Common Terms You Should Know with Python | CMD TO

 Common Terms You Should Know with Python

 Before you get too far into your programming with Python, it is important to understand some of the words that can make the programming easier to understand. This chapter is going to take some time to look at the different words that are common in Python programming, and which we do talk about a bit in this guidebook, to help avoid some confusion and to help you get started with your first code. Class—this is a template that was used for creating user-defined objects. Docstring—this is a string that will appear lexically first expression inside a module, function, or class definition. The object will be available to documentation tools. Function—this is a block of code that is invoked when using a calling program. It is best used in order to provide a calculation or an autonomous service. IDLE—this stands for Integrated Development Environment for Python. This is the basic interpreter and editor environment that you can use along with Python. It is good for those who are just beginning with this and can work for those on a budget. It is a clear example of code and won’t waste a lot of time or space. Immutable—this is an object within the code that is assigned a fixed value. This could include tuples, strings, and numbers. You can’t alter the object and you will need to create a new object with a different value and store it first. This can be helpful in some cases, such as the keys in a dictionary. Interactive—one thing that a lot of beginners like about Python is that it is so interactive. You can try out some different things in the interpreter and see how they will react right away in the results. It is a good way to improve your programming skills, test out a new idea you have and more. List—this is a datatype within Python that is built in. It contains a mutable sequence of values that are sorted. It can include immutable values of numbers and strings as well. Mutable—these are the objects that will be able to change their value within the program, but which are able to keep their original id(). Object—within Python, this is any data with a state, such as a value or an attribute, as well as a defined behavior, or a method. Python 3000—Python 2 and Python 3 are the main two types of Python that are available. Many people have stuck with Python 2 since Python 3 does not have any backwards capabilities and they like using the databases on the older version. Python 3000 is a mythical option of Python that does allow this backward capability so you can use it and the Python 2. String—this is one of the most basic types that you will find in Python that will store the text. In Python 2, the strings will store text so that the string type can then be used to hold onto binary data. Triple quoted string—this is a string that has three instances of either the single quote or the double quote. It could have something like ‘’’I love tacos’’’. They are used for many reasons. They can help you to have double and single quotes in a string and they make it easier to go over a few lines of code without issues. Tuple—this is a datatype that has been built into Python. This datatype is an immutable ordered sequence of values. The sequence is the only part that is immutable. It can contain some mutable values, such as having a dictionary inside it, where the value’s can change. Type—this is a category or sort of data that is represented in the programming languages. These types are going to differ in their properties, they including immutable and mutable options, as well as in their functions and methods. Python includes a few of these including dictionary types, tuple, list, floating point, long, integer, and string. Chapter 4: Getting Started with Python Now that we know some of the benefits of choosing this program, it is time to get started with it. Before you are able to learn some of the great steps that are needed to make this program create code for you, it is time to set up the environment. For those who have a computer with Mac OS X or Ubuntu, you will already have Python installed on the system This can make things easier to get started as you will just need to click on the icon to get started. Windows computers will need to install Python. While Python works just fine on Windows computers, it doesn’t come preinstalled so you will need to do this. The following steps work for Windows 7 to 10: Download Python—you can choose between Python 2 or Python 3. Both are fantastic options; it just depends on which one will get the job done for you. Click to run the Python Installer. When you get to the options, choose to Customize Installation. You will see a box pop up. Click on every box that is under Optional Features and then continue. On the next screen, look for the Advanced Options and then choose where you would like to have Python install. Once you have gotten this far, the next part is to set up your PATH variable. This is going to allow the user to include directories for all the components and packages that are needed. To do this step: Open up the Control Panel on the Windows computer. Look up Environment. Under System Environment Variable, click on Edit. Then click on Environment Variables. You may have to look a bit for the next part, but look for User Variables. You can then either create a new one or edit an existing path. To create a new path, select PATH as the name and add it to the directories that are there. Make sure that each Variable Values is separated with a semicolon. If you want to edit your existing path, you need to make sure that each value is on a different line. Click on New and then put your directories on different lines. Now you can open your command prompt. To do this click on Start then Windows System and then Command Prompt. When the command prompt opens, you can type in “Python.” This will load up the Python interpreter. You can then type in Exit and hit Enter to get back to the command prompt. Text Editor You will not be able to program Python without having the text editor in place on your computer. If you are using Windows, the Notepad function will work. Make sure that you are not using Word though, it is not considered an editor and your code is not going to save on the system properly. If you are considering getting a version of Notepad, you will notice that Notepad ++ is the best one to use on a Windows computer and Text Wrangler is the best to use for Mac. To set them up, do the following: Windows Download and then install Notepad ++ Once it is downloaded, open up the settings and click on Language Menu and Tab Settings Tick the box that is beside Expand Tabs Make sure that the value is at 4. Click again to Close. Mac Download and then install Text Wrangler You won’t need to register to install the software, just click Cancel if there is a box that comes up asking for this. Otherwise, follow the other instructions that come on the screen to set this editor up. Once the program is on your computer it is time to learn more about the coding and functions that you can enjoy on Python. Getting IDLE While you are setting up Python, make sure that you download the IDLE or the Integrated Development and Learning Environment. This should download along with Python if you are setting it up, but make sure to check into this while you are going through the process. This is the environment that you are going to work with when you are on Python and it can make things easy. If you don’t want to mess around with finding another environment or you want to make the process as easy as possible for you as a beginner, this is the option for you. The main features of using IDLE with your Python programming include: Integrated debugger with persistent breakpoints, call stack visibility, and stepping to make things easier Python shell that will highlight the syntax Multi-window text editor that can help with the indentation, highlighting, and completing the code. Now, you can choose to use another environment, like those that we discussed above if needed, but since this one often comes as an option with Python and it is designed to work well with this system, there are many people who choose to go with this option. That being said, there have been some issues in the past with IDLE having trouble focusing, won’t copy some things, and some clients don’t like the interface design. You may want to try out this program ahead of time and see if it is the right one for you or if you would like to use one of the options above. Getting Python set up on your computer is a pretty easy process. There are already several types of computers that have the programming language already present so you won’t have to do any work and the rest of them simply need a quick download to complete. You can wait just a short amount of time to get Python on your computer and then you are good to go and try out some of the codes you want to make.