Lecture 1:
Intro to python, compile vs interpreted.
Resources.
http://www.rexx.com/~dkuhlman/python_101/python_101.html
http://www.pasteur.fr/formation/infobio/python/

plan for course.

scripts
interpreter
data types: dynamic types
     - variables refer to objects
     - variables have no types
     - objects have types (integers, strings, lists, etc) you cant add 1 and "3"
string operators
string formatting
indexing/slicing
string methods    split, join, lower, upper ...

lists
tupples
dictionaries


Example 1: basics:
(for loop, do loop, while loop)
iterate from 1 to a hundred summing up all the numbers. 

(if statements add to loop to only sum evens, odds)

(ad functions to this)


Example 2: Reading a file, csv, extracting data.
   file, id, fname, lnam, salary
   Find out how many people 

   Strings
   Regular expressions, parsing

Example 3: read files from internet.
	   scrape a sight for given urls plus parsing.

Python Highlights:
Scripting language? Programming language. 
Objectly Oriented (largely) 
multiple inheritance 
polymorphic 
High level language: 
memory management 
first-class data structures 
infinite precision integers, floats, complexes 
unbounded associative arrays (aka mappings eg dictionaries) 
unboundedstrings 
unbounded lists 
unbounded tuples 
first-class functions 
more data structures via extensions: 
sets and graphs 
multidimensional arrays 
disk-based lookup tables 
AVL trees 
etc 
exception handling very well integrated into the language 
data type emulation (roll your own sequences, mappings, numbers, files, etc) 
reflection 
Programming in the large: 
modules 
packages 
exception handling 
development tools (debugger, profiler) 
Extensible via C or C++ 
Embeddable 
Portable 
interpeter is available for many OS/hardware combinations 
jpython: another Python implemented in (and interactive with) Java 
compiled Python bytecode is platform independent 
Extensive library 
Free: 
open source 
excellent Usenet support 



http://www.python.org/

Byte of Python: beginner book http://www.swaroopch.com/byteofpython/
Dive Into Python:   http://www.diveintopython.org/
Thinking in Python: http://mindview.net/Books/TIPython
Building Skills in Python: http://homepage.mac.com/s_lott/books/python.html
[quick ref] http://rgruet.free.fr/PQR25/PQR2.5.html#Invocation
[Intro to Python] http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/pytut/