Your first Python program

Write the code

A statement is one instruction that Python runs. print("Hello, Python!") is a statement that shows text on the screen.

In Python, printing a greeting takes only one line of code.

There is no boilerplate: no class wrapper, no curly braces, and no trailing semicolon. Python starts executing directly from the first statement.

Run in terminal or VS Code

To run in the terminal, navigate to your practice folder and execute Python with your file name.

In VS Code, simply open hello.py and click the Run play button in the top right corner. The output appears in the integrated terminal below.

Common beginner mistakes

Beginners often encounter clear error messages that show the line number and mistake.

• Missing quotation mark: print("Hello) causes SyntaxError: unterminated string literal.
• Typo in function name: Print("Hello") with capital P causes NameError: name 'Print' is not defined because Python is case-sensitive.
• Missing parentheses: In Python 3, print requires parentheses print(...).