Build your mother tongue with 'Operators' vocabulary

"It’s often said that the harder you try to avoid a problem, the quicker it comes chasing after you." Have you ever come across this phrase in your life until today? Well, I have, though I had heard it quite frequently, yet I never understood the real meaning behind this saying until very recently, when I glanced at the syllabus of my master’s program. Well, nothing was wrong with the syllabus, lekin yaar usme maths thi! I was that one child who always ran away from “Maths” as if it were a ghost, but how did I get through it? I had to give it a fresh start, step by step, learning the basics and climbing up the ladder. Take the hint, people, take that chance, and give your wand that magical swing.

Chalo, Story time over. Now, let’s get back to studying Python. Whenever we talk about the basics of a programming language, we have to begin with the topic of operators.

What are Operators

In mathematics and computer programming, an operator is a character that represents a specific mathematical or logical action or process. It is a symbol, instructing the computer to perform a specific operation on values or variables. Think of it as a command to the computer to do something with the data. Operators are essential for manipulating data and performing calculations, comparisons, and other logical operations within a program. Let’s understand it better with the help of an image below.

In the above image, a generic mathematical expression that consists of 3 variables and 2 symbols, out of which Number1 and Number2 are known as operands, on which the operation is to be will happen, whereas ‘=’ and ‘+’ are known as operators, which indicate what action needs to be performed

Types of operators in Python

Let’s quickly go through all the categories of operators that Python provides us.

1. Arithmetic

2. Comparison

3. Logical

4. Bitwise

5. Assignment

6. Membership

7. Identity

Arithmetic Operator

An arithmetic operator is one or more symbols that tell the computer what mathematical operation it should perform on values or variables. They are fundamental for performing mathematical calculations. Arithmetic operators are symbols used to perform mathematical operations on numerical values. Arithmetic operators include addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), and modulus (%).

Come, let’s understand all of them with the help of examples!

a = 20
b = 10

print(a + b)      #30
print(a - b)      #10
print(a * b)      #200
print(a / b)      #2
print(a // b)     #2
print(a ** b)     #1.024e+13
print(a % b)      #0
print(5.0//2)     #2.0
print("Hello" + "Python")      # HelloPython
print("Hello" * 2)             # HelloHelloHello
print("Hello" + 3)             # this statement will give you error. Find out why

Comparison Operator

These operators can be used with various data types, including numbers, strings, boolean and more. In Python, comparison operators are used to compare the values of two operands (elements being compared). When comparing strings, the comparison is based on the alphabetical order of their characters (lexicographic order).
Be cautious when comparing floating-point numbers due to potential precision issues. Consider using a small tolerance value for comparisons instead of strict equality.

Come, let’s understand all of them with the help of examples

a = 20
b = 10

print(a > b)
print(a < b)
print(a == b)
print(a != b)
print(a >= b)
print(a <= b)

'''
    Output:
    True
    False
    False
    True
    True
    False
'''

Logical Operator

Python logical operators are used to combine conditional statements, allowing you to perform operations based on multiple conditions.

Come, let’s understand all of them with the help of a Truth table and examples

#example
a, b, c = True, False, True

# AND: Both conditions must be True
if a and c:
    print("Both a and c are True (AND condition).")

# OR: At least one condition must be True
if b or c:
    print("Either b or c is True (OR condition).")

# NOT: Reverses the condition
if not b:
    print("b is False (NOT condition).")

Assignment Operator

These operators are used to perform operations on values and variables. They are the special symbols that carry out arithmetic, logical, and bitwise computations. Assignment Operators are used to assign values to variables. This operator is used to assign the value of the right side of the expression to the left side operand.

Come, let’s understand all of them with the help of examples

a = 20
b = 3

#performing assignment operators
a += b
a -= b
a *= b
a /= b
a %= b

Bitwise Operator

These operators are used to perform bitwise calculations on integers. The integers are first converted into binary, and then operations are performed on each bit or corresponding pair of bits, hence the name bitwise operators. The result is then returned in decimal format.

Note: The truth table combination we saw in logical operators stands true for the bitwise AND, OR, and NOT, too.

Yaad rakhna… Bitwise operators and Logical operators are same different. Logical operators work with Boolean values, whereas Bitwise operators only works with integer values.

Come, let’s understand all of them with the help of examples

a = 10
b = 4

# Print bitwise AND operation
print("a & b =", a & b)     # Output -> a & b = 0

''' Behind the scenes
    in binary a = 10 becomes -> 1010
    in binary b = 4 becomes -> 0100
                                            1010 
                                         &  0101
                                            ----
                                            0000       <--- a 

Similary we can check other bitwise operators as well
'''

Note to self: Create a dedicated article on bitwise operators, especially on left and right shifts

Membership Operator

These operators test for the membership of an object in a sequence, such as strings, lists, or tuples. Python offers two membership operators to check or validate the membership of a value.

Come, let’s understand all of them with the help of examples

List1 = [1, 2, 'operator']
a = 5
print('i' in "Shiro")     #output -> True
print(a not in List1)     # output -> True

Identity Operator

These Operators are used to compare objects to determine if they are of the same data type and share the same memory location.

Come, let’s understand all of them with the help of examples

a = 10
b = 20

# in this example currently a and b are point to 2 different object values
print(a is b)

# Let's point both the variables to same object using assignment operator and check again
b = 10
print(a is b)         # Output -> True
print(a is not b)     # Output -> False

Programmers must use a unique function ‘id(var_name)’ using which they can fetch the memory address of the object.

Note: All the operators that we have discussed above their precedence determines the order in which operators are evaluated (PEMDAS/BODMAS rule), and associativity determines the direction of evaluation for operators with the same precedence (left-to-right for most, right-to-left for exponentiation).

Conclusion

Operators are building blocks of any programming language, and they demand to be understood well! Though this article has tried to cover all the basics and other important details around operators, it is highly recommended that you get your hands dirty in the mud too. Things might get a bit overwhelming at first, and in those times, you must remember that it’s okay and normal. Happy learning :)

Thanks a ton for taking the time to read through—it means a lot!
Special mentions: Hitesh Choudhary , #PriyaBhatia, #chaicode #geeksforgeeks #W3Schools

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