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Tae'lur Alexis 🦄⚛
Tae'lur Alexis 🦄⚛

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at taeluralexis.com

#100DaysOfPython Day 1: Hello World, Data Types & Strings

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What Led Me To Choose Python As My 2nd Language and why blog?

Frankly, I needed a break from front-end development with JavaScript and wanted to dive deep into a new language. I love how Python is used practically everywhere from machine learning, robotics, fintech, freaking NASA, etc. My goals are to build bots that track the prices of products, create helpful developer tools snd get a better understanding of CS concepts and build full-stack projects. I could've easily done all of those things with JS but why not something different?

My mission is to always encourage people to not be afraid to be open about learning something new. We are all a novice at something.

My plan is to make it a nightly habit to convert my handwritten notes into blog posts. I'm treating the series as merely a digital collection of notes to share with the community as opposed to traditional tutorials. I encourage everyone of all experience levels to try as well. It's a great way to review and solidify your learnings as well as great practice for bettering your communication skills for technical interviews

Update: My collection of notes will always be updated as I learn more things. They are notes, not comprehensive tutorials. I'm merely posting as I actively learn. I do not claim to be a Pythonista, I am not an expert.

The Journey to Hello World

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So after installing Anaconda, I started writing Python code using the Jupyter Notebook that's typically located on localhost:8888.

You use the print() function to print "hello world" and then boom. That's it.

Data Types

                       
NameData TypeMeaning
integersintwhole numbers like 1, 2, 3
Floating point float numbers with decimal point like 100.00 or 30.2
Strings str Ordered sequence of characters that uses double or single quotes like "hello" or 'hello'
Lists list ordered sequence of objects; similar to JS arrays
Dictionaries dict unordered key:value pairs
Tuples tup ordered immutable sequence of objects
Sets set unordered collection of unique objects
Booleans bool logical value either True or False

Arithmetic Operations

           
OperationSymbol MeaningExample
Addition + To Add 2 + 2
Subtraction - To Subtract 2 - 2
Division / To Divide 2 / 2
Multiplication * To Multiply 2 * 2
Modulo Operator % To return the remainder after a division 5 % 5 = 0

Variables, Done The Python Way

Python is dynamically typed like JavaScript, meaning you can reassign variables to different data types. Statically typed languages like C++ are more strict because you must define the type of value a variable is set to when you first initialize the variable and prevents the occurrence of bugs.

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The type() function is a built-in method in Python that lets you check the data type of a variable in case you ever forget!

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Part I About Strings

Notes about strings will be continued in Day 2 of the #100DaysOfPython series and that will go more in depth about slicing, indexing, print formatting and more which I'm exciting about blogging about tonight because I definitely fucked up on it lol.

A string is an ordered sequences of characters, meaning each character within a string has its own ordered position. This allows you to easily grab or a character within a string using index notation

Character: h e l l o
Index: 0 1 2 3 4

The whitespace within a string count as a character too

Index Notation

Indexing allows you to grab a single character from a string using index notation. Remember space within the string counts as characters!

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The len function checks the length of a string.

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Escape Sequence

Definition: Special commands inside of your string.

Example:

To create a tab in your string use /n

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Reverse Indexing in a string

Allows you to grab the last used letter in a string

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Slicing

Grabs a subset or group of characters in a string

Remember start:stop:step !

Start- A numerical index for starting the slice

Stop- index you will go up to but dont include

Step- size of the leap you take

What Will I Learn Next in Day 2 of the #100DaysOfPython series?

  • Lists and Tuples
  • Sets and Dictionaries

Top comments (26)

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sararf22 profile image
SaraRF22

I'm currently learning paython, and I learned all about fundamentals , but I'm still struggling how to write functions with multiple parameters , setting the write decisions!, with this I decided to go back and focusing on basics , algorithms.

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digdugprophetie profile image
ادريس م

Nice start. Will follow and see the similarities/differences between my experiences coming into Python from an old-school Unix admin background, and yours as a frontend dev. All the best!

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taeluralexis profile image
Tae'lur Alexis 🦄⚛

Thank you! I hope you enjoy 🙏🏽

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jnario profile image
Jose Nario

Welcome to Python.. Good luck on the 100 days!

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eli profile image
Eli Bierman

Great post! I love this notes format.

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taeluralexis profile image
Tae'lur Alexis 🦄⚛

Thank you 💙

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sirish_bhatta profile image
Sirish Bhatta

Thanks. Completed day 1 and 2 so far. Coming from SQL world (Oracle, sql server, ssis, Ssrs Tableau), so far I am following along. Thanks for putting this together!

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taeluralexis profile image
Tae'lur Alexis 🦄⚛

Congrats! Keep going 💙👏🏽

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cesarau0619 profile image
Cesar Augusto

Nices pots

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kodondi profile image
kodondi

Good start up

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Suresh

It was really interesting and looking forward to the next post so I can complete it quickly. Thank you for taking time to write this for the community.

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Joel Lau

Great post! Love the format and how succinct it is. Noticed you made a small typo though

typo

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awwsmm profile image
Andrew (he/him)

Hi Tae'lur! I follow you on Twitter! Good to see you here on DEV. I'm looking forward to following your 100 Days of Python! It sounds like quite the challenge!

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taeluralexis profile image
Tae'lur Alexis 🦄⚛

Thank you 💙

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