Introduction to AI, Algorithms, and Flowcharts

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• AI was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy
• AI is a technology that processes vast amounts of data from the internet to produce relevant results
• Data is the fuel for AI
• Sofia is an AI-based humanoid
• Main AI Domains:
  • Data Science (analyzes data like CSV, used in games like rock-paper-scissors)
  • Computer Vision (analyzes images and videos, like in "Quick Draw")
  • Natural Language Processing (processes language, from speech to text and text to speech, analyzes sentence structure)

Algorithms

• An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem, expressed in a human-readable language.

Flowcharts

• A flowchart is a pictorial representation of an algorithm using standardized symbols.
• Common flowchart symbols:
  • Oval: Start/Stop
  • Rectangle: Process/Calculations
  • Circle: Connector
  • Arrow: Flowlines
  • Parallelogram: Input/Output

Python Programming Language

• Python is a popular programming language for AI
• Characteristics of Python:
  • Case-sensitive (upper/lowercase matters)
  • Open source (freely available)
  • Platform-independent (runs on many computing systems)
  • Large collection of libraries/functions
  • High-level programming language (easier to read and write)
  • Object-oriented programming approach
  • Easy to understand

Python Variables

• Rules for defining variables in Python:
  • Start with an alphabet or underscore
  • Single word, no spaces
  • No special characters, except underscore
  • Cannot be a reserved keyword
  • Maximum 256 characters

Python Programming Modes

• Interpreter mode: executes statements line by line
• Script mode: executes a file containing a series of statements at once

Python Tokens

• Tokens are the smallest units of execution in Python
• Types of tokens:
  • Literals (constants, like 4, 5.6, "Gauri" etc.)

Python Operators

• Operators perform specific actions on data
• Types of operators:
  • Arithmetic
  • Logical
  • Comparison
  • Assignment
  • Unary
  • Delimiters (separators like []{}, #)
  • Escape characters (\t for tabs, \n for newlines)

Python Data Types

• int: Integer numbers (e.g., 45, -78)
• float: Decimal numbers (e.g., 45.0, -2.8)
• str: Text (e.g., 'hello', "world")
• bool: Boolean values (True or False)
• None: Represents a lack of value
• list: Ordered collection of items (e.g., [1, "ram", "viii", "c"])

Python Functions

• Print(): Displays output to the console
• Input(): Prompts the user to enter input
• Type(): Determines the data type of a value
• Int(): Converts a value to an integer
• Float(): Converts a value to a floating-point number
• Str(): Converts a value to a string

Memory Units

• Bits: 0 or 1 (the smallest unit)
• Nibble: 4 bits
• Byte: 8 bits = 1 character's worth of memory.
• Kilobyte (KB): 1024 bytes
• Megabyte (MB): 1024 KB
• Gigabyte (GB): 1024 MB
• Terabyte (TB): 1024 GB

Print() Statement

• print() displays output
• Using parameters "sep" and "end" alters separation and ending characters when multiple items are provided as input