Programming with Python

Python is an easy-to-learn, but real-world programming language. It is used by engineers around the world, and is one computer language you’ll learn when you get to college.

Python is a good way for programming larger applications, including solving your homework problems! For instance, if you raise 2 to the 100th power, \(2^{100}\), on your calculator, you will get an approximation in exponential notation, like 1.267650600E30 (the calculator’s way of saying \(1.267650600\times 10^{30}\)).

But what happened to the rest of the numbers? If I put that problem in Python (typing: 2 ** 100), I get all the numbers:

1267650600228229401496703205376

Use a web browser (like Safari, Firefox or Chrome) and follow the lectures and exercises at CodeAcademy at: http://www.codecademy.com/skills/python

Once you’ve learned Python, go to: http://www.python.org and download Python 3.4.2 for your computer system.

Next go to: https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/ And download PyCharm, a way to write and run Python programs.