Introduction to Python

6th School on LHC Physics

Adeel-ur-Rehman
IT Department
National Center for Physics
 Introduction & Outline
In this tutorial:

 What is Python and brief History

 Built-in Operators

 Comparison between python and C++

 Python Basics

 For, If and Variables

 Lists

 Dictionaries

 Functions

 Classes

 Inheritance
 What is Python

• Python is a computer programming language

which is:
• General-purpose
• Open source
• Object-oriented
• Interpreted

• Used by hundred of thousands of developers

around the world in areas such as:
• Internet scripting
• System programming
• User interfaces
 What is Python

• Combines remarkable power with very

clear syntax.
• Also usable as an extension language.
• Has portable implementation:
• Many brands of UNIX
• Windows
• OS/2
• Mac
• Amiga
 Brief History

• Created in the early 1990s By Guido van Rossum.

• At Stichting Mathematisch Centrum in the Netherlands.
• As a successor of a language called ABC.
• Guido remains Python’s principal author.
• Includes many contributions from others.
• In 1995, Guido continued his work on Python.
• At the Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
• In Reston, Virginia.
• And released several versions of the software.
 Brief History

• In October of the same year, the PythonLabs team moved

to Digital Creations (now Zope Corporation).
• In 2001, the Python Software Foundation (PSF) was
formed.
• Zope Corporation is a sponsoring member of the PSF.
• All Python releases are Open Source.
• Historically, most, but not all, Python releases have also
been GPL-compatible.
• The last versions released are 2.7.x and 3.6.x .
Operators (1/6)
Operators (2/6)
 Operators (3/6)

Operators Description

^ Bitwise XOR

& Bitwise AND

<<, >> Shifts

+, - Addition and
Subtraction
 Operators (4/6)

Operators Description

*, /, % Multiplication, Division
and Remainder
+x, -x Positive, Negative

~x Bitwise NOT

** Exponentiation
Operators (5/6)
Operators (6/6)
 Comparison with C++

To print a statement… hello.cpp

Very simple in python… #include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void main()
hello.py
{
print “Hello World” cout << "Hello World" << endl;
user@host:~$ python hello.py }
Hello World
user@host:~$ g++ hello.cpp -o hello
user@host:~$ ./hello
Hello World
 Revision for, if and Variables

Whitespace is important Variables have no type

In C++, { and } denote blocks – You don't need fixed declarations
Python uses indentation But you do need to keep track of
You can use spaces or tabs, and them
it doesn't matter how many, but be
consistent! a=5 #integer
b = 3.14 #floating point
for a in range(3): c = 1 + 1j #complex
print “spam ” d = “spam” #string
print “and eggs” e = True #boolean
spam spam spam and eggs
f = [1,2,3] #list
g = ('a','b','c') #tuple
if 1+1==2: h = {'a': 1, 'b': 2} #dictionary
print “True” i = MyClass() #object
else:
print “False”
True
 Basics
Basic operations look the same as C++
a=3
b = 16
#while loop #get a string representation
c = a+b # *,/,etc while a<10: of anything
19 a+=1 str(a)
#if statement '3‘
c==19 # <=, >=, != etc
True if a>0 and b>0: str(range(5))
c=ba '[0,1,2,3,4]'
f=”hello” else:
g=”world” c=b*a
f+g
“helloworld” #for loop
total=0
a**2 for i in range(5):
9 total += i
h='33’ #string to number print total
int(h) #also float() etc 10
33
 Lists
Almost everything involves working with lists
 – Lists can contain any type of object and objects can be mixed
#create a blank list
L = [] #remove an element #test for contents
L.remove('extra') if 'a' in L:
#create a list with mixed contents [1, 2, 'a', 'b', True] print “True”
L = [1, 2, 'a', 'b', True] True
#remove an index
#get one element #get list size
L[0] del L[4] len(L)
1 [1, 2, 'a', 'b'] 4
#get a range of elements #loop over a list #lists can be
L[1:3] for item in L: added
[2, 'a'] print item a+a
#add an element 1 [1,2,'a','b',1,2,'a','b']
L.append('extra') 2 (etc)
[1, 2, 'a', 'b', True, 'extra']
 More on lists
There are lots of functions that work on lists to make your life
easier:
#enumerate a list(counting) #range with start,
for i,j in enumerate(['a','b','c']): finish, step
L = [10, 12, 3, 9, 0] print i,j range(5,0,1)
1a [5,4,3,2,1]
#minimum and maximum
min(L) 2b #make a list
0 3c [x*x for x in range(5)]
max(L) [0,1,4,9,16]
#get a range of numbers
12 (starts at 0) #filter a list
range(5) def f(x):
#get a sorted copy
[0,1,2,3,4] return x>0
sorted(L) #ascending filter(f,[1,0,1,2])
[0,3,9,10,12] #get a range with start [1,1,2]
#get a reversed copy and finish
#fill a list
reversed(L) range(3,5) L = [0]*5
[0,9,3,12,10] [3,4] [0,0,0,0,0]
 Dictionaries
A dictionary is like a list, but uses arbitrary objects instead of
integers as the key:
#create a blank dictionary #delete an item #test if a key exists
d = {} del d['c'] if 'a' in d:
{'a':1, 'b':2} print “True”
#create a filled dictionary True
d = {'a':1, 'b':2} #loop over keys
#get an element for k in d:
d['a'] print k,”=”,d[k]
1 a=1
b=2
#set an element
d['c']=3 #loop over items
{'a':1, 'b':2, 'c':3} for k,v in d.items():
print k,”=”,v
#list the keys a=1
d.keys() b=2
['a', 'b', 'c']
 Strings
The string type is somewhat like std::string in C++
#new string s.split(' ') #format a string
s = 'hello world‘ ['hello','world'] a=1
b=2
#length of string #get a character s = “%d+%d=%d” % (a,b,a+b)
len(s) s[0] '1+2=3'
11 ‘h’
#everything can be
#find a substring #get a substring using represented using %s
s.find('world') array notation #which means str(object)
6 s[1:5] #use %d, %f for special
#check beginning 'ello‘ number formats
(or end) #search and replace pi = 3.141592685
s.startswith('hello') s.replace('hello','hi') s = “pi=%s” % (pi)
True 'hi world‘ 'pi=3.141592685'
#split into a list when s = “pi=%.2f” % (pi)
a char is found 'pi=3.14'
 Functions

Unlike C++, function names must be unique (no overloading)

#define a simple function #default arguments #use list of arguments
def topower(x,y=2): def addup(*numbers):
def helloworld(): return x**y total=0
print 'hello world' topower(16) for n in numbers:
helloworld() 256 total+=n
'hello world‘ topower(16,3) return total
4096 addup(1,2,3)
#a function that takes 6
an argument #return multiple arguments
def multi(): #anonymous function
def addone(x): return ('a', 1) (single expression)
x = x+1 multi() sqr = lambda x: x**2
return x ('a', 1) sqr(5)
addone(41) #use named arguments 25
42 def
knight(name,quest,favcolour):
...
knight(name='Lancelot',quest='
Grail',
favcolor=0x0000ff)
 Classes
Classes in Python work roughly like C++, but have no concept
of variable privacy:
#make a new class #data isn't private class Petshop:
class Universe: #we can get the counter = 0
answer = 42 #answer directly def init (self,pets):
def deepthought(self): u.Answer self.pets = pets
print self.answer 42 def stock(self,pet): if
pet in self.pets:
#create a new instance #and change it
counter+=1
u = Universe() u.answer = 23
print counter
u.deepthought()
return True
#call the class method 23
else:
#note the 'self' in the #(you can use a class print counter
#argument list is not with no methods, return False
#needed when calling it #just variables like a
#make a new petshop p =
u.deepthought() struct in C++)
Petshop(['parrot'])
42 #class with a constructor
p.stock('parrot')
True
 Inheritance
class SchoolMember:
class Teacher(SchoolMember):
'''Represents any school member.''' '''Represents a teacher.'''
def __init__(self, name, age): def __init__(self, name, age, salary):
self.name = name SchoolMember.__init__(self, name, age)
self.age = age self.salary = salary
print '(Initialized SchoolMember: %s)' print '(Initialized Teacher: %s)' %
% self.name self.name
def tell(self): def tell(self):
print 'Name:"%s" Age:"%s" ' % SchoolMember.tell(self)
print 'Salary:"%d"' % self.salary
(self.name, self.age)

class Student(SchoolMember):
t = Teacher('Mrs. Ibraheem', 40, 30000)
'''Represents a student.'''
def __init__(self, name, age, marks): s = Student(‘Ali', 21, 75)
SchoolMember.__init__(self, name, age) print # prints a blank line
self.marks = marks members = [t, s]
print '(Initialized Student: %s)' % for member in members:
self.name member.tell() # Works for instances of Student
def tell(self): as well as Teacher
SchoolMember.tell(self)
print 'Marks:"%d"' % self.marks
 Modules

To do anything useful, you'll need to import modules from the

standard library or elsewhere:
●The libraries available with python or developed by users
are extensive – look before you write it yourself:

#import an entire module

import time
#call a member – note prefix
time.time()
#import a specific function or class from a module
from time import sleep
#call that function (without prefix)
sleep(5)
#import everything from MyFile.py
from MyFile import *
Good Luck