Python Programming
Introduction to ProgrammingThis course is designed as a first level course in high-level computer programming using python as the programming language. It is not designed to be a definitive guide to "everything python". It is rather, a course to enable you to get up to speed quickly with the relevant concepts needed to allow you to study further in this exciting field. |
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Let's start with the basics of what a computer and a computer program is...A computer without a program running has very little use. Program code is what gives computers the ability to handle tasks, and imparts a sense of intelligence. However, not even the most powerful computer can execute a task without somebody first writing code which it can then execute. Computers can perform tasks very quickly but only by following a set of instructions that the programmer has provided.These programs usually have 3 tasks that they perform: 1. Getting an input 2. Processing the input to get a result 3. Outputting the result |
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These actions put together make up a program. It is the programmer's task to write the program code using a programming language. In our case the language we are going to use is python which is regarded as a high-level programming language. The computer, however, does not natively understand this high-level language: it only understands machine code which is a complex code made up of 1's and 0's. The high-level code which is known as the source code needs to be converted into machine code before it can be executed. Each machine language has a list of instructions known as the instruction list. |
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© Peter Howells 2021. This complete course is copyrighted. The material and code contained in this course may not be duplicated or displayed in any other print or online medium.