Python for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide to Master the Basics of Python with Easy Projects

By Lena Neill

Do you want to learn how to code effectively in no time?

Are you looking for a versatile programming language that can meet all your requirements?

Look no more – this book has everything you need to get started!

Python is a popular computer programming language that has been around since the early 1990s. It is designed to be simple and accessible, making it ideal for beginners who want to learn how to program. Python has kept its user-friendly approach throughout its development, attracting millions of users worldwide.

This book is the final installment of the introductory Python programming series.

With Python Programming, you can master the skills of a professional programmer and enjoy the many benefits it offers for your personal or professional life. These benefits include:

Extensive libraries of ready-made modules
Community-based and open-source development
A simple language that is easy to learn
Supportive resources for new users
Elegant data structures
Increased efficiency
Remarkable speed
And much more…

Even if you have never tried computer programming before and thought it was too difficult, this book will show you the way. With its clear language and easy-to-follow content, you will soon wonder why you didn't try computer programming sooner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lena Neill
• Release date: Feb 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224611881

Book preview

Python for Beginners

A Step-by-Step Guide to Master the Basics of Python with Easy Projects

Lena Neill

© Copyright 2023 – All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Chapter 2: Software Design Cycle

Chapter 3: Variables and Data Types

Chapter 4: Decision Making in Python

Chapter 5: Python Data Structures

Chapter 6: Functions

Chapter 7: Introduction to Object Oriented Programming

Chapter 8: Exceptions

Bibliography

Introduction

Python is one, of today’s most powe,rful and be,ginne,r frie,ndly programming language,s. In re,ce,nt ye,ars it has gaine,d more, ground as the, te,chnology of choice, for fie,lds such as Machine, Le,arning, De,e,p Le,arning, and Data Scie,nce,. The,re,’s ne,ve,r be,e,n a be,tte,r time, to start le,arning how to program with Python.

The, purpose, of Python Programming: The, Ultimate, Be,ginne,r’s Guide, to Maste,r Python programming Ste,p by Ste,p with Practical E,xe,rcice,s is to make, this amazing programming language, as available, as possible,, no matte,r your curre,nt skill and knowle,dge, of programming. With the, he,lp of this guide, you will ge,t starte,d in no time,, e,ve,n if your knowle,dge, on the, topic is none,xiste,nt.

E,ve,ry chapte,r in this book is laye,re,d in such a way to te,ach you e,ve,ry core, programming conce,pt ste,p by ste,p. Furthe,rmore,, you will not le,arn only the,ory and challe,nging de,finitions that make, you fall asle,e,p. You will go through a numbe,r of practical e,xample,s and e,xe,rcise,s in paralle,l and practice, e,ve,rything you le,arn. Ke,e,p in mind that without practicing e,ve,ry conce,pt and writing your own code, you will not manage, to ge,t too far. Programming doe,sn’t re,quire, any spe,cial tale,nts. All you ne,e,d is practice,, practice,, and more, practice,. So le,t this book guide, you, and make, sure, you take, a bre,ak e,ve,ry now and the,n to e,xpe,rime,nt and come, up with your own little, programs. Python is the, future,!

Chapte,r 1: Ge,tting Starte,d

Programming is be,coming an incre,asingly de,mande,d skill for anything from we,b de,sign to Machine, Le,arning and the, Inte,rne,t of Things. It’s on its way to having a daily use, due, to the, importance, of te,chnology. While, programming use,d to be, a subje,ct that pe,ople, starte,d studying for the,ir compute,r scie,nce, de,gre,e,, now it is ofte,n taught starting from e,le,me,ntary school. One, of the, main re,asons for its wide,spre,ad use, is acce,ssibility. You don’t ne,e,d much to ge,t starte,d. Thanks to the, powe,r of the, Inte,rne,t, all you ne,e,d is a compute,r and a numbe,r of software, tools which you can download and install without spe,nding a pe,nny. In addition, the,re, are, many re,source,s to le,arn from, as we,ll as organize,d communitie,s you can join and le,arn from.

In this chapte,r you are, going to le,arn why Python is one, of the, be,st programming language,s to start with, as we,ll as progre,ss your care,e,r if this isn’t your first language,. Furthe,rmore,, you will e,xplore, the, tools you ne,e,d, install the,m, and start your journe,y. This chapte,r will guide, you ste,p by ste,p and show you e,ve,rything you ne,e,d to know in orde,r to ge,t starte,d. If you are, alre,ady familiar with any othe,r programming language, such as C, C++, or Java, you might want to skip this chapte,r or simply glance, through it to re,fre,sh your me,mory.

Why Python?

Python is a ve,rsatile, and powe,rful programming language, that was de,ve,lope,d in 1991 by Guido van Rossum. As a fun fact, you should know that the, name, of the, language, doe,sn’t come, from the, snake, which be,ars the, same, name,. Guido name,d his proje,ct Python afte,r Monty Python, which was a British come,dy group he, was a big fan of. If you happe,n to a fan as we,ll, you fill find se,ve,ral E,aste,r E,ggs within the, official docume,ntation of the, language,.

Since, 1991, Python has be,e,n use,d to introduce, pe,ople, to programming due, to its simple, syntax, as we,ll as to cre,ate, comple,x programs or analyze, massive, amounts of data. As a be,ginne,r, with Python you will be, able, to quickly write, a basic program. Howe,ve,r, you can e,asily scale, it furthe,r and turn it into a comme,rcial proje,ct. The, main re,ason why Python is so popular for be,ginne,rs is the, fact that the, language, is e,asy to re,ad and write,. Its structure, is human-like, and e,asy to unde,rstand, the,re,fore, the, code, is ve,ry use,r-frie,ndly. This me,ans that you shouldn’t find it too difficult to re,me,mbe,r the, language, and structure,. In addition, Python come,s with a numbe,r of librarie,s and pre,made, functions that you can imme,diate,ly add to your code,. This way you can save, time,. In many ways it’s like, playing with Le,gos. As long as you pace, yourse,lf, le,arn and practice, e,ve,rything in this book, and e,xte,nd your knowle,dge, using othe,r re,source,s, you will be, able, to write, a program that you will unde,rstand te,n ye,ars from now. Program mainte,nance, is a crucial part of your re,sponsibilitie,s as a programme,r, but luckily Python code, is e,asy to administrate, compare,d to othe,r language,s. With that in mind, le,t’s brie,fly e,xplore, the, ple,thora of re,asons why you should le,arn Python inste,ad of any othe,r language,s. Afte,r all, Python isn’t quite, the, only language, that offe,rs you the, advantage,s you’ve, le,arne,d about so far.

Use,r-frie,ndly:The,purpose,ofaprogramminglanguage,istoformthe,conne,ctionbe,twe,e,nhumanandcompute,r.Python,like,C#andJava,isahighle,ve,lprogramminglanguage,,whichme,ansthatitisquite,farfromthe,machine,language,whichthe,compute,rthe,nproce,sse,s.The,opposite,ofthisisthe,lowle,ve,llanguage,,whichusuallyre,fe,rstoasse,mblylanguage,ormachine,code,.Inothe,rwords,Pythonisclose,toE,nglish.Thisallowsyoutowrite,code,asfastasyouwrite,anyse,nte,nce,,once,youle,arnthe,rule,sandthe,syntax.

Powe,rful:Some,time,sPythonislooke,ddownuponbe,cause,itissoe,asytole,arnandit’susuallythe,firstlanguage,programme,rse,xplore,,whe,the,ronthe,irownoratcompute,rscie,nce,101.Howe,ve,r,Pythonisave,rypowe,rfullanguage,thatisjustasve,rsatile,ande,fficie,ntasmore,comple,xlanguage,ssuchasC++.Pythonisuse,dine,ve,ryte,chnicalde,partme,ntincompanie,slike,Google,,Microsoft,IBM,Xe,rox,NASA,andmanymore,.Youcane,ve,nuse,Pythoningame,de,ve,lopme,ntifyoupre,fe,rtopractice,aprogramminglanguage,inamore,artisticway.

OOP:Obje,ctorie,nte,dprogrammingismanytime,sthe,optimalcompute,rproble,msolve,r.Itisame,thodologythatoffe,rsame,thodofde,finingdataandactionsasobje,cts.Thistype,ofprogrammingisnotalwaysne,ce,ssary,howe,ve,r,whe,nworkingonlarge,applicationsitisusuallythe,mostoptimalapproach.Forinstance,,programminglanguage,ssuchasC#andJavaare,obje,ctorie,nte,d.Pythoncanbe,conside,re,danobje,ctorie,nte,dlanguage,aswe,ll,howe,ve,rthisfe,ature,isoptional.The,othe,rme,ntione,dlanguage,sdon’toffe,rsuchve,rsatility.Thisme,ansthatwithPythonyoudon’tne,ce,ssarilyhave,tole,arnthe,obje,ctorie,nte,dme,thodologyfromthe,start.Thisisone,ofthe,re,asonswhyit’ssomuche,asie,rtostartprogrammingwithPythonthanC++.Howe,ve,r,youhave,the,massive,be,ne,fitsofOOPatyourfinge,rtips,butonlywhe,nyouactuallyne,e,dit.Ifyouare,workingonabasicprogram,the,re,’snone,e,dforit.Pythonoffe,rsyouallthe,powe,randve,rsatilityyoune,e,d.

Compute,r-frie,ndly:YoucanrunPythononanykindofcompute,r.Youdon’tne,e,dapowe,rfulcompute,rproce,ssingunitandagre,atde,alofRAMtostartprogramming.Youcane,ve,nuse,acre,ditcard-size,dcompute,rlike,the,Raspbe,rryPi.Infact,Pythonre,quire,ssolittle,thatitisone,ofthe,toplanguage,suse,dincre,atinglittle,robotsthatare,ope,rate,dby$5compute,rs.Inaddition,Pythonrunsonanyope,ratingsyste,m,whe,the,rit’sLinux,Windows,orMac.The,programsyouwrite,donotde,pe,ndonthe,platform.YoucanworkonanapplicationonyourWindowsrunningcompute,randthe,nswitchittoyourMac.Forinstance,,ifyoufinishe,dcre,atingaprogramandyoune,e,dbe,tate,ste,rs,youcane,mailyourproje,cttoafrie,ndthatuse,sLinuxandanothe,rone,withWindows.The,programwillwork.

Language,adaptability:Ifyoue,ve,rwrite,aprograminanothe,rlanguage,,youcaninte,grate,Pythonwithinit.Inothe,rwords,youcanuse,Pythononaprogramthatwaswritte,ninJava.Inaddition,youalsocombine,Pythonwithanothe,rlanguage,inorde,rtotake,advantage,ofthe,be,ne,fitsthatare,offe,re,dbybothofthe,m.Forinstance,,youcaninte,grate,CorC++inorde,rtobe,ne,fitfromthe,syste,moptimizationandspe,e,dthatthe,yoffe,r.

It’sfre,e,:E,ve,ryone,like,sfre,e,stuffandPythonwon’tcostyouace,nt.Youcanalwaysdownloadandinstallitforfre,e,asmanytime,sasyouwant.Inaddition,Pythonisanope,nsource,language,,whichme,ansthatthe,lice,nse,e,ve,nallowsyoutomake,modificationstothe,source,code,.Thisme,ansthatyoucanmodifyPythonandthe,nse,llyourownve,rsionofit.Youmightnotbe,inte,re,ste,dinthe,se,fe,ature,satthispoint,butitisone,ofthe,re,asonswhyit’ssuchapopularlanguage,.

Community:Be,ingapowe,rfulandve,rsatile,ope,nsource,programminglanguage,bringsthe,be,ne,fitofcommunity.The,re,are,manyonline,communitie,sde,dicate,dtote,achingandle,arninge,ve,rythingthe,re,istoknowaboutPython.Youcanaskque,stionsononline,boardsorse,e,kthe,advice,ofamaste,rprogramme,r.Youcanalsose,e,kfe,llowstude,ntsandworkonaproje,cttoge,the,r.Python’spopularityhasgathe,re,damassive,crowdarounditandyoushouldtake,advantage,ofit.

Installing Python

Be,fore, you can start programming, you ne,e,d to download and install Python on your machine,. The, installation is quite, straightforward no matte,r what ope,rating syste,m you’re, running, howe,ve,r you do ne,e,d to pay atte,ntion to a couple, of things.

First, you ne,e,d to he,ad to Python’s home,page, at www.python.org and he,ad to the, Downloads se,ction. The,re, you will se,e, a numbe,r of diffe,re,nt installe,rs and e,ach one, of the,m has a diffe,re,nt ve,rsion. Make, sure, to download the, right installe,r that matche,s your compute,r’s ope,rating syste,m and se,le,ct the, late,st ve,rsion.

Once, the, download is comple,te,, run the, installe,r and follow the, ste,ps. You should simply acce,pt the, standard se,ttings and once, the, installation is comple,te,, you’re, re,ady to go.

If for some, re,ason you don’t want to install Python, you may notice, that on the, we,bsite,’s home,page, you have, some, kind of a console,. This is a Python online, console, and you can use, it to practice, your coding skills, or to try out some, of the, e,xample,s in this book. It’s advisable, for you to type, the, code, yourse,lf, e,ve,n if you copy it from the, book, and the,n try to be, cre,ative, with it. You ne,e,d to practice, in orde,r to me,morize, the, syntax and spe,cific commands, and the, online, console, is re,ally handy for a quick practice, se,ssion.

Using a Te,xt E,ditor

Python programming can be, done, with ne,arly any kind of plain te,xt e,ditor. You can use, programs like, Note,pad, Note,pad++, ge,dit, and many more,. Ke,e,p in mind that some, of the,se, te,xt e,ditors come, with a varie,ty of fe,ature,s that are, use,ful to programme,rs. For instance, some, of the,m, such as Note,pad++ offe,r syntax