Merge pull request #13 from practical-python-org/feature/python-tutorial

Feature/python-tutorial

Author: Jiggly-Balls

docs/index.md

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     [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Read the rules](rules/index.md)
 
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-
-
 -   :material-bug:{ .lg .middle } __Found a mistake on the site?__
 
     ---
@@ -64,5 +61,4 @@ A Discord community for people who write Python. {{ member_count }} of us so far
 
     [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Contribute!](projects/our-projects/this-site.md)
 
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 </div>

docs/python-tutorial/chapters/01-python-history.md

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+---
+description: The very first chapter of the python tutorial. This covers a brief introduction to the history of Python.
+---
+
+# Brief Python History
+
+Before we get into learning how to use Python, it would be insightful to know about Python itself.
+Why was it created and by whom? Where does Python stand today?
+
+The Python programming language was developed back in the late 1980s by Guido van Rossum in the
+Netherlands. It was the successor of the ABC language which was used to teach students in
+universities, but it lacked extensibility from being used in real-world programming tasks, which
+brings us to Python.
+
+Van Rossum was formerly the Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL) of Python, until he stepped down as
+the leader on July 12, 2018, after some controversies in the decision-making of adding the walrus
+operator ([PEP 572](https://peps.python.org/pep-0572/)) to Python.
+
+The current governance of Python is held by a five-person committee elected by the core developers
+called the Python Steering Council. The Python Steering Council is re-elected after every major
+release (approximately 18 months). The Steering Council only controls the technical direction of the
+Python language.
+
+As of August 2026, according to the TIOBE Community Index, Python is _the_ most popular programming
+language in the world, used by millions of developers. Python is a versatile language used in many
+domains such as AI/ML, cybersecurity, web development and data science to name a few. In this
+tutorial, we will not be covering any of those domains, but instead we will start from the very
+basics to build your fundamentals and prepare you to learn them on your own.
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+
+![Image title](/static/python-tutorial/01-guido-portrait.jpg){ width="300" }
+
+<figcaption>Guido van Rossum in 2014</figcaption>
+
+</figure>

docs/python-tutorial/chapters/02-intro-to-variables.md

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+---
+description: Introduction to Python variables.
+---
+
+# Introduction to Variables
+
+??? note "Brief on Computer RAM"
+
+    In this chapter, we will also be talking about Random Access Memory (RAM) to better understand
+    variables, but first, let's quickly cover what it is. RAM is where your computer stores the data of
+    a running program. It is fast, but volatile (wiped when power is lost, unlike disk storage).
+    Whenever you run your Python program, it loads it into the RAM and the instructions are then fed to
+    the CPU by your operating system.
+
+Variables give programmers an easy way to work with the computer's memory - they act as a bridge
+that lets us use and manipulate memory without dealing with it directly. That is all variables do.
+Different languages have different syntax, rules, types of variables, etc., but in the end, they are
+all doing the same task. As far as we are concerned, Python does not have multiple types of
+variables.
+
+Let's take a look at how we can define a variable in python:
+
+```python
+name = "Alan"
+```
+
+Let's break this down. Over here, `name` is what we call a variable. `"Alan"` is the data we're
+assigning to that variable through the assignment operator (`=`).
+
+!!! note
+
+    We will learn more about data types and operators in later chapters. We will be focusing mostly on
+    variables for now.
+
+So, where does the memory that we discussed before come into play here? When we create a variable in
+Python, it automatically reserves some space in memory and places the data there, which the variable
+then points to.
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+
+![Image title](/static/python-tutorial/02-memory.png){ width="600" }
+
+<figcaption>
+    The numbers indicate memory addresses and `~` indicate some random data from other programs,
+    irrelevant to us. You can imagine memory addresses in a similar concept to your house address.
+    They both are used to locate the whereabouts.
+</figcaption>
+
+</figure>
+
+!!! note
+
+    The above image is only an example of how variables point to memory addresses. Note that it is not a
+    complete representation of how computer memory looks like. Only meant for understanding purposes.
+
+In the diagram above, the variable `name` points to memory addresses `3` - `6`; but notice we never
+had to specify that in our code. That's because Python handles this tracking for us automatically.
+This is really the whole point of variables: instead of manually keeping track of which data lives
+at which memory address, we can just use a variable name as a clear, readable label for that piece
+of memory.
+
+Now that we understand why we use variables, we must also know the rules for declaring variables in
+Python. There are 4 simple rules which follow:
+
+1. Variables cannot contain any special characters other than underscore (`_`).
+1. Variables cannot have spaces in them, use underscores instead.
+1. Variables cannot start with a number but can contain numbers inside or at the end of them.
+1. Variables cannot share the same names as Python keywords (keywords are reserved words with
+   special functionality in Python).
+
+!!! note "Case Sensitivity"
+
+    Python is a case sensitive language, meaning, in this piece of code:
+
+    ```python
+    name = "Zeed"
+    Name = "Stun"
+    ```
+
+    There now exists two variables, `name` and `Name` instead of one. A good rule of thumb is to always
+    use `snake_casing` convention for your variables which is to keep your variables in all lower cases
+    and use underscores for word separation.
+
+## Examples
+
+Here is a list of **invalid** python variables:
+
+```python
+full name = "James Bond"  # Contains a space
+age! = 90  # Contains a special character
+finally = "yes"  # Conflicts with the Python keyword "finally"
+20money = 900  # Starts with a number
+```
+
+Below is a list of **valid** python variables:
+
+```python
+full_name = "Bonding Jameful"
+age = 90
+answer_1 = "yes"
+answer_2 = "no"
+```

docs/python-tutorial/chapters/03-data-types-pt01.md

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+---
+description: Part 1 of Python Data Types
+---
+
+# Data Types Part 01
+
+From our previous chapter, we learned about variables with a small primer on data types. In this
+chapter we will understand what they are and how we use them.
+
+## What are data types?
+
+In Python, we can define a data type to be a concrete representation of any value. A value could be
+someone's name, money, age, or even a game boss's HP.
+
+## String Data Type
+
+Let's take the example from our previous chapter:
+
+```python
+name = "Alan"
+```
+
+From here, `"Alan"` is what we call the string data type. It is used to represent textual data
+within its quotes (`"`). Python strings can use both double and single quotes, but the opening and
+closing quote must match.
+
+Examples of **valid** strings:
+
+```python
+country = "New Zealand"
+capital = 'Wellington'
+```
+
+Examples of **invalid** strings:
+
+```python
+language = 'English"
+favourite_colour = "Purple'
+```
+
+## Integer Data Type
+
+Just like in mathematics, we have an integer data type in Python. An integer is a number that can be
+written without a fractional or decimal component.
+
+Example:
+
+```python
+age = 34
+player_hp = 90
+player_hp_max = 100
+```
+
+## Floating Point Data Type
+
+Floating Point data type, more commonly called Float, is a data type representing decimal numbers.
+
+Example:
+
+```python
+wallet_money_amount = 124.43
+bank_money_amount = 33.2
+```
+
+## Boolean Data Type
+
+Boolean (or bool) is a special data type in Python. A boolean can only be one of two values: `True`
+or `False`.
+
+Example:
+
+```python
+is_running = True
+is_flying = False
+```
+
+!!! warning
+
+    `True` and `False` are case sensitive. `true` is **not** the same as `True`.
+
+Booleans are more commonly used in conditional statements, loops and comparison operators which we
+will learn in later chapters as a continuation.