Introduction to Python

Python is a useful general purpose programming language. Here we will go over some basic python commands from an interactive shell. To being open python3 by typing:

python3

Libraries

Downloaded python libraries can be imported interactively:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

Variables in Python

You can assign a value or values to any variable you want using the equals sign:

X = 5 # X is an integer (5) 
X = [1,2,3,4,5] # X is a list containing the first five integers

Functions can also be used:

X = range(-10,11,1) # X includes all integers between -10 and 10 counting by 1

New variables can be declared with lists:

Y = [x*x for x in X] # Y is equal to X squared

A figure can be generated:

plt.plot(X,Y)

And viewed:

plt.show()