Introductions

It's just a scratch!¶

I would like to officially submit my silly blocks to you the reader. To that end, I hope that this blog serves as a fun way to get into Python programming. I will be sharing my knowledge and techniques as I brush up on my own Python experience.

So why are you here? No seriously, why here?

I created Ministry Of Silly Blocks as a way to have fun with code. I found myself floating through, "Huge tracks of land!" in the form of dry and lengthy Python tutorials, no offense to the creators. So I woke up, exited my house, went down to the end of the road, hopped on a train, took that train to the airport, walked right past a plane and got in a taxi, took that taxi to a country home that has this nice little white picket fence, there it was, A Shrubbery! No, but I did find my Meaning Of Life, as it were.

Ok, so maybe not, but it sounds pretty good, don't it? I know, I know, Get On With It!

So as with all great skits, we should probably start at the beginning, so bare with me as I take you back to a time when Python was but a wee pupa.

What is Python?¶

Ok, so what is Python and what is up with all this silliness?

Well, Guido van Rossum named this programming language Python, after Monty Python's Flying Circus on the Brittish Broadcasting Channel. So in the spirit of that naming, I will be using as many Monty Python references as I can muster.

Ok, so now we know how Python got it's name, and it explains the many Monty Python references you will inevitably come across.

So what can it do?¶

As with any language, this is a difficult question to answer as you must use language to explain language and in so there is a loss of translation. Nevertheless, Python is a language, of which the sentences of that language are like snippets or #Blocks# of the overall conversation which can be thought of as the program. I find that by attributing programming languages to that of a spoken language it brings programming to a more understandable state. There are other concepts like syntax (the grammar as it were), and scope (the context of your statement) that share parallels with that of a spoken language like English. This is a reductive comparison but when I am programming it helps as I often have a very colorful conversation happening with my computer during the sometimes painful process.

With a programming language, the cadence and structure of the bits and pieces dictate how your computer will be understood and by whom. As we continue I will refer to this structure of conversation more when we start making our programs. In this way I hope to get you and your computer back to speaking terms.