Starting out with Python
Fifth Edition, Global Edition
Chapter 2
Input, Processing, and
Output
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Topics (1 of 2)
• Designing a Program
• Input, Processing, and Output
• Displaying Output with print Function
• Comments
• Variables
• Reading Input from the Keyboard
• Performing Calculations
• String Concatenation
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Topics (2 of 2)
• More About The print Function
• Displaying Formatted Output
• Named Constants
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Designing a Program (1 of 3)
• Programs must be designed before they are written
• Program development cycle:
– Design the program
– Write the code
– Correct syntax errors
– Test the program
– Correct logic errors
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Designing a Program (2 of 3)
• Design is the most important part of the program
development cycle
• Understand the task that the program is to perform
– Work with customer to get a sense what the program is
supposed to do
– Ask questions about program details
– Create one or more software requirements
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Designing a Program (3 of 3)
• Determine the steps that must be taken to perform the
task
– Break down required task into a series of steps
– Create an algorithm, listing logical steps that must be
taken
• Algorithm: set of well-defined logical steps that must
be taken to perform a task
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Pseudocode
• Pseudocode: fake code
– Informal language that has no syntax rule
– Not meant to be compiled or executed
– Used to create model program
▪ No need to worry about syntax errors, can focus on
program’s design
▪ Can be translated directly into actual code in any
programming language
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Flowcharts (1 of 2)
• Flowchart: diagram that graphically depicts the steps
in a program
– Ovals are terminal symbols
– Parallelograms are input and output symbols
– Rectangles are processing symbols
– Symbols are connected by arrows that represent the
flow of the program
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Flowcharts (2 of 2)
Figure 2-2 The program development cycle
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Input, Processing, and Output
• Typically, computer performs three-step process
– Receive input
▪ Input: any data that the program receives while it is
running
– Perform some process on the input
▪ Example: mathematical calculation
– Produce output
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Displaying Output with the print
Function
• Function: piece of prewritten code that performs an
operation
• print function: displays output on the screen
• Argument: data given to a function
– Example: data that is printed to screen
• Statements in a program execute in the order that
they appear
– From top to bottom
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Strings and String Literals
• String: sequence of characters that is used as data
• String literal: string that appears in actual code of a
program
– Must be enclosed in single (') or double (") quote marks
– String literal can be enclosed in triple quotes (''' or """)
▪ Enclosed string can contain both single and double quotes and
can have multiple lines
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Comments
• Comments: notes of explanation within a program
– Ignored by Python interpreter
▪ Intended for a person reading the program’s code
– Begin with a # character
• End-line comment: appears at the end of a line of
code
– Typically explains the purpose of that line
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Variables
• Variable: name that represents a value stored in the
computer memory
– Used to access and manipulate data stored in memory
– A variable references the value it represents
• Assignment statement: used to create a variable and
make it reference data
– General format is variable = expression
▪ Example: age = 29
▪ Assignment operator: the equal sign (=)
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Variables (cont’d.)
• In assignment statement, variable receiving value
must be on left side
• A variable can be passed as an argument to a
function
– Variable name should not be enclosed in quote marks
• You can only use a variable if a value is assigned to it
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Variable Naming Rules
• Rules for naming variables in Python:
– Variable name cannot be a Python key word
– Variable name cannot contain spaces
– First character must be a letter or an underscore
– After first character may use letters, digits, or
underscores
– Variable names are case sensitive
• Variable name should reflect its use
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Displaying Multiple Items with the
print Function
• Python allows one to display multiple items with a
single call to print
– Items are separated by commas when passed as
arguments
– Arguments displayed in the order they are passed to
the function
– Items are automatically separated by a space when
displayed on screen
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Variable Reassignment
• Variables can reference different values while program
is running
• Garbage collection: removal of values that are no
longer referenced by variables
– Carried out by Python interpreter
• A variable can refer to item of any type
– Variable that has been assigned to one type can be
reassigned to another type
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Numeric Data Types, Literals, and the
str Data Type
• Data types: categorize value in memory
– e.g., int for integer, float for real number, str used for
storing strings in memory
• Numeric literal: number written in a program
– No decimal point considered int, otherwise, considered
float
• Some operations behave differently depending on
data type
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Reassigning a Variable to a Different
Type
• A variable in Python can refer to items of any type
Figure 2-7 The variable x references an integer
Figure 2-8 The variable x references a string
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Reading Input from the Keyboard
• Most programs need to read input from the user
• Built-in input function reads input from keyboard
– Returns the data as a string
– Format: variable = input(prompt)
▪ prompt is typically a string instructing user to enter a value
– Does not automatically display a space after the
prompt
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Reading Numbers with the input
Function
• input function always returns a string
• Built-in functions convert between data types
– int(item) converts item to an int
– float(item) converts item to a float
– Nested function call: general format:
function1(function2(argument))
▪ value returned by function2 is passed to function1
– Type conversion only works if item is valid numeric
value, otherwise, throws exception
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Performing Calculations
• Math expression: performs calculation and gives a
value
– Math operator: tool for performing calculation
– Operands: values surrounding operator
▪ Variables can be used as operands
– Resulting value typically assigned to variable
• Two types of division:
– / operator performs floating point division
– // operator performs integer division
▪ Positive results truncated, negative rounded away from zero
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Operator Precedence and Grouping
with Parentheses
• Python operator precedence:
1. Operations enclosed in parentheses
▪ Forces operations to be performed before others
2. Exponentiation (**)
3. Multiplication (*), division (/ and //), and remainder
(%)
4. Addition (+) and subtraction (-)
• Higher precedence performed first
– Same precedence operators execute from left to right
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The Exponent Operator and the
Remainder Operator
• Exponent operator (**): Raises a number to a power
– x ** y = xy
• Remainder operator (%): Performs division and returns
the remainder
– a.k.a. modulus operator
– e.g., 4%2=0, 5%2=1
– Typically used to convert times and distances, and to
detect odd or even numbers
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Converting Math Formulas to
Programming Statements
• Operator required for any mathematical operation
• When converting mathematical expression to
programming statement:
– May need to add multiplication operators
– May need to insert parentheses
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Mixed-Type Expressions and Data Type
Conversion
• Data type resulting from math operation depends on
data types of operands
– Two int values: result is an int
– Two float values: result is a float
– int and float: int temporarily converted to float,
result of the operation is a float
▪ Mixed-type expression
– Type conversion of float to int causes truncation of
fractional part
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Breaking Long Statements into Multiple
Lines (1 of 2)
• Long statements cannot be viewed on screen without
scrolling and cannot be printed without cutting off
• Multiline continuation character (\): Allows to break a
statement into multiple lines
result = var1 * 2 + var2 * 3 + \
var3 * 4 + var4 * 5
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Breaking Long Statements into Multiple
Lines (2 of 2)
• Any part of a statement that is enclosed in
parentheses can be broken without the line
continuation character.
print("Monday's sales are", monday,
"and Tuesday's sales are", tuesday,
"and Wednesday's sales are", Wednesday)
total = (value1 + value2 +
value3 + value4 +
value5 + value6)
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String Concatenation (1 of 2)
• To append one string to the end of another string
• Use the + operator to concatenate strings
>>> message = 'Hello ' + 'world'
>>> print(message)
Hello world
>>>
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String Concatenation (2 of 2)
• You can use string concatenation to break up a long
string literal
print('Enter the amount of ' +
'sales for each day and ' +
'press Enter.')
This statement will display the following:
Enter the amount of sales for each day and press Enter.
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Implicit String Literal Concatenation (1 of 2)
• Two or more string literals written adjacent to each
other are implicitly concatenated into a single string
>>> my_str = 'one' 'two' 'three'
>>> print(my_str)
onetwothree
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Implicit String Literal Concatenation (2 of 2)
print('Enter the amount of '
'sales for each day and '
'press Enter.')
This statement will display the following:
Enter the amount of sales for each day and press Enter.
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More About The print Function (1 of 2)
• print function displays line of output
– Newline character at end of printed data
– Special argument end='delimiter' causes print
to place delimiter at end of data instead of newline
character
• print function uses space as item separator
– Special argument sep='delimiter' causes print
to use delimiter as item separator
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More About The print Function (2 of 2)
• Special characters appearing in string literal
– Preceded by backslash (\)
▪ Examples: newline (\n), horizontal tab (\t)
– Treated as commands embedded in string
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (1 of 8)
• An f-string is a special type of string literal that is
prefixed with the letter f
>>> print(f'Hello world')
Hello world
• F-strings support placeholders for variables
>>> name = 'Johnny'
>>> print(f'Hello {name}.')
Hello Johnny.
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (2 of 8)
• Placeholders can also be expressions that are
evaluated
>>> print(f'The value is {10 + 2}.')
The value is 12.
>>> val = 10
>>> print(f'The value is {val + 2}.')
The value is 12.
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (3 of 8)
• Format specifiers can be used with placeholders
>> num = 123.456789
>> print(f'{num:.2f}')
123.46
>>>
• .2f means:
– round the value to 2 decimal places
– display the value as a floating-point number
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (4 of 8)
• Other examples:
>> num = 1000000.00
>> print(f'{num:,.2f}')
1,000,000.00
>>> discount = 0.5
>>> print(f'{discount:.0%}')
50%
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (5 of 8)
• Other examples:
>> num = 123456789
>> print(f'{num:,d}')
123,456,789
>>> num = 12345.6789
>>> print(f'{num:.2e}')
1.23e+04
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (6 of 8)
• Specifying a minimum field width:
>>> num = 12345.6789
>>> print(f'The number is {num:12,.2f}')
The number is 12,345.68
Field width = 12
The number is 12,345.68
Field width = 12
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (7 of 8)
• Aligning values within a field
– Use < for left alignment
– Use > for right alignment
– Use ^ for center alignment
• Examples:
– print(f'{num:<20.2f}')
– print(f'{num:>20.2f}')
– print(f'{num:^20.2f}')
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Displaying Formatted Output with
F-strings (8 of 8)
• The order of designators in a format specifier
– When using multiple designators in a format specifier, write them
in this order:
[alignment][width][,][.precision][type]
• Example:
– print(f'{number:^10,.2f}')
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Magic Numbers
• A magic number is an unexplained numeric value that
appears in a program’s code. Example:
amount = balance * 0.069
• What is the value 0.069? An interest rate? A fee
percentage? Only the person who wrote the code
knows for sure.
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The Problem with Magic Numbers
• It can be difficult to determine the purpose of the
number.
• If the magic number is used in multiple places in the
program, it can take a lot of effort to change the
number in each location, should the need arise.
• You take the risk of making a mistake each time you
type the magic number in the program’s code.
– For example, suppose you intend to type 0.069, but you
accidentally type .0069. This mistake will cause mathematical
errors that can be difficult to find.
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Named Constants
• You should use named constants instead of magic
numbers.
• A named constant is a name that represents a value
that does not change during the program's execution.
• Example:
INTEREST_RATE = 0.069
• This creates a named constant named
INTEREST_RATE, assigned the value 0.069. It can be
used instead of the magic number:
amount = balance * INTEREST_RATE
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Advantages of Using Named Constants
• Named constants make code self-explanatory (self-
documenting)
• Named constants make code easier to maintain
(change the value assigned to the constant, and the
new value takes effect everywhere the constant is
used)
• Named constants help prevent typographical errors
that are common when using magic numbers
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Summary
• This chapter covered:
– The program development cycle, tools for program
design, and the design process
– Ways in which programs can receive input, particularly
from the keyboard
– Ways in which programs can present and format output
– Use of comments in programs
– Uses of variables and named constants
– Tools for performing calculations in programs
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