How to Write Your First Python Program

Hey there, welcome to my blog! In this post, I’m going to show you how to write your first Python program, the classic hello world. If you’re new to programming, this is a great way to get started and learn the basics of Python syntax and structure. Let’s dive in!

Prerequisites

To write a Python program, you need two things: a text editor and a Python interpreter.

• A text editor is software that lets you write and edit code. There are many text editors you can choose from, such as Notepad, Sublime Text, Atom, Visual Studio Code, etc. I recommend using Visual Studio Code, which is a free and powerful editor that supports many languages and features. You can download it from here: https://code.visualstudio.com/download.
• A Python interpreter is software that runs your code and executes the instructions you wrote. You can download the latest version of Python from the official website: https://www.python.org/downloads/. Follow these instructions to install it on your computer.

Writing Your First Python Program

Once you have both the text editor and the Python interpreter ready, you can write your first Python program. Open your text editor and create a new file. Save it as hello.py (the .py extension tells the computer that this is a Python file and it needs to run it with the Python interpreter). Then type the following code in the file:

print("Hello, world!")

This line uses the print function, which is a built-in function that prints whatever you put inside the parentheses to the screen. In this case, we’re printing a string, which is a sequence of characters enclosed by quotation marks. You can use single or double quotes, as long as they match.

The print function also adds a newline character at the end of the string, which means that it moves the cursor to the next line after printing. This is useful when you want to print multiple things on separate lines.

Running Your Hello World Program

To run your program, you need to save your file and then open a terminal or command prompt window. A terminal is a text-based interface that allows you to interact with your computer using commands. You can access it from your editor or from your operating system’s menu.

In the terminal, navigate to the folder where you saved your hello.py file using the cd command. For example, if you saved it in a folder called python_projects on your desktop, you would type:

cd desktop/python_projects

Then, type python followed by the name of your file:

python hello.py

This tells the computer to run the Python interpreter and execute your file. You should see the output of your program on the screen:

Hello, world!

Congratulations! You’ve just written and run your first Python program. You’ve learned how to use the print function, how to write strings, and how to run Python files from the terminal. You’re on your way to becoming a Python master!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned something new. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading and happy coding!