Lesson
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Note: This course is currently being written in American English: words like colour, centre, and maths are written color, center, and math. |
This quick lesson will help you understand the basics of Python, while helping to explain some jargon that you'll hear later on.
The Basics
- First off, a comment is a number sign,
#, (also called a hashtag in social media) followed by some text. A comment is a human readable sentence that Python will ignore. For example, # This is a comment! will not be interpreted by Python.
- Second, if you ever see three greater than signs (
>>>) and three periods (...), then this implies that the Python shell is being used. Refer back to the previous lesson on how to access the shell.
- Thirdly, a variable is a namespace , like
var and somevar, and it can hold a Python data type, like a number or string that you'll learn about later.
- Fourth, like the previous lesson stated, Python 3.X will be used in this course, so make sure you don't use Python 2.X or you'll definitely get an error message.
- Fifth, a python script is just a plain text file with python code in it. Refer back to the previous lesson for more information.
Python Jargon
- CPython: The original Python implementation written in C.
- IDLE: Stands for Integrated Development Environment. It bundled with a CPython installation.
- Namespace: The name of a variable.
- PEP: Stands for Python Enhancement Proposals. These documents rationally govern Python.
- PSF: Stands for Python Software Foundation. This non-profit organization helps maintain and advance Python.
- Pythonic: Something that follows the idioms of Python.
- Shell: A simple GUI that can print output and capture input.
- Unpythonic: Opposite of Pythonic. Something that doesn't follow or goes against the idioms of Python.
- Zen of Python: Formally known as PEP 20. A document that closely expresses Python's principles and philosophies.
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