Starter Tutorial

Introduction

In this lesson you will

• Create the basic structure of your Python project you are going to work on the next days
• Start your Python editor / IDE (PyCharm) and load your project
• Create a basic "Hello World" program and run it

If you never used Python before it's recommended that you get familiar with the basic language features. Don't be afraid. It's a fairly simple computer programming language and good to learn. It will be fun!

Some links to get started:

• Video Deutsch 10 min, Absolute Beginner, online editor¹

• Video Deutsch 60 min, Beginner, uses PyCharm¹

• Crashkurs Deutsch, 24 Videos Playlist, uses PyCharm¹

• Official reference tutorial, English¹

Lesson Steps

Create Python project structure

1. Create a new project folder for your Songbird classification project: birdnet-mini
2. Inside the folder create another folder called birdnet_mini (Notice the underscore!) this will be your Python package name.

3. Inside the folder birdnet_mini create an empty file __init__.py and a file with the name main.py and a file . This will be the main entry point to your program. Your project folder should now look like this:

   └───birdnet-mini
       └───birdnet_mini
               main.py
               __init__.py
   

Load your project into PyCharm and setup your project

Now you are ready to start!

1. Open the PyCharm IDE (Integrated Development Environment) by clicking its icon:

   

2. Select Open from the file menu

   

3. Select your birdnet-mini project folder

So your project is loaded but there is probably no Python interpreter associated with it.

We've already installed a recent Python version for you on your workshop computer. We did not simply use the standard installer which would be fine if you just do small projects and tutorials. If you start working on larger projects that use a lot of different Python packages you probably want to switch between different Python versions and packages. This is called an environment.

A system that allows you to manage and easily switch different python environments is Miniconda which is already installed at your computer. We even created an environment for you that you can use for this workshop. PyCharm support Conda environments.

1. Select File->Settings form the PyCharm Menu

2. Select the Python Interpreter under the Project section and then select Add Interpreter->Add Local Interpreter on the top right:

   

3. In the following dialogue select Conda Environment on the left side and tick Use existing environment. From the Dropdown menu select birdnet-minimal-dev

4. Confirm all Dialogues by clicking OKmultiple times.

From now on any code that you are going to run will run using this environment.

Now you are all set to start.

Create your first program and run it

You will now write your first typical "Hello World" program.

1. From the Project Explorer on the left side, open the file main.py by double clicking it.

2. Now the task is up to you. Create a function called main in that file that prints "Hello World" and then returns 0

3. Define the main entry point into your program using the following line:

   if __name__ == "__main__":
       print("Hello World!")
   

   and call your main function from there.

4. Run the program by right-clicking main.py and select Run 'main'.

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1. Link leads to external resources. Neither TU Ilmenau no any other party involved in this tutorial are responsible for the content linked. ↩↩↩↩