Dr. Cho’s Website
Course Materials

# Literals, variables, and constants in Python

Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis...University of North Georgia

## 1   Literals

A literal is a value that the user types directly into code. It is often said to be hard-coded to put literals in the code because they cannot be changed while the programming is running. They can only be changed by the programmer, not by the user nor by the program itself. Hard coding means that you cannot change these values without directly modifying the program code.

A literal is a value that the user types directly into code.

Putting literals in the code is often referred to as hard coding.

Hard coding means that you cannot change these values without directly modifying the program code.

'string' # string
"string" # string
123      # integer
3.14     # floating-point number
1+2j     # complex number
True     # boolean
False    # boolean

## 2   Variables

A variable is a container in the memory that holds a literal.

a = 1     # assign an integer literal to a variable
b = 2     # assign an integer literal to a variable
c = a + b # c holds the result of a + b, not the expression itself
c         # c is 3
a = 2     # now, a is 2
c         # c is still 3 because it holds the result of a + b
# at the time of assignment

## 3   Constants

A constant is defined once and never changes.

Python 3 does not have a syntax for constants, but they can be imitated using a function or class.

The naming convention for constants in Python 3 is all caps.

CONST = 1 # supposed to be a constant
CONST = 2 # but you can still change it

However, just don’t change it because it’s meant to be a constant!

## 4   Numeral systems

• Decimal: Base 10 where $0\leq\text{one place}\leq 9$
• Binary: Base 2 where $0\leq\text{one place}\leq 1$
• Octal: Base 8 where $0\leq\text{one place}\leq 7$
• Hexadecimal: Base 16 where $0\leq\text{one place}\leq 15$
• Since a number greater than 9 takes up two places, we use A–F for 10–15, respectively.
• For example, A is 10 and F is 15.

### 4.1   Conversion from decimal to binary

Let’s say we have a decimal number $x$ and want to convert it to a binary number. Follow these steps:

1. Divide $x$ by $2$ and assign its quotient to $q$ and remainder to $r$. This $r$ takes the $2^0$'s place.
2. Divide $q$ (from the previous step) by $2$ and assign its quotient to $q$ and remainder to $r$ (overwrite them). This new $r$ takes the $2^1$'s place.
3. Repeat step 2 until $q$ becomes $0$. Each $r$ takes the next higher $2^n$'s place.

For example, $x=53$ and $y$ is the desired binary number.

1. Divide 53 by 2: $q=26, r=1, y=1$
2. Divide 26 by 2: $q=13, r=0, y=01$
3. Divide 13 by 2: $q=6, r=1, y=101$
4. Divide 6 by 2: $q=3, r=0, y=0101$
5. Divide 3 by 2: $q=1, r=1, y=10101$
6. Divide 1 by 2: $q=0, r=1, y=110101$
• Here, you can actually save one step by placing $q=1$ from step 5 in the $2^5$'s place.

So the binary number for 53 is 110101.

#### 4.1.1   A table method

$q$$r$
253
2261
2130
261
230
1*1

In this method, you can stop when $q$ becomes smaller than your target base 2. Now, collect all 1s and 0s starting from the last $q$ (*) from left to right. That is, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, and 1. You get 110101.

### 4.2   Conversion from binary to decimal

Now, we want to go back from 110101 to 53. The right-most 1 is in the $2^0$'s place (ones place) while the left-most 1 in the $2^5$'s place (32s place). Starting from the $2^0$'s place, we complete this table:

BinaryPlaceDecimal
120$1\times2^0=1$
021$0\times2^1=0$
122$1\times2^2=4$
023$0\times2^3=0$
124$1\times2^4=16$
125$1\times2^5=32$

The sum of the Decimal column is 53.

### 4.3   Other conversions

Conversions between other numeral systems are exactly the same except that you have to use the appropriate base number instead of 2 in the above examples for binary conversions.

### 4.4   Python syntax

• Decimal: 53
• Binary: 0b110101
• Octal: 0o65
• Hexadecimal: 0x35

## 5   Homework: Conversions between numeral systems

1. Convert a decimal number 2803 to
• binary,
• octal, and
2. Convert a hexadecimal number 0xa2 to