Learning Outcomes
- Able to launch / exit python in the terminal and run a simple command
- Able to import libraries
- Check python version
- Understand weakness of jit compilation
Contents
Hello World
Open the Terminal and type
$ python
This should then load the basic python interpreter. When we are in a python interpreter, I will use the following syntax: >>> for new logical blocks, ... for line continuations or logical block continuations and results will be without padding.
Try entering the following to print thing to the console window
>>> 'Hello World'
'Hello World'
This gives the string representation of the string 'Hello World' which is by definition Hello World
Statements
A statement in python is something that is expressed in a single logical line such as
>>> import sys
or another example is the assert statement which throws an error unless the following expression evaluates to True
>>> assert True
You may be familiar with some other statements like
- `break`
- `continue`
- `return`
- `yield`
- `raise`
amongst others which can be found on the docs page
Using python libraries
To use python libraries we use the statement import
Worth noting is the following to check what python program is currently running your script (can be very important for debugging strange errors!)
>>> import sys
>>> print(sys.executable)
/usr/local/anaconda3/bin/python
and for checking what version of python you have running. We should all be using at least python 3.6 by now (higher versions are fine)
>>> print(sys.version)
3.6.5 |Anaconda, Inc.| (default, Apr 26 2018, 08:42:37)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Clang 4.0.1 (tags/RELEASE_401/final)]
if you get ModuleNotFoundError this library is a non-standard python library and we can address that in another section.
Exiting python
You can exit python by entering
>>> exit()
If you are in the middle of executing code, you can force code to stop by entering Control+C. Sometimes you may have to hold Control+C or press it quite a few times to actually register particularly if you are doing something where the interpreter hasn’t got time to register your command!
Exercises
Exercise 3.1: The issue with just-in-time (jit) complilation
This exercise is designed to demonstrate a common issue that can be caused by python’s JIT compilation (i.e. the fact that it runs one line at a time). In comparision Fortran, java & c++ will check syntax across all the code (as well as numerous other checks) before you can run a single line.
In the python console type (this is meant to give a bug!)
>>> print(HelloWorld)
Notice that the compiler tells you three things
- what file the issue was in
- what line the issue was on
- an arrow signalling which bit of code was bad
- An error type and description of the error
Lets write your first function (Note we will cover functions properly in section 8) as follows
>>> def hello_world():
... print(HelloWorld)
This function will execute everything indented until it hits a non-indented block (or a return / yeild statement). If this was c++ we would instantly get an error as before.
However in python we won’t get an error until the line itself is actually ran - similar to VBA
>>> hello_world()
This is one of the biggest weaknesses of python and why most core quant libraries are still built in java or C++. Most of the bugs you create will be due to this.
NB You’re not expected to fix this code yet! Just move onto the next exercise :)