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Your First 30 Minutes

Your First 30 Minutes

One aim: get you running real Python in a browser tab, with nothing installed.

You do not need to understand everything you type. You need to see that it works and that you cannot break anything.

This is the same sequence used live in class.

Nothing to install

Go to colab.research.google.com, sign in with a Google account, and click New notebook.

That is the setup. Colab runs Python on Google's machine, in your browser. It saves to your Drive automatically, and it is free.

Rename the notebook Python Practice. You will use it for the rest of this tutorial.

1. Hello World

Type this into the cell and press Shift + Enter:

print("Hello World")

The first run takes a few seconds — Colab is starting a machine for you. After that it is instant.

Hello World

That is a working Python program. Everything else is more of this.

2. A variable

Click + Code for a new cell.

name = "Sridhar"
print(name)

Put your own name in. Run it.

name is a placeholder. It holds a value, and the value can change. print(name) shows whatever is inside it.

No semicolon at the end. Python does not want one.

3. A decision

number = 10

if number > 5:
    print("number is greater than 5")

Type it rather than pasting. Two things to notice:

The colon. After if number > 5 there is a :. Miss it and you get a syntax error.

The tab appears by itself. Press Enter after the colon and Colab indents for you. Leave it. That indentation is how Python knows which lines belong to the if.

4. A list, and a loop

students = ["Amit", "Sara", "Akhil"]

for student in students:
    print(student)

students is a list — one placeholder holding several values. Java's ArrayList, C#'s List<T>. Python has no separate array and array-list. Just list.

Two errors people hit on this exact cell:

  • Print with a capital P fails. It is print.
  • A semicolon after in students. You want a colon.

5. A shortcut

print(*range(10))
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

range(10) gives 0 to 9 — it stops before the number. The * spreads them out.

Do not memorise that. Which brings us to the point.

6. Now stop typing

New cell. Instead of typing, click Generate with AI and write plain English:

print 0 to 10

Enter, wait, then Accept and Run.

It writes the code. You did not need to remember range, or the *, or anything else.

This is the answer to "how am I supposed to remember all this syntax?" You are not. You describe what you want.

One exception: if someone is interviewing you as a developer, you will need it in your head. To build agents, you will not.

7. Something that feels like magic

New cell, Generate with AI, and ask for something ambitious:

What is the projected market for AI agents from 2025 to 2030?
Show a plot with investments, projected cost of AI for a given
capability, and the projected number of AI jobs. Make it a clear
visual plot.

Accept and run. You get a real chart, built with matplotlib and pandas, without writing a line.

If the model refuses, switch models in the dropdown and try again. In class the older model gave up outright and the newer one produced the whole thing.

That is worth learning early: when vibe coding fails, the model is often the variable, not you.

What you have done

In half an hour: run Python with nothing installed, used a variable, a condition, a list and a loop, met indentation and case-sensitivity, and generated a working chart from a sentence.

Where next

Practise this

  • Redo the sequence in your own notebook, typing rather than pasting.
  • Swap the students for three of your colleagues.
  • Change number to 3 and predict the output before running.
  • Ask Generate with AI for something from your own work.

Try It Yourself

Copy this into a new Colab notebook and run it. Nothing to install.

example.py
1# The exact sequence from the first class. Run each block in its own Colab cell.
2
3# 1 - Hello World
4print("Hello World")
5
6
7# 2 - A variable is a placeholder
8name = "Sridhar"
9print(name)
10# Put your own name in and run it again. That is the whole loop:
11# write, run, look, change.
12
13
14# 3 - A decision.  Note the colon, and the indent on the next line.
15number = 10
16
17if number > 5:
18    print("number is greater than 5")
19
20# Change number to 3 and predict what happens BEFORE you run it.
21
22
23# 4 - A list, and a loop over it
24students = ["Amit", "Sara", "Akhil"]
25
26for student in students:
27    print(student)
28
29# `students` is a list. In Java that is an ArrayList, in C# a List<T>.
30# Python has no separate array and array-list. There is just `list`.
31
32
33# 5 - A shortcut. range(10) gives 0 to 9 - it stops BEFORE the number.
34print(*range(10))
35
36
37# 6 - The two errors everyone hits on the cells above:
38#
39#     Print("hello")        ->  NameError: name 'Print' is not defined
40#                               Python is case-sensitive. It is print.
41#
42#     for student in students;   ->  SyntaxError
43#                               That is a semicolon. You want a colon.
44
45
46# 7 - Now stop typing and let the AI write it.
47#     In Colab: click + Code, then "Generate with AI", and type in English:
48#
49#         print 0 to 10
50#
51#     Then click Accept and Run.
52#
53#     THAT is the answer to "how do I remember all this syntax?"
54#     You do not. You describe what you want.
55#     The exception: if someone is interviewing you as a developer,
56#     you will need it in your head. For building agents, you will not.
57
58
59# 8 - Something more ambitious, same way. Paste this into Generate with AI:
60#
61#     What is the projected market for AI agents from 2025 to 2030?
62#     Show a plot with investments, projected cost of AI for a given
63#     capability, and the projected number of AI jobs.
64#     Make it a clear visual plot.
65#
66#     If the model refuses, switch models in the dropdown and try again.
67#     When vibe coding fails, the model is often the variable, not you.