Project Based Engineering Instrumentation High Level Coding and Microcontrollers

Running code will always create syntax errors. Typing your syntax error into Google will yield so many results you might get lost. Sometimes it helps to know how to learn things just from your computer. For example, type in the commands below in the IPython console or the Shell.

import numpy as np

dir(np)

I included a photo of the output from the dir function. You’ll notice there are a ton of functions in numpy. Every function in Python has a

__doc__

function. That’s two underscores followed by “doc” and then another two underscores. If you’re ever curious about what a particular function does you can just run the command below again in the IPython console or Shell. In this example I’m looking at what arctan2 does.

print(np.arctan2.__doc__)

You’ll see that arctan2 takes 2 input arguments “x1” and “x2”. I didn’t include the entire output but if you continue to scroll through the output it will even include examples on how to use the function.

Another way to learn certain functions is by visiting the appropriate documentation. The Numpy Docs website for example has all the documentation you need for Numpy [51]. Navigating that website you can find the same documentation for arctan2.

As a last resort you can always Google “how to compute the inverse tangent 2 function in Python”. Note though that there is so much content out there on Google that you could easily get lost. Still, there’s also so much information that the answers are out there for just about anything.

So you have three methods for finding out how to program in python. The dir and __doc__ functions in Python, using the appropriate documentation online and of course Google. I’m lumping Youtube in with Google which is also another way to learn information although when I want to find information quickly I just use the documentation. It’s the best in my opinion.