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from If programming languages were essays...

History

Creator: Guido van Rossum

Named after Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy show.

Python 1.0 - January 1994

Python 2.0 - October 2000

Python 3.0 - December 2008

Python 2 will not be maintained past 2020

What's the use of Python?

Python is a general-purpose programming language, used for:

System administration (incl. cloud)

Embedded devices (incl. Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ...)

Web and Internet Development

Mobile apps development

Data Science, Big Data, Machine Learning

Scientific computing

Education

Python implementations/distributions

Python is an open source project: Python's github

CPython - the official Python distribution.

PyPy - faster and compliant with Python2 and Python 3

Jython - Python for the Java Platform.

IronPython - the Python programming language for the .NET Framework.

Pyjs - contains a Python-to-JavaScript compiler, an AJAX framework and more.

What's in a Python program

A program consists of set of instructions, which are executed by the computer.

In Python, we write each instruction on a new line.

Instructions which performs one task are separated as a block.

In Python the block is not separated by braces, as in other programming languages, but by same indentation of the instructions in it.

The Zen of Python

      $ python -m this
      The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

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

Or just read it here: The Zen of Python

Clean syntax

Statements are terminated by EOL, not by semicolons!

Though, you can use semicolons if you wish

Block of statements is wrapped by the same indentation, not by curly braces

You can use spaces or tabs for indent.

Mixing spaces with tabs can lead to errors or bugs.

Do not mix space and tabs

That code will lead to

TabError: inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation

Same indent!

That code will lead to

IndentationError: unexpected indent

Wrong indentation can cause bugs!

Can you spot the bug?

Folder structure

Create a folder named Notebooks into your main course folder

      PJ_Course
      ├── lab1
      │   ├── ...   
      ├── Notebooks      
    

Prepare the virtual environment

Remove any virtual environments you have created in past lab:

      # go to lab1 folder:
      cd some/path/PJ_Course/lab1

      # remove virtual env:
      pipenv --rm

      # remove Pipfile && Pipfile.lock
      rm Pipfile Pipfile.lock
    

Prepare the virtual environment

During the course, we'll use one virtual environment for all labs examples

It will be created in PJ_Course/ main folder

      # go to PJ_Course folder (if you are in lab1/):
      cd ../

      # or if you are in new terminal, do:
      cd some/path/PJ_Course/ 

      # create a virtual environment with Python3:
      pipenv --three

      # install the modules:
      pipenv install pandas matplotlib jupyterlab     
    

Start the Jupyter Notebook Server

      # activate the virtual environment:
      pipenv shell

      # start the server
      jupyter notebook
    

If you close that Terminal - you'll stop the Jupyter Notebook server, so make sure you leave it alone.

Live Demo

The code will be uploaded in: ProgressBG-PythonAndJupyter-Labs GitHub repo