Week 5 - BALT 4396 - Learning Python with ChatGPT and Google Colab Chapters 1-4

Python

Python is a highly versatile programming language that aids in web development, data analysis and visualization, machine learning and AI, automation and scripting, game development, desktop applications, networking and security, scientific computing, blockchain and cryptocurrency, and the Internet of Things. Google Colab can be very useful for Python development as it can be used on basically any computer as all of the processing is mainly done through cloud computing.

Print Statement

Utilizing the print statement 'print ("Hello, World!")' can be extremely helpful as an introductory learning tool for those learning Python as it can take a simple task such as this and post it in the script as "Hello World!"

There are also forms of comments within Python that can be single-line and or multi-line comments. Despite not officially supporting multi-line comments, using triple-quoted strings achieves a similar effect. Although they are technically considered strings and not comments, one can interpret them as such.

Indentation

Indentation serves its role in Python by defining the structure of code blocks. Code blocks are used to create and define boundaries for loops, conditional statements, functions, and class definitions. Consistency throughout is important as mixing spaces and tabs can lead to errors in the code and errors in this code will produce an 'IndentationError.'

Practical Example: Consider a simple Python script that iterates through a list of numbers, checks if each number is even or odd, and prints a message for each condition. Here's how indentation plays a role in the script:

Variables

Variables are used to store data that the program can manipulate and its usage extends itself into many different areas with declaration and assignment, naming conventions, data types, variable scope, basic operations, and data structures. Google Colab offers a hands-on exercise on how to declare variables, perform operations, and display results.