getting started with python this book teaches the python programming languagewhich is one of the most popular languages for introductory programming courses an advantage of python is that it is so-called high-level languagewith simple and intuitive syntax that makes it easy to get started howeveralthough it works well as beginner' languagepython is also suitable for more advanced tasksand it is currently one of the most widely used programming languages worldwide the first examplehelloworldmost introductory books on programming start with so-called helloworldprogramwhich is program that simply writes helloworldto the screen in pythonthis program is just single lineprint("helloworld!"to actually write and run such programpython offers number of different options throughout this book we will mostly apply the classical programming approachwhere program is written in text editor and stored as file that is then run from the command line window or an integrated development environment (ideto write and run the "helloworld!"-program aboveopen your favorite editor (atomgeditemacs etc )type the given line and save the file with suitable filenamefor instancehello py thenopen terminal or an ipython windownavigate to the directory where you saved the fileand type python hello pyif you are using regular terminalor run hello py if you are using ipython the output helloworldshould we do not describe the technical details of acquiring and installing python heresince this information is platform dependent and becomes outdated very quickly for updated hints on installing pythonsee the web page for the in course at the university of oslo (or to the numerous other resources found online (cthe author( sundnesintroduction to scientific programming with pythonsimula springerbriefs on computing