
will run code B. It’s that simple. However, if-else statements differ
from while loops; they only run once.

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

36
If-Else and Switch
What is a switch statement?
Remember switch cards from Potato Pirates? Unfortunately,
python doesn’t have a switch statement. However, we can make use
of if-elif-else statements to execute similar functions! If-elif-else
statements allow us to check for additional conditions between if
and else. If the elif condition is True, the associated action will be
run. Let’s try to convert our switch card to python code!

In Potato Pirates

Get a new ship and a potato

Pick a card from the discard pile

Draw 3 cards

In Python
crew = 2

if (crew == 1):
print("get a new ship and a potato")
elif (crew == 2):
print("pick a card from the discard pile")
elif (crew == 3):
print("draw 3 cards")
else:
print("you get nothing")

NOTE: The conditions will be checked in order and only the first true statement will
be run!
© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018
37
If-Else and Switch (Exercise)
Convert Potato Pirates to Python

1) An enemy ship has 10 potato crew

members. You attacked it with the
cards shown on the left. Show that
the enemy is left with 7 potatoes.

2) An enemy ship has 10 potato crew

members. You attacked it with the
cards on the left. Show that the
enemy is left with 6 potatoes.

*Let’s relax the “max 3 cards in

your hand” rule for a while

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

38
If-Else and Switch (Exercise)
Convert Potato Pirates to Python

3) Create an if-elif-else statement with the following terms.

1 Potato : Print(“I am dying!”)
2 Potatoes: Print(“Am I dying?”)
3 Potatoes: Print(“I am an unlucky pirate”)
4 Potatoes: Print(“I shall not give up!”)
5 or more Potatoes: Print (“There’s nothing to worry about”)

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

39
 Python Syntax Cheat Sheet
Initialising Variable Update the value of variable

crew = 10 crew = 10
name = “PotatoPirates” crew = crew + 2
print (crew)

String Concatenation String Indexing

first = “Potato” name = “PotatoKing”

last = “Pirates” letterK = name[6]
print (first + last) print (letterK)

Type Casting (int to str) Type Casting (str to int)

var = 10 var = “10”
var_str = str(var) var_int = int(var)
print (var_str) print (var_int)

For Loop If-elif-else

for i in range(0,10,1): if (crew > 4):

# action #action A
elif (crew < 2):
#action B
While Loop else:
#action C
while (crew > 4):
# action

Comparison Operators Arithmetic Operators Logical Operators

Expression In Python Expression In Python Expression In Python

Equal == Add +
And and
Not equal != Subtract -
Or or
Less than < Multiply *
Not not
Greater than > Divide /

Less than or equal <= Remainder %

More than or equal >=

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

41
 Answer Sheet for Exercises
Variables

Getting & Updating Variable

1. 2. 3.
x = 10 a = 10 b = 12
x = x + 5 a = a / 2 b = b % 3
print(x) print(a) print(b)

Mathematical Operators (Predict the answer without computer)

k=200, z=2, x=6 , y=13

String Concatenation & Indexing

1. 2.
a = "Hello " word1 = "POTATO PIRATES"
b = "Potato King" s_letter = word1[13]
print(a+b) print(s_letter)

Data Types
1.
x = "10"
x_int = int(x)
print(x_int + 20)

2.
y = 7
y_str = str(y)
print(y_str + " Potato Kings")

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

42
 Answer Sheet for Exercises
For loop

Basic Questions

1. 2.
for i in range(1,101,1): for i in range(3,21,1):
print(i) print(i)

Convert Potato Pirates to Python

1.
enemy_crew = 10
for i in range(0,2,1):
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 1

print(enemy_crew)

2.
y = 2
enemy_crew = 30
for i in range(0,3,1):
for j in range(0,y,1):
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 3

print(enemy_crew)

3. 3
4. 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

43
 Answer Sheet for Exercises
While loop

Basic Questions
1. 2.
crew = 10 crew = 10
while (crew >= 1): while (crew >= 5):
print(crew) print(crew)
crew = crew - 1 crew = crew - 1

Predict the result (Do this without computer)

1. crew = 7 2. crew = 20

Convert Potato Pirates to Python

1. 2.
enemy_crew = 10 enemy_crew = 20
while (enemy_crew > 4): while (enemy_crew > 4):
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 2 for i in range(0,3,1):
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 2
print(enemy_crew)
print(enemy_crew)

3a. 3b.
crew = 16 crew = 16
while (crew > 5): for i in range(0,3,1):
crew = crew - 3 crew = crew - 3

print(crew) print(crew)

3c. Card deck A deals the highest

crew = 16 damage.
for i in range(0,3,1):
while (crew > 5):
crew = crew - 1

print(crew)

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

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 Answer Sheet for Exercises
If-else

Convert Potato Pirates to Python

1.
enemy_crew = 10

if (enemy_crew <= 5):

enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 2
else:
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 3

print(enemy_crew)

2.
enemy_crew = 10

if (enemy_crew <= 5):

for i in range(0,2,1):
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 3

else:
while (enemy_crew > 6):
enemy_crew = enemy_crew - 2

print(enemy_crew)

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

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 Answer Sheet for Exercises
If-else

Convert Potato Pirates to Python

1.
crew = 10

if (crew == 1):
print("I am dying!")
elif (crew == 2):
print("Am I dying?")
elif (crew == 3):
print("I am an unlucky pirate")
elif (crew == 4):
print("I shall not give up!")
else:
print("There's nothing to worry about")

© Copyright Codomo Pte Ltd 2018

46