“Hello Python”: Getting to know you better
Its been almost a year since my curiosity last brought me to a 2-day Python training and wrote my very first line, “Hello World”. Unlike the other languages I’ve took during my college days, I found it more easy and simple to used. More than just that, Python offers a wide-range of features in terms of its set of powerful libraries and without a doubt, I think it is one of the most “robust” analytical tool of the 21st century.
Spyder is one the python IDE (integrated development environment) introduced during my current data science scholarship. As what our mentors said, Spyder would be one of our “best buddies” alongside with other tools (Tableau, excel, etc.) if we keep on practicing it throughout our data science journey.
I bet some of my co-scholars are having the same thrill as mine (or even so!) to start coding our very first line but before doing so, let us first say “hello” to the different IDE sections and get them know.
Getting Started
First important part is we need to download and install Spyder app to our computer. Once installed, go to the location where it was installed or we can just simply type “Spyder” using windows search box, then click the icon to lunch.
Accessing download location using Command prompt
Instead of going through each folders, we can just simply used the command prompt.
Basically, first type “cd”(current directory) followed by the folder name we want to access. In this example, the downloaded app were located on “Downloads” folder. Then after gaining access on the “Downloads” folder, I followed it with the app name and boom! the app appears.
Once open, click next and wait to install.
And there you have it after a few or more minutes of installation. It is now ready to use.
IDE Sections
Now that we have Spyder installed to our computers, open the app to take us to the coding environment. This is how Spyder looks like at the first glance. It was divided into 4 main sections: Code blocks, Current working directory, Python console and Variable explorer. Each section has its own functions:
1.) Code Block — This section is wherein we will write our first code. As an example, I wrote a simple print(“hello world”) on the first line and followed by x=2, y=3 on the third and fourth line then ended with print(x+y).
2.) Current Working Directory — This section is wherein we can navigate or access our working file directory locations. Clicking on the drop-down arrow on the right side will show the current directory of the files we want to access.
3.) Variable Explorer — This section shows the attributes of the syntax or elements written on the code block. It indicates the name, type, size and the value of the variables. As shown from this example, my code composed of 1 string and 2 integer elements.
4.) Python Console — Lastly, this section displays the run result of our code. From the below example, my code works fine and it prints my desired result.
Now that we have better understanding on how is the coding environment looks like, let’s get our hands go down to business and start our coding journey with excitement!
