''' Goals: - Comments - Printing things to the 'screen' (console) - Variables - Converting between different types of variables - Maths! - Getting user input ''' #################################### # Comments in Python #################################### # '#' denotes a single-line comment. For example, # This is a single-line comment! """ Three double quotes can be used to denote the start and end of a... you guessed it... a multi-line comment! This is all part of this multi-line comment! And this, too! """ ''' You can also use single quotes to denote a multi-line comment. Remember, though, a multi-line comment started with three single-quotes must be ended with three single-quotes! For example, """ does not end this multi-line comment. But, ''' # Why use comments? # - (1) For future you! # - (2) For anyone else who might read your code! ##################################### # Printing to the screen ##################################### # We can use the 'print' instruction to print things to the screen print("Hello world") print("My name is Alex Lalejini, and I am 26 years old.") print("I thought Avengers: Endgame was just okay.") # Note that every time you run your program, those sentences are always printed # in the same order. Python programs are executed procecurally, instruction-by-instruction, # from top to bottom. ##################################### # What is a variable? ##################################### # We use variables to store and later refer to data or values. # I.e., they give us a place to put stuff and let us refer to that stuff later. # For example, we can assign a 'string' to a variable: first_name = "Alex" # This is a string last_name = "Lalejini" # This is also a string # We could also assign numbers to a variable: age = 26 # This is an integer half_of_three = 3.5 # This is a float (i.e., it has a decimal) # We can print out the values of previously assigned variables. print(first_name) print(last_name) # We can 'add' strings together print(first_name + last_name) # It's sort of ugly without a space print(first_name + " " + last_name) full_name = first_name + " " + last_name print(full_name) # Will fail: # print("My name is " + full_name + ", and I am " + age + " years old.") # Python can't 'add' together a string variable and a number variable print("My name is " + full_name + ", and I am " + str(age) + " years old.") # We can use the str() instruction to convert things into strings # We can use the int() instruction to convert things into integers # We can use the float() instruction to convert things into floats # Python can be used as a really fancy calculator: twice_my_age = 2 * age # multiplication in_ten_years = 10 + age # addition half_my_age = age / 2 # division # If you want to use python to help you with future math homework assignments, this # might be of use: https://docs.python.org/3/library/math.html ##################################### # Getting input from the user ##################################### # We can use the input() instruction to request information from the user user_input = input("I demand your input: ") print("So that I can spit it right back at you: " + user_input) # CHALLENGE: Adjust your program so that it takes a user's name and age # in as input, and prints the year they were born. ##################################### # More things you can do with strings ##################################### # More stuff you can do with strings: https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#string-methods print(first_name.upper()) # All caps! print(first_name.lower()) # All lowercase! ##################################### # Extra challenges ##################################### """ - What happens when you expect numeric input from the user but they give you a string (e.g. 'hello world')? - CONCEPT: try/catch statements - What are some special characters that aren't obvious in how we can include them in a python string? (e.g., newlines, tabs) How can we represent these in a Python string? """