Coding Notes

1.1 Introduction

4 min readAndreas PatuzziAuroville Institute of Applied Technology

Programming Language

A programming language is used to give instructions to a computer to execute them. You have to use a specific syntax for the computer to understand the instructions. Programming languages are used to create software, automate tasks, build websites, analyze data, control hardware, and more. You need a programming language to communicate with computers. You have to give explicit instructions in a format that can be understood by the computer.

What is Python?

Python is a popular, high-level programming language created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991. It emphasizes readability and uses an indentation-based structure to make code clean and easy to follow. Today, Python is widely used for a large variety of applications. High-Level means, that your programming instructions are far away from the actual hardware. For example you can do a lot with little text and have to worry less about the specifics of datatypes, appending to list, …

Benefits of Python

  • Easy to Learn: Its syntax can be almost like plain English. Because it’s high-level, you rarely have to worry about details like manual memory management.
  • Versatile: Works for console, web development, data analysis, automation, AI, and more.
  • Large Community: Extensive libraries and frameworks are available for almost any task.
  • Cross-Platform: Python works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and more.

Drawbacks of Python

  • Speed: Python is slower and less efficient compared to languages like C because it’s high-level and interpreted.
  • Runtime Errors: Python is dynamically typed, leading to potential runtime errors. Dynamically typed mean the datatype of a variable can change and is not easily predictable. Because of this, it can be hard to find/prevent errors properly in advance, especially in large projects.

Compiled Vs Interpreted

  • Compiled Languages: Code is translated into machine code before execution (e.g., C, C++). Potential for better performance and efficiency. Instructions closer to what the machine is actually doing. More manual control of memory and hardware.
  • Interpreted Languages: Code is executed line-by-line by an interpreter (e.g., Python, JavaScript). Supports very high level code. Often easier to learn and understand. But if you look at details or have a problem, it will get hard again. Fewer hardware like limitations and worries. For example, changing the datatype of a variable, extending a list, …

Usecases/Applications

Python is used in a wide range of applications, some of the most common are listed below.

  • Web Development: Popular frameworks like Django and Flask make web development faster and easier.
  • Data Science & Analytics: Libraries such as NumPy and Matplotlib are widely used for data manipulation and visualization.
  • Machine Learning & AI: Python’s simplicity makes it a go-to language for machine learning and artificial intelligence applications, with libraries like TensorFlow.
  • Automation: Python is commonly used to write scripts for automating repetitive tasks, such as file management, web scraping, …

Syntax

Python’s syntax is minimal and highly readable. In general Python code will run line by line from top to bottom. More complex behavior is possible using Control Flow.

  • print() is used for output, input() for input, and # for line comments
  • Python supports all basic (mathematical) Operators and many more
  • Variables automatically get a datatype that can change at any time
  • Python is case sensitive. So it is very significant if a character is upper or lower case. For example print() is not the same as Print()
  • Indentation: Python uses indentation to define code blocks, many other languages use curly brackets {} instead. Proper indentation is required, otherwise there will be errors. A colon : is used to indicate the start of a new block, e.g. conditions, loops, functions, …
# A simple comment
print("Hello, World!")  # This prints a message to the console
 
# Variables don’t need explicit types
x = 10           # Integer
y = 3.14         # Float
name = "Python"  # String
 
# Colon and Indentation and  is used for blocks
if x > 5:
    print("x is greater than 5")

Questions

  • What is a programming language?
  • What is Python?
  • What are the benefits of Python?
  • What are the drawbacks of Python?
  • Explain compiled vs interpreted languages in your own words. What type is Python?
  • What are the use cases of Python?
  • What are the general principles of the Python syntax?

Graph View