Python Flow Control Tools & Musical Experimentations

Summary

The class will introduce students to Python flow control tools such as if-else statements, match-case statements, iterables, advanced functions and more ways to divert the flow of your program.

Prerequisites

For this class we will need to install some third-party libraries, namely pydub, which requires us to use virtual environments — picture them as a box in which your programs and libraries that support them reside.

They are completely isolated from other virtual environments and you will have to create them and install required packages for every new project you do. But they make for a good isolated container that only has tools essential for the job.

---

Windows

Install ffmpeg

1. Download ffmpeg and unarchive it

2. Go to the unarchived folder, locate bin folder and copy its path

3. Open search (Win+S) and search for Edit the system environmental variables

4. Navigate to Environment variables... -> System variables -> Path and double-click it

5. Paste the copied path into an empty field and click "ok"

6. Test the installation by typing ffmpeg to your terminal

Create a virtual environment

1. Create a folder whereever you'd like and open your terminal (or code editor with terminal) there

2. Create a virtual environment in the current directory (.):

   py -m venv .

3. Activate it:

   .\Scripts\activate

   if your next prompt starts with (python) or (<current-directory-name>) then you have successfully activated your virtual environment and can now work on your code. But first we need to install some packages

4. Install pydub, pyaudio and scipy:

   pip install pydub pyaudio scipy

---

Mac OS

Install ffmpeg and PortAudio

1. Install HomeBrew — a convinient package manager for Mac OS and Linux:

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Add it to your PATH:

   echo "export PATH=/opt/homebrew/bin:$PATH" >> ~/.bash_profile && source ~/.bash_profile

3. Install ffmpeg and PortAudio:

   brew install ffmpeg portaudio

Create a virtual environment

1. Create a folder whereever you'd like and open your terminal (or code editor with terminal) there

2. Create a virtual environment in the current directory (.):

   python3 -m venv .

3. Activate it:

   source ./bin/activate

   if your next prompt starts with (python) or (<current-directory-name>) then you have successfully activated your virtual environment and can now work on your code. But first we need to install some packages

4. Install pydub and pyaudio:

   pip install pydub pyaudio

---

Linux

Install ffmpeg

1. Use your package manager to install ffmpeg. For example on Ubuntu/Debian/Mint:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg

2. Test the installation by typing ffmpeg to your terminal

Create a virtual environment

1. Create a folder whereever you'd like and open your terminal (or code editor with terminal) there

2. Create a virtual environment in the current directory (.):

   python -m venv .

3. Activate it:

   source ./bin/activate

   if your next prompt starts with (python) or (<current-directory-name>) then you have successfully activated your virtual environment and can now work on your code. But first we need to install some packages

4. Install pydub:

   pip install pydub