Lecture - Getting Started¶

Programming¶

The process of designing instructions for a computer is called programming.

Everything a computer does is just 1's and 0's.

But humans don't communicate well in 1's and 0's.

So instead of programming in 1's and 0's, we use programming languages. We call instructions written in a programming language code.

Special programs translate code into 1's and 0's.

Python is:

  1. A programming language
  2. A program that can interpret instructions written in Python and translate them into instructions the OS will understand.

Miniconda¶

Miniconda is the program we will use to install and manage python.

https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html

Code Editor¶

We write code using a code editor.

Just like you write documents using a document editor (e.g Microsoft Word), there are programs to make writing code easer.

In this class we will use PyCharm. It is a code editor designed especially for Python.

PyCharm¶

  • Project
  • Folders
  • Files