LESSON 1: Python Basics

Topics Covered

How Python works.

Python’s
Th place in the world of programming languages.
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Variables and Python data h o n t
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Simple modules. sa m JA
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Outputting data with print().

Collecting user input.

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The pythons
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Python, which first appeared in 1991, sisaone JA popular programming languages used today. 1 Python
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is a high-level programming language, meaning d! that it uses.
translated by a Python Interpreter into a language your computer can understand. Examples of other popular high-
level programming languages are C#, Objective-C, Java, PHP, and JavaScript. Interestingly, all of these other
languages, unlike Python, share a C-like syntax. If you use one or more of those languages, you may find Python’s
syntax a little strange. But give it a little time. You’ll find it’s quite programmer friendly.
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Getting Familiar
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Python developers need to
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1. Open a terminal. In Visual Studios Code, all you can
JA open a terminal by selecting Terminal from the View menu:
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You canThalso open a terminal by pressing Ctrl+`. The ` key is on the upper left of most keyboards. It looks like
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The terminal will open at the root ofloyour GT
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AP Code workspace. If you’re working in the workspace
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we had you set up, that should be in a Webucator\Python directory (the words folder and directory are
used interchangeably). The prompt on Windows will read something like:

PS C:\Webucator\Python>
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On a Mac, it willmshow
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some combination of your computer name, the directory you are in, and your
username, followed byeloa $ or % sign. For example:
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NatsMac:Python natdunn$ ed re ES
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natdunn@NatsMac:Python % we AP
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2. Use cd to change directories. From the Webucator\Python directory, run:

PS C:\Webucator\Python>
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PS …\Python\python-basics>
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Your prompt now shows that your are in the python-basics directory.
3. Move up to the parent directory by running:

cd ..

You will now be back in your Python directory.

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cd python-basics/Demosa gta gs to
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Your prompt will show that youpiare m Demos
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one or more directories above the Demos ow GT To get the full path to your current location, run pwd for
directory.
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present working directory: ! .

pwd

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On Windows, do that will look something like this:
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Path
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C:\Webucator\Python\python-basics\Demos ow GT
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On a Mac, it will look something like this:

natdunn@NatsMac Demos % pwd

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/Users/natdunn/Documents/Webucator/Python/python-basics/Demos
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5. Run cd .. to back
un uppto the Npython-basics directory.
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6. Type cd De and then press ed thereTab key.
SH On Windows, you should see something like this:
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PS …\Python\python-basics> cd .\Demos\ d! .

The “.” at the beginning of the path represents the current (or present) directory. So, .\Demos refers to the
Demos directory within the current directory. A Mac won’t include the current directory in the path. When you
press Tab,
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cd Demos me
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 Press Enter to run the command. Then run cd .. to move back up to the python-basics directory.

7. Each of our lesson folders will contain Demos, Exercises, and Solutions folders. Some may contain
additional folders. To see the contents of the current directory, run dir on Windows or ls on Mac/Linux: 3

Windows PowerShell
PS …\Python\python-basics> dir
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Directory:n tb
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d----- 2/18/2020 pie f.comAMWAR data
d----- 2/18/2020
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6:13 JA Demos
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d----- 2/18/2020 5:09 AM ! . Exercises
d----- 2/18/2020 6:13 AM Solutions

Mac Terminal
NatsMac:python-basics natdunn$ ls
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Demos his Exercises Solutions data
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No abetween
8. Play with switching
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Visual Studio Shortcut l lo GT
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Visual Studio provides a shortcut for opening a specific directory at the terminal. Simply right-click on the directory
in the Explorer panel and select Open in Terminal:

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Running Python

Python runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other Unix-like systems. The first thing to do is to make
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sure you have is
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1. Open the terminal in beVisual Studio Code.
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2. Run python -V:

PS C:\Webucator\Python> python -V
Python 3.8.1

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If you have Python c3.6
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If you do not have Python No jagt3.6 ors later installed, download it for free at https://www.python.org/downloads.
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After running through the ilka run
auinstaller, LKpython -V at the terminal again to make sure Python installed correctly.
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Python Versions on Macs sa JA
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Your Mac will likely have a version of Python 2 already installed. After you .install Python 3, you may find that running python -V still shows the
Python 2 version. In that case, try running python3 -V. That should output the version of Python 3 that you have. If it does, then you should use
the python3 command instead of the python command to run Python 3.
If you would prefer to be able to use the python command for Python 3 (and who wouldn’t), visit
https://www.webucator.com/blog/2020/02/mapping-python-to-python-3-on-your-mac/ to see how you can map python to
python3.

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Python Interactive
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You can run Python in Interactive Mode by running python at the terminal:
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This will open updothe
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world!”, you would run:ent b
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print('Hello, world!') riz @ ANT
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You can tell that you are at the Python prompt by the three right-angle brackets:

To exit the Python shell, run:

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Running a Python lonFile
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While working at the Python shell ed can SH in some scenarios, you will often be writing Python files, so you can
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save, re-run, and share your code. Let’s pie get omstarted R with a simple “Hello, world!” demo using your editor. We will
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open a script, which is simply a file with a .py l lo GT that contains Python code. After the demonstration, you
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will add another line of code to the script in an exercise. .

Here is the script we are going to run:

Demo 1: python-basics/Demos/hello_world.py
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1. # Say Hello to nt the World
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The print() function simply outputs contentd! either to standard . output (e.g., the terminal) or to a file if specified.

To run this code:

1. Open the terminal at python-basics/Demos.

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Run python
2. do hello_world.py
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3. The “Hello, world!” tmessage
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Here it is in the terminal:

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Right-click and Run cu
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Another way to run a file from
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If you don’t see this option, then you don’t have the Python extension installed.
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Exercise 1: Hello, be
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5 to 10 minutes ed c ediff
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1. Open python-basics/Demos/hello_world.py in your editor.

2. Add the following line after the “Hello, world!” line:

print("Hello
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3. Save your changes. elon
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4. Run the Python file just as you did earlier for the demonstration.

5. The output should look like this:

Hello, world!
Hello again, world!

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Solution: python-basics/Solutions/hello_again_world.py
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3. print("Hello again, world!") we AP
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Code Explanation

The extra line of code will cause a second message to be printed to the standard output.
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When a value is hard No agta into
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marks (i.e., print(Hello)), ze @rewoulddif ESH
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Either single quotes or double quotes can be used ! . string literals. Just make sure that the open and close
to create
quotation marks match.

Literals representing numbers (e.g., 42 and 3.14) are note enclosed in quotation marks.

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Python Comments
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In the previous demo, eyou
nt may have noticed this line of code:
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# Say Hello to the World
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That number sign (or hash or pound sign) indicates ed AP
a comment. Everything that trails it on the same line will be
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ignored.

Multi-line Comments
There is no official syntax for creating multi-line comments; however, Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python,
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tweeted this htip
is as a workaround:
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Multi-line strings are created with triples quotes,
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"""This is a
very very helpful and informative
comment about my code!"""
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Because multi-line strings
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# very very helpful and informativeed! .
# comment about my code!

Data Types
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and what can be done to nt it. For example, an object of the data type integer can be subtracted from another integer,
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In the following list, we showrthe @ data
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1. boolean (bool) – A True or False value. ow GT
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2. integer (int) – A whole number.

3. float (float) – A decimal.

4. string (str) – A sequence of Unicode 5 characters.

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5. list (list) – An cordered
um sequence of objects, similar to an array in other languages.
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6. jag ngs of fixed length, in which an element’s position is meaningful.
tuple (tuple) –NA sequence
7. dictionary (dict) – An unordered grouping of key-value pairs.

8. set (set) – An unordered grouping of values.

We will cover all of these data types in detail.

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Exercise oc2: Exploring Types
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In this exercise, you will use the built-in atype()
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function
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.

1. Open the terminal.

2. Start the Python shell by typing python and then pressing Enter:

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PS …\python-basics\Demos> python
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Python 3.8.1me(tags/v3.8.1:1b293b6,
nt Dec 18 2019, 23:11:46) [MSC v.1916 64 bit
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(AMD64)] on win32 lon
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tap to
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Type "help",
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You are now in the Python shell. ed AP
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3. To check the type of an object, use the type() function. For example, type(3) will return

<class 'int'>:

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>>> type(3)
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4. Find the types of all tho kafollowing:
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C. '3'

D. 'pizza'

E. True
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Solution

When you’re done, the output should appear as follows:

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>>> type('pizza') ow GT
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<class 'str'> ! .

>>> type(True)
<class 'bool'>
>>> type(('1', '2', '3'))
<class 'tuple'>
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>>> type({'1', '2', '3'})
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Don’t worry if you’re not familiar withieall
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Class and Type

You may wonder at Python’s use of the word "class" when outputting a data type. In Python, “class” and “type” mean the same thing.

VariablesT
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Variable Names z ed re ES
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written in all lowercase letters and words in variable d! names . are separated by underscores (e.g., home_address).
Variable names must begin with a letter or an underscore and may contain only letters, digits, and underscores.

Keywords

The followingThlist
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Python Keywords nt bel
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 and del if pass

as elif import raise

assert Th else in return

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break finally None while

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def global d! .
or

Variable Assignment
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Here is the “Hello, world!” script again, but this time, instead of outputting a literal, we assign a string to a variable
and then output the variable:

Demo 2: python-basics/Demos/hello_variables.py

1. greeting = "Hello, world!"

2. print(greeting)
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Code Explanation elo
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Run this Python file at theutterminal.
ho ant@The AN output will be the same as it was in the previous demo (see page 7):
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Hello, world! wed AP
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Simultaneous Assignment
A very cool feature
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This can be useful as a shortcutdfor iff. SHseveral
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>>> first_name, last_name, company = "Nat", "Dunn", "Webucator"
>>> first_name
'Nat'
>>> last_name
'Dunn' Th
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>>> company cu
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Exercise 3: A Simple sPython
all Script
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5 to 10 minutes

Th you will write a simple Python script from scratch. The script will create a variable called today
In this exercise,
is
that stores the daydo of the week.
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1. In your editor create ja alonew
ng file and save it as today.py in the python-basics/Exercises folder.
s
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2. Create a variable called today that holds the current day of the week as literal text (i.e., in quotes).

3. Use the print() function to output the variable value.

4. Save your changes.

5. Test your solution.

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Solution: python-basics/Solutions/today.py
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Constants
In programming, a constant is like a variable in that it is an identifier that holds a value, but, unlike variables,
constants are not variable, they are constant. Good name choices, right?

Th really have constants, but as a convention, variables that are meant to act like constants (i.e., their
Python doesn’tis
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values are not meantcu to be changed) are written in all capital letters. For example:
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PI = 3.141592653589793 au nilka L
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RED = "FF0000" # hexadecimal
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Deleting Variables
Although it’s rarely necessary to do so, variables can be deleted using the del statement, like this:

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>>> print(a) um
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>>> del a un p NI
au nilka L
>>> print(a) tho nt@ KAN
riz red TES
ed H
co last):if
pie f.com WAR
Traceback (most recent call
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> s all JA
ow GT
NameError: name 'a' is not defined d! e AP
.

Notice that trying to print a results in an error, because after del a, the a variable no longer exists.

Writing aThPython
is
Module
do
cu
me
A Python module is simplynt a file that contains code that can be reused. The today.py file is really a module, albeit
a very simple one. A module be can be run by itself or as part of a larger program. It is too early to get into all the
lon
N ja g gs
aspects of code reuse and modular programming, but you want to start with good habits, one of which is to use a
main() function in your programs.

The main() Function

Let’s look at the basic syntax of a function. A function is created using the def keyword like this:

Th
Demo 3: python-basics/Demos/indent_demo.py
is
do
cu
me
nt
1. def main(): be
lon
N ja g gs
2. print("I o u am tapart
p tof
o the function.")
na
u
n ilka NILK
3. print("I am halso t ori npart t A
of N the function.")
ze @red TES
4. print("Hey, me too!") d co if H
pie f.com WAR
5. print("Sad not to be parts of all the JA
function. I've been outdented.")
ow GT
6. ed AP.
!
7. main()

Code Explanation
Th
is
do file will render the following:
Running this Python cu
me
nt
be
lon
No agta gs to
j
Sad not to be part un of pthe NI
function. I’ve been outdented.
au nilka LK
t h ori n t A N
ze @red TES
I am part of the function.
dc iff HW
I am also part of the function. op .
ies com AR
Hey, me too! all JA
ow GT
ed AP
! .

Notice that the first line of output is the line that is not part of the function. That is because the function does not run
until it is called, and it is called after the print() function that outputs “Sad not to be part of the function. I’ve been
outdented.”
Th
is
The code is readdoby
cuthe Python interpreter from top to bottom, but the function definition just defines the function; it
me
does not invoke the function
nt (programmer speak for “call the function to execute”).
be
lon
No jagta gs to
un p NI
au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz r e TE
ed SH
co diff.c
pie om WAR
sa JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .

Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
jag ng
N s
 pythontutor.com

Visit http://bit.ly/pythontutor-indentdemo to see this demo in pythontutor.com6, a web application for visualizing how Python
executes code.

Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
n
No jagta gs to
un p NI
au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz re TE
ed SH
co diff.c
pie om WAR
sa JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .

Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
n
No agta gs to
j
un pn NI
au il LK
tho kant
riz @ ANT
ed re ES
co diff.c HW
pie o AR
sa m JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .

Th
is
do
cu
en m
tb
A few things to note about efunctions:
lon
No agta gs to
j
un p NI
au nilka LK
t h n AN keyword. The content that follows the def keyword on the same line is
1. Functions are created ousing riz tthe@ def
r ed TES
ed
called the function signature.cop iff.c HW
ies om AR
all JA
o GT
2. The convention for naming functions wisedthe same as APthat for variables: use all lowercase letters and separate
! .
words with underscores.

3. In the function definition, the function name is followed by a pair of parentheses, which may contain
parameters (more on that soon), and a colon.

4. The contents
Th of the function starts on the next line and must be indented. Either spaces or tabs can be used
is
d
for indenting,ocbut
um spaces are preferred.
en
tb
5. The first line of code eafter
lo the function definition that is not indented is not part of the function and effectively
N jag ngs
marks the end of the function definition.
6. Functions are invoked using the function name followed by the parentheses (e.g., indent_demo()).

There is nothing magic about the name “main”. It is simply the name used by convention for the function that starts
the program or module running. 7

Grouping of Th Statements
is
do
cu
me
A programming statement is nat unit of code that does something. The following code shows two statements:
be
lon
greeting = "Hello!" No ja gta gs to
un p NI
print(greeting) au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz re TE
ed SH
co diff.c
In Python, statements are grouped using indenting. pie omwe W
As ARsaw with the main() function, lines that are indented below the function signature
just
sa
are part of the function. It is important to understand llothis: changesJAinGindentation level denote code groups. You must be careful with your
we TA
indenting. d! P.

print() Function
You have already seen how to output data using the built-in print() function. Now, let’s see how to output a
variable and a literal string together. The print() function can take multiple arguments. By default, it will output
Th
them all separated
is by single spaces. For example, the following code will output "H e l l o !"
do
cu
me
nt
be
lon
jag 'l', g
print('H', 'e',No'l', tap s t'o',
o N '!')
un
au nilka ILK
tho n A
riz t@re NTE
ed d SH
co if
This functionality allows for the combinationpie f.comof W literal
AR strings and variables as shown in the following demo:
sa JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .
Demo 4: python-basics/Demos/variable_and_string_output.py

1. def main():
2. today = "Monday"
3. print("Today
T is", today, ".")
his
4. do
cu
men
5. main() tb
elo
n
No agta gs to
j
un pn
au ilka NILK
Code Explanation t h ori nt@ ANT
ze
d c rediff ESH
op . WA
ies com R
Run the Python file. It should render the alfollowing: JA
low GT
ed AP
! .

Today is Monday .

Notice the extra space before the period in the output of the last demo:
Th
is
do
cu
me
nt
be
lon
N ja g gs
We'll get rid of that soon.

Named Arguments
As we have seen with print(), functions can take multiple arguments. These arguments can be named or
unnamed. To illustrate, let’s look at some more arguments the print() function can take:

Th
is
d
oc 'l', 'l', 'o', '!', sep=' ', end='\n')
print('H', 'e', u me
nt
be
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No ja gta gs to
un are
Those last two arguments p NI arguments.
au nilnamed LK
tho kant
riz @ ANT
ed red E
iff. Sthe
sep is short for “separator.” cItopspecifies
HW
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R
that separates the list of objects to output. The default
value is a single space, so specifying all sep=" " JAdoesn’t change the default behavior at all.
ow GT
ed AP
! .
end specifies the character to print at the very end (i.e., after the last printed object). The default is a newline
character (denoted with \n). You can use an empty string (e.g., '') to specify that nothing should be printed
at the end.

Th
is
The following demodo shows how the sep argument can be used to get rid of the extra space we saw in the previous
cu
me
example: nt
be
lon
No agta gs to
j
un p
Demo 5: python-basics/Demos/variable_and_string_output_fixed_spacing.py
NI
au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz re TE
ed SH
co diff.c
1. def main(): pie om WAR
sa JA
llo GT
2. today = "Monday" we AP
d! .
3. print("Today is ", today, ".", sep="")
4.
5. main()

Th
Code Explanation
is
do
cu
m en
tb
Run the Python file. It shouldelo render the following:
n
No agta gs to
j
un pn NI
au il LK
tho kant
riz @ ANT
ed re ES
co diff.c
Today is Monday. HW
pie o AR
sa m JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .
Collecting User Input
Functions may or may not return values. The print() function, for example, does not return a value.

Th a built-in input() function, which takes a single argument: the prompt for the user’s input. Unlike
Python provides
is
do
print(), the input() function does return a value: the input from the user as a string. The following demo shows
cu
m
how to use it to promptenthe user for the day of the week.
tb
elo
N jag ngs
Demo 6: python-basics/Demos/input.py
 1. def main():
2. today = input("What day is it? ")
3. print("Wow! Today is ", today, "? Awesome!", sep="")
4.
5. main()

Th
is
Code Explanationdo
cu
en m
tb
Run the Python file. It shouldelo immediately prompt the user:
n
No jagta gs to
un p NI
au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz re TE
ed SH
What day is it? co diff.c
pie om WAR
sa JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .
Enter the day and press Enter. It will output something like:

Wow! Today is Monday? Awesome!

Th
is
do
The full output will clook
um like this:
en
tb
elo
n
No agta gs to
j
un pn NI
au il LK
What day is it? Monday tho kant
riz @ ANT
ed re ES
co diff.c
Wow! Today is Monday? Awesome! HW
pie o AR
sa m JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .

Exercise 4: Hello, You!

T5hto 10 minutes
is
do
cu
me
nt
be
lon
In this exercise, you Nowilljagreet
gta gthe s user by name.
un pn to NI
au il LK
tho kant AN
1. Open a new script. Save riz it as@hello_you.py
red TES in python-basics/Exercises.
ed HW
co iff.
pie c om AR
2. Write code to prompt for the user’s s a name. JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .
3. After the user has entered their name, output a greeting.

4. Save your changes.

5. Test your solution.

Th
is
do
cu
me
nt
Solution: python-basics/Solutions/hello_you.py
be
lon
N ja g gs
 1. def main():
2. your_name = input("What is your name? ")
3. print("Hello, ", your_name, "!", sep="")
4.
5. main()

Th
is
Code Explanationdo
cu
en m
tb
The code should work like ethis:
lon
No jagta gs to
un p NI
au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz re TE
ed
PS …\python-basics\Solutions> iff. SHWhello_you.py
co dpython
pie com AR
What is your name? Nat sa JA
llo GT
we AP
Hello, Nat! d! .

Reading from and Writing to Files

Th
To built-in open()
is method is used to open a file from the file system. We will cover this in the File Processing
d
lesson (see page o261).
cu For now, you just need to know how to read from a file and how to write to a file.
me
nt
be
lo
Reading from jag ngs
No a Filetap to
un NI
au nilka LK
tho n t@ to:ANT
The following code shows therizsteps re ES
ed
co diff.c HW
pie o AR
sa m
1. Open a file and assign the file to a file llo handler.JAG
we TA
d! P.
2. Read the content of the file into a variable.

3. Print that variable.

4. Close the file.

Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
n
No agta g#s tOpen
j
f = open("my-file.txt")
oN
my-file.txt and assign result to f.
u p nil contents
content = f.read()na#u Read I LK of file into content variable.
tho kant AN
print(content) # Print ricontent.
ze @ T
d c rediff ESH
o . c WA
f.close() # Close the file. pie o
sa m R
JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .
Because we referenced the file name directly, Python will look in the current directory for the file. If the file is located
in a different directory, you must provide the path, either as an absolute or relative path. 8

with Blocks
Th
is close the file to free up the memory space the handler is taking up. It’s also easy to forget to do so.
It is important to do
c
Fortunately, Pythonuprovides
me a structure that makes explicitly closing the file unnecessary:
nt
be
lo
N jag ngs
 with open("my-file.txt") as f:
content = f.read()
print(content)

When Python reaches the end of the with block, it understands that the file is no longer necessary and
automatically closes it.
Th
is
do
cu
Writing to a File me
nt
be
lon
In addition to the path ja
No to the gs the open() function takes a second parameter: mode, which indicates whether
gta file,
un pn to NI
the file is being opened afor ilka ("r"),
uthreading LK writing ("w"), or appending ("a"). The default value for mode is "r",
ori nt@ ANT
which is why we didn’t need tozepass rae valueESin when opening the file for reading. If we want to write to a file, we do
dc d
have to pass in a value: "w". op iff.co HWA
ies m R
all JA
ow GT
ed AP
! .
with open("my-file2.txt", "w") as f:
f.write("Hello, world!!!!!")

When you run Th the code above, it will open my-file2.txt if it exists and overwrite the file with the text you write to
is
it. If it doesn’t finddoa file named my-file2.txt, it will create it.
cu
me
nt
be
lon
No agta gs to
j
Exercise 5: un Working
p
au nilka
tho
NI with Files
L
nt@ KAN
riz re TE
ed SH
co diff.c
pie om WAR
sa JA
llo GT
10 to 15 minutes we AP
d! .

In this exercise, you will open two files that contain lists of popular boys and girls names from 1880, 9 read their
contents into two variables, and then write the combined content of the two files into a new file.

T
1. Open a hnew
is script. Save it as files.py in python-basics/Exercises.
do
cu
me
2. Write code to open nt python-basics/data/1880-boys.txt and read its contents into a variable called
be
lon
boys. No jagta gs to
un p NI
au nilka LK
3. t h n AN
Write code to open python-basics/data/1880-girls.txt
ori t and read its contents into a variable called
ze @red TES
girls. dc iff. H
op WA
ies com R
all JA
4. Write code to open a new file namedow1880-all.txt GT in the python-basics/data folder and write the
ed AP
! .
combined contents of the boys and girls variables into the file. Note that you can combine the two strings
like this:

boys + "\n" + girls

Th
is
do
cu
me
That will place one ntnewline between the content in boys and the content in girls.
be
lon
ja g gs
5. Save your file.N
6. Test your solution. When you run it, it should create the new file. Look in the data folder for the 1880-
all.txt file. Does it exist? If so, open it up. Does it have a list of all the boys and girls names?

Run Python File in Terminal

You may have discovered that you can run Python files in the terminal using the green triangle in the upper-right of Visual Studio Code:
Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
n
No jagta gs to
un p NI
au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz red TES
ed HW folder and search for any files being referenced with relative paths from that folder.
By default, VS Code will run the file from the iff.
co Workspace co root
pie errors. AR fix this by changing a setting:
As a result, you may get FileNotFoundError s a mYou can JA
llo GT
1. From the File menu, select Preferences > Settings. we AP
d! .
2. Search for “execute in file dir”.

3. Check the Python > Terminal: Execute in File Dir setting.

Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
n
No agta gs to
j
un pn NI
au il LK
tho kant
riz @ ANT
ed re ES
co diff.c HW
pie
Solution: python-basics/Solutions/files.py o AR
sa m JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .
1. with open("../data/1880-boys.txt") as f_boys:
2. boys = f_boys.read()
3.
4. with open("../data/1880-girls.txt") as f_girls:
5. Th
girls = f_girls.read()
is
do
6. cu
me
7. nt
with open("../data/1880-all.txt", "w") as f:
b elo
8. N jag +ng"\n"
f.write(boys s + girls)
tap ou to
n na N
uth ilkan ILKA
ori t N
ze @red TES
dc iff. HW
op
ies com AR
Conclusion all
ow
JA
GT
ed AP
! .
In this lesson, you have begun to work with Python. Among other things, you have learned to use variables, to
output data, to collect user input, and to write simple Python functions and modules.

Th
1. is
https://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html
do
cu
me
nt
be
lon
N ja g gs
2. The generic term for the various terminals is command line shell
 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_(computing)). Visual Studio Code will select an
appropriate terminal for you. On Windows, that will most likely be Command Prompt or PowerShell. On a
Mac, it will most likely be bash or Zsh. The names “prompt,” “command prompt,” “shell,” and “terminal” are
used interchangeably.

3. The ls command works in Windows PowerShell as well.

Th
is
do
cu
me
nt
be
4. https://twitter.com/gvanrossum/status/112670605505077248?lang=en
lon
No ja gta gs to
un p NI
au nilka L
tho nt@ KAN
riz re TE
ed SH handle text from most of the world’s languages.
5. Unicode is a 16-bit character coset dthat
iff. can
pie com WAR
sa JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .
6. http://www.pythontutor.com/visualize.html

7. Although only a convention, the name “main()” was not chosen arbitrarily. It is used because modules refer to
Th as “__main__”, so it seems fitting to get them started with a corresponding “main()” function.
themselvesis
do
cu
me
nt
be
lon
jagfrom g
8. Absolute paths Nostart tap sthe to top of the file system and work their way downwards towards the referenced file.
un nil NI
a
Relative paths startufrom L
ka current
tho the nt@ KAN location (the location of the file containing the path) and work their way to
the referenced file from ithatr ze location. T
d c rediff ESH
op . WA
ies com R
all JA
ow GT
ed AP
! .
9. The lists of names come from https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/.

Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
n
No agta gs to
j
un pn NI
au il LK
tho kant
riz @ ANT
ed re ES
co diff.c HW
pie o AR
sa m JA
llo GT
we AP
d! .

Th
is
do
cu
men
tb
elo
jag ng
N s