Chap 1.

Basic Information

TS. Trần Vũ Hoàng

 Outlines
• Software Development Process
• Elements of Programs
• Basic Assignments
• Python Object Types
 Software Development Process
• The process of creating a program is often broken down into stages
according to the information that is produced in each phase.
• Analyze the Problem
• Determine Specifications
• Create a Design
• Implement the Design
• Test/Debug the Program
• Maintain the Program
 Software Development Process
• Analyze the Problem
• Figure out exactly the problem to be solved. Try to understand it as much
as possible.
• Temperature Converter Example: the temperature is given in Celsius, user
wants it expressed in degrees Fahrenheit.
• Determine Specifications
• Describe exactly what your program will do.
• Don’t worry about how the program will work, but what it will do.
• Includes describing the inputs, outputs, and how they relate to one another.
• Temperature Converter Example :
• Input – temperature in Celsius
• Output – temperature in Fahrenheit
• Output = 9/5(input) + 32
 Software Development Process
• Create a Design
• Formulate the overall structure of the program.
• This is where the how of the program gets worked out.
• You choose or develop your own algorithm that meets the specifications.
• Temperature Converter Example:
• Input, Process, Output (IPO)
• Prompt the user for input (Celsius temperature)
• Process it to convert it to Fahrenheit using F = 9/5(C) + 32
• Output the result by displaying it on the screen
 Software Development Process
• Implement the Design
• Translate the design into a computer language.
• In this course we will use Python.
• Temperature Converter Example:
• Before we start coding, let’s write a rough draft of the program in
pseudocode
• Pseudocode is precise English that describes what a program does, step
by step.
• Using pseudocode, we can concentrate on the algorithm rather than the
programming language.
 Software Development Process
• Pseudocode:
• Input the temperature in degrees Celsius (call it celsius)
• Calculate Fahrenheit as (9/5)*celsius+32
• Output Fahrenheit
• Now we need to convert this to Python!
#convert.py
# A program to convert Celsius temps to Fahrenheit
# by: Susan Computewell
def main():
celsius = eval(input("What is the Celsius temperature? "))
fahrenheit = (9/5) * celsius + 32
print("The temperature is ",fahrenheit," degrees Fahrenheit.")
main()
 Software Development Process
• Test/Debug the Program
• Try out your program to see if it worked.
• If there are any errors (bugs), they need to be located and fixed. This process is called
debugging.
• Your goal is to find errors, so try everything that might “break” your program!
• Temperature Converter Example:
• Once we write a program, we should test it!
>>>
What is the Celsius temperature? 0
The temperature is 32.0 degrees Fahrenheit.
>>> main()
What is the Celsius temperature? 100
The temperature is 212.0 degrees Fahrenheit.
>>> main()
What is the Celsius temperature? -40
The temperature is -40.0 degrees Fahrenheit.
>>>
 Software Development Process
• Maintain the Program
• Continue developing the program in response to the needs of your users.
• In the real world, most programs are never completely finished – they
evolve over time.
• Example:
• convert more units of measurement
•…
 Outlines
• Software Development Process
• Elements of Programs
• Basic Assignments
• Python Object Types
 Elements of Programs
• Names
• Expressions
• Output Statements
 Elements of Programs
• Names
• Names are given to variables (celsius, fahrenheit), modules (main,
convert), etc.
• These names are called identifiers
• Every identifier must begin with a letter or underscore (“_”), followed by
any sequence of letters, digits, or underscores.
• Identifiers are case sensitive.
• Spam
• spam
• Some identifiers are part of Python itself. This means they are not
available for you to use as a name for a variable
• and, del, for, is, raise, assert, elif, in, print, etc.
 Elements of Programs
• Expressions
• The fragments of code that produce or calculate new data values are
called expressions.
• Literals are used to represent a specific value, e.g. 3.9, 1, 1.0
• Simple identifiers can also be expressions.
>>> x = 5
>>> x
5
>>> print(x)
5
>>> print(spam)

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#15>", line 1, in -toplevel-
print spam
NameError: name 'spam' is not defined
>>>
 Elements of Programs
• Expressions
• Simpler expressions can be combined using operators.
• +, -, *, /, **
• Spaces are irrelevant within an expression.
• The normal mathematical precedence applies.
• ((x1 – x2) / 2*n) + (spam / k**3)
 Elements of Programs
• Output Statements
• A print statement can print any number of expressions.
• Successive print statements will display on separate lines.
• A bare print will print a blank line.
print(3+4) 7
print(3, 4, 3+4) 347
print()
print(3, 4, end=" "),
347
print(3 + 4)
print("The answer is", 3+4) The answer is 7
 Outlines
• Software Development Process
• Elements of Programs
• Basic Assignments
• Python Object Types
 Assignment Statements
• Simple Assignment
• <variable> = <expr>
variable is an identifier, expr is an expression
• The expression on the RHS is evaluated to produce a value which is then
associated with the variable named on the LHS.
• Example:
• x = 3.9 * x * (1-x)
• fahrenheit = 9/5 * celsius + 32
• x=5
 Assignment Statements
• Variables can be reassigned as many times as you want!
>>> myVar = 0
>>> myVar
0
>>> myVar = 7
>>> myVar
7
>>> myVar = myVar + 1
>>> myVar
8
>>>
 Assignment Statements
• Variables are like a box we can put values in.
• When a variable changes, the old value is erased and a new one is written in.

• Python doesn't overwrite these memory locations (boxes).

• Assigning a variable is more like putting a “sticky note” on a value and
saying, “this is x”.
 Assigning Input
• The purpose of an input statement is to get input from the user and store it
into a variable.
• <variable> = eval(input(<prompt>))
• First the prompt is printed
• The input part waits for the user to enter a value and press <enter>
• The expression that was entered is evaluated to turn it from a string of characters
into a Python value (a number).
• The value is assigned to the variable.
 Simultaneous Assignment
• Several values can be calculated at the same time
• <var>, <var>, … = <expr>, <expr>, …
• Evaluate the expressions in the RHS and assign them to the variables on the LHS
• sum, diff = x+y, x-y
• How could you use this to swap the values for x and y?
• Why doesn’t this work?
x=y
y=x
• We could use a temporary variable…
 Simultaneous Assignment
• We can swap the values of two variables quite easily in Python!
• x, y = y, x
>>> x = 3
>>> y = 4
>>> print x, y
34
>>> x, y = y, x
>>> print x, y
43
 Simultaneous Assignment
• We can use this same idea to input multiple variables from a single input
statement!
• Use commas to separate the inputs
def spamneggs():
spam, eggs = eval(input("Enter # of slices of spam followed by # of eggs: "))
print ("You ordered", eggs, "eggs and", spam, "slices of spam. Yum!“)

>>> spamneggs()
Enter the number of slices of spam followed by the number of eggs: 3, 2
You ordered 2 eggs and 3 slices of spam. Yum!
>>>
 Outlines
• Software Development Process
• Elements of Programs
• Basic Assignments
• Python’s Core Data Types
Python’s Core Data Types
 Numbers
• Python’s core objects set includes the usual suspects
• Integers: numbers without a fractional part
• floating-point numbers: roughly, numbers with a decimal point in them
• complex numbers: with imaginary parts
• fixed-precision decimals
• rational fractions with numerator and denominator
• ...
• Numbers in Python support the normal mathematical operations
• plus sign (+) performs addition
• a star (*) is used for multiplication
• two stars (**) are used for exponentiation
• -, \ …
 Numbers
• Besides expressions, there are a handful of useful numeric modules that ship
with Python
• Math module: contains advanced numeric tools as functions
• Random module: performs random number generation and random selections
•…
 Strings
• strings are sequences of one-character strings
• we can verify string’s length with the built-in len function

• And fetch its components with indexing expressions

• In Python, indexes start from 0: the first item is at index 0, the second is at
index 1, and so on.
 Strings
• we can also index backward, from the end
• positive indexes count from the left
• negative indexes count back from the right:

• extract an entire section (slice) in a single step

 Strings
• Their general form, X[I:J], means “give me everything in X from offset I up
to but not including offset J.”
 Strings
• strings also support:
• concatenation with the plus sign (joining two strings into a new string)
• repetition (making a new string by repeating another)
 Strings
• strings are immutable in Python—they cannot be changed in-place after they
are created
• you can’t change a string by assigning to one of its positions
• but you can always build a new one and assign it to the same name
 Strings
Type-Specific Methods
• strings also have operations all their own, available as methods—functions
attached to the object, which are triggered with a call expression
• the string find method: substring search operation, returns the offset of the passed-in
substring, or −1 if it is not present

• the string replace method performs global searches and replacements

 Strings
Type-Specific Methods
• split a string into substrings on a delimiter

• upper: perform case conversions

• test the content of the string (digits, letters, and so on)

• strip whitespace characters off the ends of the string

 Strings
Type-Specific Methods
• Strings also support an advanced substitution operation known as formatting,
available as both an expression (the original) and a string method call
 String
Getting Help
• dir function: returns a list of all the attributes available for a given object
 String
Getting Help
• help function: ask what the method do
 String
Other Ways to Code Strings
• Python also provides a variety of ways for us to code strings
• special characters can be represented as backslash escape sequences:
 String
Other Ways to Code Strings
• Python allows strings to be enclosed in single or double quote characters
• It also allows multiline string literals enclosed in triple quotes (single or
double)
• all the lines are concatenated together
• end-of-line characters are added where line breaks appear
 String
Pattern Matching
• import a module called re: do pattern matching in Python
• search for a substring that begins with the word “Hello”, followed by zero or more
tabs or spaces, followed by arbitrary characters to be saved as a matched group,
terminated by the word “world”

• picks out three groups separated by slashes

 Lists
• Lists are positionally ordered collections of arbitrarily typed objects
• They have no fixed size
• They are also mutable: can be modified

• we can index, slice, and so on, just as for strings:

 Lists
Type-Specific Operations
• Lists have no fixed size: can grow and shrink on demand
• append method: expands the list’s size and inserts an item at the end
• pop method (or an equivalent del statement): removes an item at a given offset
• insert method: insert an item at an arbitrary position
• remove method: remove a given item by value
 Lists
Type-Specific Operations
• sort method: orders the list in ascending fashion by default
• reverse method: reverses it—in both cases
 Lists
Nesting
• we can have a list that contains a dictionary, which contains another list, and
so on)

• M represent a 3 × 3 matrix of numbers. Such a structure can be accessed in a

variety of ways:
 Lists
Comprehensions
• It’s easy to grab rows by simple indexing because the matrix is stored by
rows, but it’s almost as easy to get a column with a list comprehension:

• List comprehensions can be more complex in practice:

 Lists
Comprehensions
• they can be used to iterate over any iterable object:

• create generators that produce results on demand

 Lists
Comprehensions
• The map built-in can do similar work:

• comprehension syntax can also be used to create sets and dictionaries:

• In fact, lists, sets, and dictionaries can all be built with comprehensions
 Dictionaries
• Python dictionaries are not sequences at all, but are instead known as
mappings
• collections of other objects
• store objects by key instead of by relative position
• simply map keys to associated values
• Dictionaries are also mutable
• dictionaries
• are coded in curly braces
• consist of a series of “key: value” pairs
 Dictionaries
Mapping Operations
• We can index this dictionary by key

• We can build up dictionaries

in different way:
 Dictionaries
Nesting Revisited
• the values can become more complex: a nested dictionaries

• We can access the components of this structure much as we did for our
matrix
 Dictionaries
Sorting Keys: for Loops
• dictionaries are not sequences, they don’t maintain any dependable left-to-
right order
• if we make a dictionary and print it back, its keys may come back in a
different order than that in which we typed them:
 Dictionaries
Sorting Keys: for Loops
• What do we do, though, if we do need to impose an ordering on a
dictionary’s items?
 Dictionaries
Sorting Keys: for Loops
• We also can use newer sorted built-in function
 Dictionaries
Missing Keys: if Tests
• We can test if the key is in the dictionary:
 Tuples
• roughly like a list that cannot be changed
• tuples are sequences, like lists,
• but they are immutable, like strings
 Tuples
• Tuples also have two type-specific callable methods

• Like lists and dictionaries, tuples support mixed types and nesting, but they
don’t grow and shrink because they are immutable
 Why Tuples?
• their immutability is the whole point
• If you pass a collection of objects around your program as a list, it can be
changed anywhere; if you use a tuple, it cannot
 Files
• file objects are Python code’s main interface to external files on your
computer
• call the built-in open function: to create a file object
• pass in its name and the 'w' processing mode string to write data
 Files
• To read back what you just wrote
• reopen the file in 'r' processing mode
• read the file’s content into a string, and display it
• A file’s contents are always a string in your script
 Files
• if you want a quick preview file object methods, run a dir call on any open
file and a help on any of the method names
 Other Core Types
• Sets: unordered
collections of
unique and
immutable objects
• created by
calling the built-
in set function
• or using set
literals and
expressions
• support the usual
mathematical set
operations
 Other Core Types
• decimal numbers: fixed- precision floating-point numbers
• fraction numbers: rational numbers with both a numerator and a denominator
 Other Core Types
• Booleans: True and False objects
• None: used to initialize names and objects
 User-Defined Classes
• classes define new types of objects that extend the core set
• you wish to have a type of object that models employees

• Worker class has name and pay attributes and two functions: lastName and
giveRaise
 User-Defined Classes
• Calling the class like a function generates instances of our new type