Python Getting Started

By Arvind Rai, November 06, 2018
This page will walk through getting started with Python. Python is an easy-to-learn object-oriented programming language. Python is an interpreted language with elegant syntax and dynamic typing. Python codes are written in .py file extension. We can install Python in our system downloading directly from Python website or we can use python installers such as Anaconda, Enthought Canopy, Python(x,y), WinPython etc. To develop Python projects we can use Python IDEs such as Thonny, Komodo, LiClipse, NetBeans, Spyder, LiClipse etc. To work with Python web project we can use Python web frameworks such as Django, Pyramid, TurboGears, Flask, Bottle, CherryPy, Sanic, Tornado etc. In our demo we will install Python 3 using Anaconda that will install Python in our system and many tools for Python development such as Spyder, Jupyter Notebook etc. To create Python web project we will use Django web framework which is bundled with its own lightweight and standalone server. Now we will get started with Python step-by-step.

Technologies Used

Find the technologies being used in our example.
1. Python 3.7.0
2. Anaconda 5.3
3. Django 2.1.2

Python Installation

To install Python, visit the link.
1. Installing Python on Windows 7 may pop up message as "Windows 7 service pack 1 and all applicable updates are required to install python". So before installing Python on Windows 7, we need to install service pack 1.

2. We can also use Anaconda Distribution that will install Python in our system and other required libraries. To install Python using Anaconda Distribution on Windows 7, it does not require service pack 1. In our tutorial we will install Anaconda Distribution for Python.

Install Anaconda

To install Anaconda, visit the link. In our demo we are installing Anaconda 5.3 that will install Python 3.7.0 in our system. After Anaconda installation, we can see following items in our programs.

1. Anaconda Navigator
Anaconda Navigator provides application links such as Jupyter Lab, Jupyter Notebook, Qt Console, Spyder, VS code etc. It also provides Anaconda environment information and links for leaning and community.
2. Anaconda Prompt
Using Anaconda prompt we can run python command and write python scripts. Anaconda prompt also runs conda and pip command that can be used to manage python packages and install required plugin or tools.
3. Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebook is a web application that is used to create and share documents containing live code, text etc.
4. Spyder
Spyder is an IDE for Python development. We can run and debug Python code and can launch IPython console.
5. Reset Spyder settings
It resets Spyder IDE settings.

Working with Anaconda Prompt

Using Anaconda prompt we can run python command and write python scripts and can run conda and pip command. Here we will create a sample Python code and run it using Anaconda Prompt.
Go to the Anaconda prompt and type python command. We will see following message.
(base) C:\Users\Arvind>python
Python 3.7.0 (default, Jun 28 2018, 08:04:48) [MSC v.1912 64 bit (AMD64)] :: Anaconda,
Inc. on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. 
To know Python version, we can use following command from Anaconda prompt.
python --version 
Now write a sample Python code. Here we are using for loop to print array elements. Find the code
>>> persons = ["Mahesh", "Krishna", "Vishnu"]
>>> for p in persons:print(p) 
Output will be as following.
Mahesh
Krishna
Vishnu 
Find the print screen.
Python Getting Started
To exit from Python console, use exit() command. Now we will write code in in a file. File extension should be .py . Suppose we have following file.
person_details.py
persons = ["Mahesh", "Krishna", "Vishnu"]
for p in persons:
    print(p) 
Open the Anaconda Prompt and navigate to the person_details.py file location and run following command.
python person_details.py 

Working with Jupyter Notebook

Jupyter Notebook is a web application that is used to create and share documents containing live code, text etc. Here we will write and run sample Python code using Jupyter Notebook.
Go to the Jupyter Notebook and we will see a message in command prompt as following.
Copy/paste this URL into your browser when you connect for the first time,
to login with a token:
    http://localhost:8888/?token=68acf093500c313791571a8cc009e645bda53a3b83bfa9f5 
Access the above URL in web browser. Click on the New button on the right side and select Python 3. We will reach to a URL as following.
http://localhost:8888/notebooks/Untitled1.ipynb?kernel_name=python3 
This URL (not localhost) can be used from anywhere to write, edit and run the code. Write a sample code as following.
num = 8
if num >= 5:
    print("Number greater than 5")
else:
    print("Number less than 5") 
Code is saved automatically. Now run the program using Run button given on the header. Output will be as following.
Number greater than 5 
Find the print screen.
Python Getting Started

Working with Spyder IDE

Spyder is an IDE for Python development. We can run and debug Python code using Spyder.

Note: If Spyder is opening black screen, it is the pyqt issue. Run the conda install pyqt=5.6 command from Anaconda Prompt and after installing pyqt, rerun the Spyder.

On the left side, by default, we will see a temp.py file where we can write Python code and run using run button in the header. On the bottom we will see IPython Console where we will get output. On the right side and at the top we can see the file explorer using which we can open the directory that contains our Python files and access the file that will open on left side. Suppose we access following file in Spyder IDE and run it.
chant_name.py
num = 1
while num <= 3:
  print("Ram")
  num += 1 
Output in IPython console.
Ram
Ram
Ram 
Find the print screen.
Python Getting Started

Python Web Development using Django

For the Python web development, there are many frameworks such as Django, Pyramid, TurboGears, Flask, Bottle, CherryPy, Sanic, Tornado etc. Here in our demo we will create Python web project using Django framework. Django web framework is bundled with its own lightweight and standalone server for development and testing.
1. Install Django
To install Django, open the Anaconda Prompt and run the following command.
conda install -c anaconda django 
To confirm the Django installation, run the command.
django-admin --version 
2. Create Virtual Environment
To work with Django project, first we need to create virtual environment. Open the Anaconda Prompt and run the following command.
conda create -n myDjangoEnv python=3.7 anaconda 
The above command will create virtual environment within the envs directory inside the anaconda installation directory. We can also assign the desired path for virtual environment using following command.
conda create -n F:\project\python\myDjangoEnv python=3.7 anaconda 
3. Create Project
Now we will create our Django project. Navigate to the required location using Anaconda Prompt where we want to create our Django project and run the following command.
django-admin startproject myDjangoProject 
We will get following directory and file structure.
myDjangoProject
    |
    |--manage.py
    |--myDjangoProject
    |       |
    |       |--__init__.py
    |       |--settings.py
    |       |--urls.py
    |       |--wsgi.py 
Now navigate to myDjangoProject root directory using Anaconda Prompt and run following command.
python manage.py runserver 
The above command will start the project at following URL.
http://127.0.0.1:8000/ 
Access the above URL on browser and we will see Django success message. To change the IP and port, we can use following command.
python manage.py runserver 127.0.0.1:8282 
This will start project at 8282 port.
4. Create web page with "Hello World!" message
Look into the urls.py file.
urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
] 
The /admin/ URL is created by default. Now we will create our own URL that will display "Hello World!" message.
First import HttpResponse as following.
from django.http import HttpResponse 
Now define the view.
def helloWorld(request):
   return HttpResponse(
        '<h1>Hello World!</h1>'
   ) 
Configure URL pattern.
urlpatterns = [
    path('hello/', helloWorld),    
    ------
] 
Complete urls.py file will look as following.
urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path
from django.http import HttpResponse

def helloWorld(request):
   return HttpResponse(
        '<h1>Hello World!</h1>'
   )	

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    path('hello/', helloWorld),    
] 
Now access the below URL.
http://localhost:8000/hello/ 
Find the print screen.
Python Getting Started
5. Using variables in HTML template
First we need to import engines as following.
from django.template import engines 
Now create the definition for address that has name and city as variable.
def personAddress(request):

    address_template = '''<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <title>Address</title>
    </head>
    <body>
      <p>Name: {{ name }}</p>
      <p>City: {{ city }}</p>
      <p><a href="{% url 'helloPage' %}">Return to the Hello Page</a>.</p>
    </body>
    </html>
    '''
    
    name = 'Mahesh'
    city = 'Varanasi'
    
    django_engine = engines['django']
    template = django_engine.from_string(address_template)
    html = template.render({'name': name, 'city': city})

    return HttpResponse(html) 
In our HTML template we are also adding a link to navigate to hello page. Now find the URL pattern.
urlpatterns = [
    path('hello/', helloWorld, name="helloPage"),  
    path('address/', personAddress),    
    ------
] 
Find the complete urls.py file.
urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path
from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.template import engines

# Hello world
def helloWorld(request):
   return HttpResponse(
        '<h1>Hello World!</h1>'
   )	
   
# Using variable in HTML template   
def personAddress(request):

    address_template = '''<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <title>Address</title>
    </head>
    <body>
      <p>Name: {{ name }}</p>
      <p>City: {{ city }}</p>
      <p><a href="{% url 'helloPage' %}">Return to the Hello Page</a>.</p>
    </body>
    </html>
    '''
    
    name = 'Mahesh'
    city = 'Varanasi'
    
    django_engine = engines['django']
    template = django_engine.from_string(address_template)
    html = template.render({'name': name, 'city': city})

    return HttpResponse(html)      

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    path('hello/', helloWorld, name="helloPage"),  
    path('address/', personAddress),    
] 
Access the URL as following.
http://localhost:8000/address/ 
6. Access URL query parameters
Find the definition for welcome page by name. We will pass name as query parameter in URL.
def welcome(request):
    name = request.GET.get('name', '')
    return HttpResponse(
        '<h1>Welcome '+ name +'!</h1>'
    ) 
Add the URL pattern as following.
urlpatterns = [
    path('welcome/', welcome),   
    ------ 
] 
Find the complete urls.py file.
urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path
from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.template import engines

# Hello world
def helloWorld(request):
   return HttpResponse(
        '<h1>Hello World!</h1>'
   )	
   
# Using variable in HTML template   
def personAddress(request):

    address_template = '''<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
      <title>Address</title>
    </head>
    <body>
      <p>Name: {{ name }}</p>
      <p>City: {{ city }}</p>
      <p><a href="{% url 'helloPage' %}">Return to the Hello Page</a>.</p>
    </body>
    </html>
    '''
    
    name = 'Mahesh'
    city = 'Varanasi'
    
    django_engine = engines['django']
    template = django_engine.from_string(address_template)
    html = template.render({'name': name, 'city': city})

    return HttpResponse(html)    

# Access URL query parameters
def welcome(request):
    name = request.GET.get('name', '')
    return HttpResponse(
        '<h1>Welcome '+ name +'!</h1>'
    )	

urlpatterns = [
    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
    path('hello/', helloWorld, name="helloPage"),  
    path('address/', personAddress),  
    path('welcome/', welcome),    
] 
Access the URL as following.
http://localhost:8000/welcome/?name=Mahesh 

References

Home - Python Programming Language
The Python Tutorial
Home - Anaconda
Django
POSTED BY
ARVIND RAI
ARVIND RAI







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