tfcb_2021

Lecture 6: Introduction to Python

This section introduces the first of the programming languages we’ll be using this semester: Python. These two lectures introduce you to the main syntax, data types, data structures, and programming structures in Python. We’ll be continuing to develop your Python skills throughout the rest of the quarter, so a good grasp on the fundamentals in this section will be especially important. We’ve included a number of practice exercises in this section to help you gauge your understanding of the material.

Learning objectives

After this section, you should be able to:

• Write and execute Python code using Jupyter notebooks
• Manipulate basic data types and structures in Python
• Apply the general programming structures of for loops and defining functions
• Work with Python modules and system commands

Class materials

• We’ll be using Jupyter notebooks as our interface for Python, so we recommend installing Anaconda (this also installs many of the other packages we’ll be using in Python this semester).
• The content for this lecture (as well as lecture 7) is contained in the Jupyter notebook lecture06.ipynb located in this directory. The example code and practice exercises are executable as code cells in that notebook. For additional background on Jupyter notebooks, please see this link.

Reminders

• Homework deadlines:
  • Homework 3 (intro to python) will be finalized by end-of-day October 21 and due October 28th.