Up and Running with Python

What we will cover...

1. What is Python?
2. Running Python.
3. Writing Python.

What is Python?

Python refers to both:

1. A program (it runs on a computer).
2. A programming language.

The program's purpose is to interpret the language and convert it into instructions for a computer.

Running Python

Let's run python:

Running Python

Let's run python:

Running Python

Let's run python:

You can quite this "interactive interpreter" with ctrl+d.

Writing Python

Python is a programming language.

It's named after Monty Python and was created by Guido van Rossum in 1991.

There are two major versions that are still circulating: 2 & 3.

Python2 has been dying a long, slow death for many years now. We will be using Python3 for this course.

A python file

Open your text editor (ie VSCode) and open a new folder for this class.

Create a new file inside that folder and call it hello.py.

Write the following in the file (within your text editor):

A python file

In your terminal:

1. Navigate to the directory of the hello.py file you just created. (remember: ls, pwd, cd).
2. Run the file with python: python3 hello.py.
3. Celebrate.

Installing Packages

To complete the assignments, it can be helpful to have some basic python packages (libraries) installed on your computer:

1. pylint
2. pytest
3. pytest-xdist

You can install python libraries ("globally") with the following command:

Review

1. What is Python?
2. Running Python.
3. Writing Python.