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Python introduction

This (git) repository

We use git because it is the best way how to provide source-codes, notebooks and other stuff related to programming. We strongly recommend you to study and learn how to use git effectively - also for the other courses. You can use any tutorial (google, youtube) on the internet to learn how to use it.

To successfully clone this repository to your computer and use it, git will be needed. Git can be downloaded here git-scm.com.

If you do not want to use and install git, you can download this repository (or the new files) every week as a zip file.

Python

You can download latest version from python.org. Aim for python 3.5 or higher. After that install pip - it will help you to install additional packages in a quite not painfull way. Finally install IDE of your choice. If you do not know what to choose, go for Pycharm.

Alternatively you can use pre-installed Python with IDE and packages in bundle called anaconda distribution. This approach is much simpler, however it has some other drawbacks.

All steps above are insanely well documented in the Internet. Feel no shame to use google or youtube as your first resort of help.

Jupyter notebook and other tools

Some Python tasks are possible to solve with an online IDE. This tools can be benefical if you want to accompany your code with figures, equations and other sofisticated explanation. The prime example of such a tool is the Jupyter notebook. We will provide content of some lectures as jupyter notebooks, however you do not need to install it or use it if you do not want to. Further reading:

  • Jupyter notebook - online IDE that can be installed on your computer to run notebooks locally
  • Google colab - free online environment for Google users. No installation required.

First steps

In case you have no previous knowledge of Python, please study this page and replicate the examples there in your IDE. For more detail explanation, you can see also for example this page.

Your best friend = documentation

Begginers should start here: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html

Entire documentation for Python: https://docs.python.org/3/

The Zen of Python alias 19 commandments for every Pythoneer

The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

  1. Beautiful is better than ugly.
  2. Explicit is better than implicit.
  3. Simple is better than complex.
  4. Complex is better than complicated.
  5. Flat is better than nested.
  6. Sparse is better than dense.
  7. Readability counts.
  8. Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
  9. Although practicality beats purity.
  10. Errors should never pass silently.
  11. Unless explicitly silenced.
  12. In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
  13. There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
  14. Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
  15. Now is better than never.
  16. Although never is often better than right now.
  17. If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
  18. If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
  19. Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

You can get it by running import this command

Questions and problems?

In case you struggle to google some information, feel free to ask question via Teams (Python team chat, or DM the lecturer). If the question could wait, note it and ask it during consultation.