Here's the short version. Python is a language people write when they want the computer to do a job without dressing it up. It was named after Monty Python, not the snake. You'll see that humour in the manuals if you go looking. We won't. We'll write.
Python · Lesson 1
You, me, and print
What Python is, and the first line that talks back.
Lessons · Python · Lesson 1 of 10 · On the house
You, me, and print
What Python is, and the first line that talks back.
You don't compile it the way you compile C++. You write a line. An interpreter reads the line. It does the work. That's enough for today.
The first verb is print. It puts words on the screen. Quotes around the words, because they're a string of characters, not a name of something else. Parentheses because print is a function — a little machine you call.
The still
print("hello")Type it yourself in the window below. Don't copy-paste if you can help it. The point is your fingers finding the quotes.
Quiz
What does print do?
Check
Type a print that says hello. Quotes and parentheses. Match the still.
That's the door. Next time we give things names, and we do arithmetic that doesn't shrug.