Python Fundamentals (Part2)

Concepts : Conditional Statements, Loops & Functions

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Conditional Statements

Conditional statements let our program decide what to do based on conditions

(i.e. true or false expressions).
There are 3 main conditional statements in Python:
1. if - used to test a condition. If it’s True, the indented block runs.
2. else - else block runs if all above conditions are false.
3. elif - (“else if”) used when we have multiple conditions to check.

Let’s practice conditional statements with the help of following examples.

# Example 1
age = int(input("enter age: "))

if age >= 18: # if true/false, entire block of code is executed

print("you can vote")
print("you can drive")

else:
print("you can't vote")
print("you can't drive")

# Example 2 - Traffic Lights

color = input("enter color: ")

if color == "red":
print("Stop")
elif color == "yellow":
print("Look")
elif color == "green":
print("Go")
else:
print("wrong color")

Note - We can have standalone & multiple if statements but elif & else
can’t be used without an if statement preceding them.

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Apart from simple conditions we can also check for multiple conditions using Logical
operators like and , or and not in expressions.

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# Example 3 - Logical operators in expressions
age = int(input("enter age: "))

if age < 13:

print("child")
elif (age >= 13 and age < 18):
print("teenager")
else:
print("adult")

Nesting in Conditionals
Nesting means placing one block of code inside another. In the context of
conditional statements, it means putting one if (or if-elif-else ) inside another.
This helps when you need to make a decision based on another decision.

# Login System

username = input("enter username: ")

password = input("enter password: ")

if (username == "admin" and password == "pass"):

print("log in successful!")
else:
if username != "admin": # NESTING
print("wrong user name, try again.")
else:
print("wrong password, try again.")

A login system that checks for correct/ incorrect credentials

Ternary Statements
Ternary statements (or conditional expressions) are just another compact way to
writing our if-else statements in one-line.

Ternary statement Syntax:

value_if_true if condition else value_if_false

One line decided between 2 values based on condition.

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Let’s see an example:

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age = 18
status = "Adult" if age >= 18 else "Not Adult"
print(status)

Note - Everything that we write with ternary statements can be done with
normal if-else statements. Ternary statements are generally only used for
simple conditions, not recommended for nested or complex conditions.

Match Case Statements

In Python, the match / case statements are an alternative to long chain of
If..elif..else statements. They were introduced in Python 3.10 & we generally don’t
see them much in production code.

Match case Syntax:

match variable:
case pattern1:
# code to run if pattern1 matches
case pattern2:
# code to run if pattern2 matches
case _:
# default case (like 'else')

1. match - what you’re comparing

2. case - the value or pattern to match against
3. _ - wildcard (matches anything, like “default”)

Let’s see an example:

color = input("enter color: ")

match color:
case "red":
print("Stop")
case "yellow":
print("Look")
case "green":
print("Go")
case _:
print("wrong color")

Simple value match for traffic lights

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Practice Problems (Set 1)
1. For a given number n , print if it’s a multiple of 5 or not.

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2. For a given number n , print if it’s Odd or Even.

Loops

A loop lets us execute a block of code multiple times: either a set number of
times or until a condition is met.
Python has 2 main types of loops:
1. while loop - repeat while a condition is True
2. for loop - iterate over a sequence (like a list, string, or range)

The while Loops

Syntax of a while loop:

while condition:
# code block

Whatever statements we write in the code block are all executed one after the other

Let’s look at some examples:

# Example 1 - print 1 to 5
i = 1
while I <= 5:
print(i)
i += 1

# Example 2 - print 5 to 1
i = 5
while i > 0:
print(i)
i -= 1

If the loop expression is such that it always computes True, then such a
loop never stops & is called an infinite loop. We should try to never
unintentionally create such a loop.

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 while True: # DO NOT RUN this code
print("Prime")

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Example of an Infinite Loop

Loop control statements

Python gives us some tools to control how loops behave & a classical example of
them are 2 statement - break & continue .

The break keyword

It stops the loop immediately.

# Break for multiple of 6

i = 1

while i <= 10:

if(i % 6 == 0):
break
print(i)
i += 1

# output: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The continue keyword

It skips the rest of the current iteration and moves to the next one.

# Skip multiples of 3
i = 0

while(i < 10):

i += 1
if(i % 3 == 0):
continue;
print(i)

# output: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10

The for Loops

In Python, a for loop is used to iterate (loop) over a sequence, such as a list, tuple,
string, or range, and execute a block of code for each item in that sequence.

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Syntax of a for loop:

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for variable in sequence:
# code to run for each item

Let’s look at an example:

for i in range(5):
print(i)

# output: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

The in keyword that we used is a membership operator in Python, used to loop

over a sequence or to check the presence of an item in a sequence, like a string.

word = "Prime"

# Example 1 - Looping over a string

for ch in word:
print(ch)

# Example 2 - Check if char 'i' exists in word

if 'i' in word:
print("letter exists")

# Example 3 - Count number of i's in the word

word = "artificial intelligence"
count = 0

for ch in word:
if ch == 'i':
count += 1

print(f"i occurs {count} times.")

Just like conditionals, we can also have nested loops i.e. loop inside a
loop.
for i in range(1, 3):
for j in range(1, 3):
print(f"({i}, {j})")

# output: (1, 2) (1, 2) (2, 1) (2, 2)

Nested Loop Example

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The range() Function
The range() function in Python is used to generate a sequence of numbers,

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typically for use in loops. It doesn’t actually create a list in memory (unless we convert
it); instead, it creates an iterator that produces numbers one by one, which makes it
very efficient.
The function has 3 parameters:
1. start (default=0) - the number to start from
2. stop - the number to stop before (not included)
3. step (default=1) - how much to increase by each time

# single argument - start

for i in range(5):
print(i)

# output: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

# 2 arguments - start, stop

for i in range(1, 6):
print(i)

# output: 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5

# 3 arguments - start, stop, step

for i in range(1, 10, 2):
print(i)

# output: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

Practice Problems (Set 2)

1. Print multiplication table for any number n . [using while ]
2. Print odd numbers from 1 to 10, using continue. [using while ]
3. Count vowels in a word. [using for ]
4. Sum of first n natural numbers. [using for ]

Functions

Functions in Python are blocks of reusable code that perform a specific task. They
make our code organized, readable, and easier to maintain.
Function Definition
We use the def keyword to define our function:

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 # Function Definition
def hello():

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print("hello from Prime")

and to call the function i.e. to run it we write their name with parentheses:

hello() # Function Call

Function call actually invokes the function & then all the block of code written in the
functions definition is executed.

Functions with Parameters

We can also pass data to a function using parameters (inside the parentheses).
Values actually passed when calling the function are called arguments.

# Fnx to compute sum of 2 nums

def sum(a, b): # a & b are parameters

print (a + b)

print(sum(5, 10)) # 5 & 10 are arguments

wherever fnx → it means function

Functions can return a result using the return keyword.

# Fnx to computer average of 3 nums

def avg(a, b, c):

return (a + b + c) / 3
print(avg(1, 2, 3))

Default Parameters
We can assign default values to function parameters so that if the caller doesn’t
provide that argument, Python uses the default values. And these default parameters
must come last. We cannot have a non-default argument after a default argument.

# sum() fnx with default param 1

def sum(a, b = 1): # default val of b is 1
return a + b

print(sum(5)) # output: 6

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Built-in Functions
All the functions that we have studied till now are user-defined functions, but in

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Python we also have a lot of built-in functions too. The definition (logic) of built-in
functions is already written in Python & we just have to use them.
Some built-in functions that we have already used till now:
1. print()
2. input()

3. type()

4. range()

Lambda Functions
Lambda functions are short, one-liner functions that are used to perform simple
tasks. These are created using the lambda keyword. These functions are anonymous
& do not have a name like regular functions defined with def .
Lambda function Syntax:

lambda arguments: expression

# arguments -> 1 or more parameters
# express ion -> single expression whose result is automatically returned

Let’s see an example of a lambda function that computes square of a number:

# fnx to compute x^2

square = lambda x: x * x
print(square(5))

Practice Problems (Set 3)

1. Create a function to compute factorial of a number n .
2. Create a function to return largest of 3 numbers - a , b & c .

Solutions (Set 1 - Conditionals)

1. Multiple of 5 or not

num = int(input("enter number: "))

if num % 5 == 0:
print("multiple of 5")
else:
print("NOT a multiple of 5")

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2. Odd or Even

num = int(input("enter number: "))

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if num % 2 == 0:
print("Even")
else:
print("Odd")

Solutions (Set 2 - Loops)

1. Multiplication table of n

n = int(input("enter n: "))
i = 1

while i <= 10:

print(i * n)
i += 1

2. Odd nums from 1 to 10, using continue

i = 0

while(i < 10):

i += 1
if(i % 2 == 0):
continue;
print(i)

# output: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

3. Count vowels

for ch in word:
if (ch == 'a' or ch == 'a' or ch == 'a' or ch == 'a' or ch == 'a'):
count += 1

print(f"vowel count = {count}")

4. Sum of first n Natural numbers

n = int(input("enter n: "))
sum = 0
for i in range(1, n+1):
sum += i

print("sum = ", sum)

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Solutions (Set 3 - Functions)
1. Factorial of N

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# Factorial of N
n = int(input("enter n: "))

fact = 1
for i in range (1, n+1):
fact *= i

print("factorial = ", fact)

2. Largest of 3 numbers

def get_largest (a, b, c):

if (a > b and a > c):
return a
elif b > c:
return b
else:
return c
print (get_largest (3, 10, 5))

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