So, what is python, and why should you use it? To quote an official blurb, it is “an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics.”  Python is a programming language that know how to stay out of your way when you write your programs that are clear and readable.

Installing Python

Before you can start programming, you need some new softwares. You can simply visit http://python.org/download to get the most recent version of python. I am using python 2.6.2.

Windows

→ Open a browser and go to http://python.org/download
→ You should see several links here, with names such as Python 2.6.x windows installer. Click the windows installer link to download the installer file.

Linux and UNIX

In most Linux and UNIX installation, a Python interpreter will already be present. You can check whether this is the case for you by running python command at the prompt, as follows:

$ python

Running this command should start the interactive python interpreter, with the output similar to the following:

To exit the interpreter, use CTRL + D.

If there is no Python interpreter installed, you will probably get an error message similar to the following:

bash: python: command not found

In that case, you need to install Python yourself.

If you are running Debian Linux, you should be able to install Python with the following command:

$ apt-get install python

if you’re running Gentoo Linux, you should be able to use Portage, like this:

$ emerge python

In both cases $ is, of course, the bash prompt.

The Interactive Interpreter

When you start up your Python, you get prompt similar to the following:

This might not seem very interesting, but believe me – it i. This is your first step in taking control of your computer. In more pragmatic terms, its an interactive Python Interpreter. Try the following:

>>> print “Hello World”

When you press the Enter key, the following output appears:

Hello World

>>>

What happened here? The >>> thing is the prompt. You can write something in this space, like print “Hello World”. If you press Enter, the Python interpreter prints out the string Hello World and you get a new prompt below that.

If you feel like it, play around with the interpreter some more. For some guidance, try entering the command help at the prompt and pressing Enter.

In Day 2, I will tell you some basic stuffs like number and expressions, variable, statements etc. etc.