Python Basics Course

Explore Python internals: the interpreter translates Python code line by line into machine friendly code, covering C Python, seitan, and Jonathan written in Java.

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Explore what Python is, why it powers many tasks, and why it is easy, free, and open source. Learn to install Python 3, use the shell, and run .py files.

Explore the Python print function in this basics lecture: learn its built-in nature, pass string arguments, and control output with end, sep, and newline.

Explore Python literals, including integers (with octal and hexadecimal formats), floating point numbers, strings with quotes and escape sequences, and booleans, plus how underscores aid readability.

Explore Python arithmetic operators, including exponentiation (**), division, floor division, and modulo. Learn how integer and floating point results differ and how operator precedence and parentheses shape expressions.

Define and use variables to store values, assign two and five to named variables, print results, and update values with assignment and shortcut operators like +=.

Learn how Python comments use a hash to add developer notes without affecting execution; aim for self-documenting code, avoid over-commenting, and know when to comment out unused code.

Use the input function to prompt the user at the console and store data as a string in a variable. Typecast with int or float to enable arithmetic.

Use the plus operator to concatenate strings, the asterisk to repeat them, and the STR function to convert int or float numbers to strings.

Learn Python's comparison operators to compare values, including equal, not equal, greater than, greater than or equal to, less than, and less than or equal to, for conditional coding.

Explore Python conditional statements using if, elif, and else with proper colon and indentation to control code execution, such as printing 'you're an adult' when age is at least 18.

Learn how the while keyword runs code while a condition is true, looping until the user guesses the secret number, with an else block for congratulations.

Learn how to use for loops with the range function, control variables, if statements, break and continue, and while and for in loops, with hands-on labs.

Learn Python boolean operators and conditional logic by using if and else with two ages and, or, not to print adult or child outcomes.

Explore bitwise operators in Python, including and, or, xor, and not, and bit shifting, right and left shifts, division and multiplication, noting they cannot be used with floating point numbers.

Explore how to work with lists in Python, including creating, indexing, accessing by positive and negative indices, updating values, using len, and deleting items by index, with practical examples.

Learn to manipulate lists in Python using built-in methods such as append, insert, sort, and reverse. Swap values with a one-line assignment and note that sort modifies the original list.

Iterate over a list with a for loop, use the len function to get its length, and divide the total by that length to reveal the average age of 49.5.

Understand how lists store a reference to memory, unlike regular variables that hold values. Slice lists to copy values and create independent lists, then practice.

Slice lists with square brackets and start and end indices. Note that end indices are exclusive, negative indices help with unknown lengths, and slicing creates a new list in memory.

Check whether an element is in a list using the in operator, returning true when present and false when not. Learn not in for the opposite with hands-on practice.

Explore nested lists by building a 2D array (matrix) of rows and students, then access an individual element by row index and element index, with hands-on practice.

Model a school as a 3D array of classrooms in Python and retrieve a student using floor, row, and seat indices, e.g., Max on first floor, third row, second seat.

Discover built-in functions like print, len, and input, and learn to define your own functions with def, use return, and convert user input with int.

Learn how to pass values to Python functions using parameters and arguments, including positional and named parameters, defaults, and practical multiplication examples.

Learn how the return keyword controls function flow, return values, early returns, and the None value, with examples of printing sums and testing even numbers.

Learn how Python scopes variables inside a function, distinguishing local and global scope, and how the global keyword makes a function variable accessible outside its body.

Demonstrate how scalar parameters copy in memory and leave the original unchanged, while lists pass by reference, so changes affect the original nums list.

Explore tuples as immutable data types in Python, contrasting them with mutable lists. Read and access tuple elements with loops and slicing, and create one-element tuples with a trailing comma.

Learn how dictionaries in Python store key-value pairs, access data by key, and iterate over keys, values, and items, then update, add, delete, and copy entries.

Python uses exceptions to stop execution; use try and accept blocks to resume the program, handling value errors and zero division errors, with named and unnamed blocks.

Explore the Python exception hierarchy, from zero division error to arithmetic error to base Exception, and learn how branch order, raise, and assert shape robust error handling.