Writing Python script and module files – syntax basics
We'll need to write Python script files in order to do anything truly useful. We can experiment with the language at the interaction >>> prompt. For real work, however, we'll need to create files. The whole point of writing software is to create repeatable processing for our data.
How can we avoid syntax errors and be sure our code matches what's in common use? We need to look at some common aspects of style—how we use whitespace to clarify our programming.
We'll also look at a number of more technical considerations. For example, we need to be sure to save our files in the UTF-8 encoding. While ASCII encoding is still supported by Python, it's a poor choice for modern programming. We'll also need to be sure to use spaces instead of tabs. If we use Unix newlines as much as possible, we'll also find things are slightly simpler.
Most text editing tools will work properly with Unix (newline) line endings as well as Windows or DOS...
