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How to Think Like a Computer Scientist The PreTeXt Interactive Edition

Section 1.12 A Typical First Program

Traditionally, the first program written in a new language is called Hello, World! because all it does is display the words, Hello, World! In Python, the source code looks like this.
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print("Hello, World!")
This is an example of using the print function, which doesn’t actually print anything on paper. It displays a value on the screen. In this case, the result is the phrase:
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Hello, World!
Here is the example in activecode. Give it a try!
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The quotation marks in the program mark the beginning and end of the value. They don’t appear in the result.
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Some people judge the quality of a programming language by the simplicity of the Hello, World! program. By this standard, Python does about as well as possible.
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Check your understanding
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Checkpoint 1.12.1.

The print function:
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  • sends information to the printer to be printed on paper.
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  • Within the Python programming language, the print function has nothing to do with the printer.
  • displays a value on the screen.
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  • Yes, the print function is used to display the value of the thing being printed.
  • tells the computer to put the information in print, rather than cursive, format.
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  • The format of the information is called its font and has nothing to do with the print function.
  • tells the computer to speak the information.
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  • That would be a different function.
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