University Course • EduArtha

Python Programming

Master Python from scratch — variables, control flow, functions, OOP, file handling, and regular expressions. Includes 15 complete lab experiments with solutions.

📚 6 Units | 14 Chapters | 15 Lab Programs | Complete Solutions

Unit I

Setting Up Your Programming Environment

Python installation, variables, expressions & statements

Chapter 1

Setting Up & Hello World

Learning Objectives

Understand Python versions and choose the right one
Install Python on Windows and configure PATH
Write and run your first Python program
Use IDLE, VS Code, and the command line
Master the print() and input() functions

1.1 What is Python?

Python is a high-level, interpreted, general-purpose programming language created by Guido van Rossum in 1991. It emphasizes code readability with its clean syntax and indentation-based block structure. Python is used everywhere — web development (Django, Flask), data science (NumPy, Pandas), AI/ML (TensorFlow, PyTorch), automation, and more.

1.2 Python 2 vs Python 3

Feature	Python 2	Python 3
Print	`print "hello"` (statement)	`print("hello")` (function)
Integer Division	`5/2 = 2`	`5/2 = 2.5`
Unicode	ASCII by default	Unicode by default
Input	`raw_input()`	`input()`
Status	End of Life (Jan 2020)	Use this!

Always Use Python 3

Python 2 reached End of Life on January 1, 2020. All new projects should use Python 3.x. As of 2025, the latest stable version is Python 3.12+.

1.3 Installing Python on Windows

Step-by-Step Installation

Go to https://www.python.org/downloads/
Click "Download Python 3.12.x" (latest stable)
IMPORTANT: Check ✅ "Add Python to PATH" on the installer
Click "Install Now" (default settings are fine)
Verify: open Command Prompt, type python --version

Command Prompt
# Verify Python installation
C:\> python --version
Python 3.12.4

# Verify pip (package installer)
C:\> pip --version
pip 24.0 from C:\Python312\Lib\site-packages\pip (python 3.12)

1.4 Your First Python Program

Create a file called hello.py and type:

Python
# hello.py — Your first Python program!
print("Hello, World!")

Hello, World!

Run it from the terminal:

Command Prompt
C:\projects> python hello.py
Hello, World!

1.5 Ways to Run Python

Method	Best For	How
IDLE	Quick testing, beginners	Comes with Python, search "IDLE" in Start
VS Code	Real projects, debugging	Install Python extension, press F5 to run
Command Line	Scripts, automation	`python filename.py`
Interactive Mode	Quick experiments	Type `python` in terminal → type code
Jupyter Notebook	Data science, learning	`pip install jupyter` → `jupyter notebook`

1.6 The print() Function

Python
# Basic printing
print("Hello, World!")           # String
print(42)                         # Number
print(3.14)                       # Float
print(True)                       # Boolean

# Multiple values
print("Name:", "Alice", "Age:", 25)
# Output: Name: Alice Age: 25

# Custom separator and end
print("A", "B", "C", sep="-")     # Output: A-B-C
print("Hello", end=" ")             # No newline at end
print("World")                     # Output: Hello World

# Escape characters
print("Line1\nLine2")              # Newline
print("Tab\there")                 # Tab
print("She said \"hi\"")            # Escaped quotes

1.7 The input() Function

Python
# Get user input
name = input("What is your name? ")
print("Hello,", name)

# input() always returns a string!
age_str = input("Enter your age: ")    # Returns "25" (a string)
age = int(age_str)                       # Convert to integer
print("Next year you'll be", age + 1)

# Shortcut: convert inline
num = int(input("Enter a number: "))
print("Double:", num * 2)

Exercises

Exercise 1.1: Write a program that asks for the user's name and age, then prints a greeting

Python
name = input("Enter your name: ")
age = int(input("Enter your age: "))
print(f"Hello {name}! You are {age} years old.")
print(f"In 5 years, you'll be {age + 5}.")

Exercise 1.2: Write a program to calculate the area of a rectangle

Python
length = float(input("Enter length: "))
width = float(input("Enter width: "))
area = length * width
perimeter = 2 * (length + width)
print(f"Area = {area}")
print(f"Perimeter = {perimeter}")

Industry Application: Automated Server Health Check Script

At companies like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, DevOps engineers write Python scripts to perform automated server health checks. These scripts run periodically (via cron jobs) to verify system status, Python environment, and uptime — printing critical diagnostics to monitoring dashboards.

Python
import platform
import sys
import os
from datetime import datetime

# Automated Server Health Check Script
print("═" * 50)
print("🖥️  SERVER HEALTH CHECK REPORT")
print("═" * 50)
print(f"Python Version : {sys.version.split()[0]}")
print(f"OS             : {platform.system()} {platform.release()}")
print(f"Machine        : {platform.machine()}")
print(f"Hostname       : {platform.node()}")
print(f"Timestamp      : {datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')}")
print(f"CPU Count      : {os.cpu_count()}")
print("═" * 50)
print("✅ Status: All systems operational")

══════════════════════════════════════════════════ 🖥️ SERVER HEALTH CHECK REPORT ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ Python Version : 3.12.4 OS : Windows 11 Machine : AMD64 Hostname : PROD-SERVER-01 Timestamp : 2025-06-15 14:32:07 CPU Count : 8 ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ ✅ Status: All systems operational

Quick Quiz — Chapter 1

Q1. Who created the Python programming language?

James Gosling
Guido van Rossum
Dennis Ritchie
Bjarne Stroustrup

✅ Answer: (b) Guido van Rossum — He created Python in 1991 at CWI, Netherlands.

Q2. What is the correct syntax for printing "Hello" in Python 3?

echo "Hello"
print("Hello")
printf("Hello")
console.log("Hello")

✅ Answer: (b) print("Hello") — print() is a built-in function in Python 3 that outputs to the console.

Q3. What data type does the input() function always return?

int
float
str
bool

✅ Answer: (c) str — input() always returns a string, even if the user types a number. Use int() or float() to convert.

Q4. Python is an _______ language, meaning code is executed line by line.

compiled
interpreted
assembled
machine-level

✅ Answer: (b) interpreted — Python uses an interpreter that executes code line by line, unlike compiled languages like C/C++.

Q5. What is the default file extension for Python scripts?

.pt
.py
.python
.pn

✅ Answer: (b) .py — Python source files use the .py extension (e.g., hello.py, app.py).

Chapter Summary

Python 3 is the current standard — always use Python 3.x
Always check "Add to PATH" when installing on Windows
print() outputs to the console, input() reads from the user
input() always returns a string — use int() or float() to convert
Use IDLE for quick tests, VS Code for real projects