How to read instructions

Sometimes I'll ask you to input to type a command in the terminal (command line / cmd) or in the python interpreter (more on this later).

To distinguish between the two, take a look below:

Terminal command:

$ cd desktop

The $ indicates a terminal command.

Interpreter command:

> a + b The > indicates an Interpreter command.

Sometimes I'll give an example input and output:

$ pwd
/Users/atan/Desktop/images/dogpictures

> a = 1
> a + 2
3

The lines with the symbols $ and > are the commands, lines without the symbols are the output.

If you see multiple lines, execute them one at a time.

$ mkdir dogphotos
$ cd dogphotos

When there is a comment and a filename at the top of the example code, I'm just indicating what file the code should be written in.

#example.py
print "This is an example"

Finally, one last rule: DO NOT COPY AND PASTE Copy and pasting skips developing the muscle memory that lets you memorize code syntax. So don't do it.

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The Command Line

While not a hard requirement for learning how to code, knowing your way around the command line will be helpful later on.

Commands to keep in mind

Command Name	Usage	Example
cd	Changes directory	$ cd ./dogpictures/
pwd	Prints the current working directory	$ pwd
ls	Prints contents of the current working directory	$ ls
rm	Removes specified directory or file	$ rm /dogpictures/sora.png
mkdir	Creates a directory with specified name	$ mkdir catpictures
mv	Moves file or directory to specified location with specified name	$ mv /dogpictures/nyan.png ../catpictures/nyan.png

Further explanation and examples of each command //todo

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Installing Python

There are 2 version of python: 2.7, and 3. The difference between the two aren't important for us now but we'll be using 2.7

Download python 2.7

Once you've downloaded the installer, run it to install python (just keep clicking next)

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Next

First topic we'll cover is basic mathematical operations Lesson One