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Walks like python. Runs like C
The above line explains to a ton why I decided to compose this articleš¤©. I went over Julia some time prior despite the fact that it was in its beginning phases, it was all the while making swells in the mathematical registering space.
Julia is developed by MIT, a high-level language that has a syntax that is beginners friendly as Python and fast as C. This isn’t all, It gives distributed parallel execution, a sophisticated compiler, mathematical precision, and a broad numerical function library.
So in this blog, we are going to learn the basics of Julia Programming language with the help of code snippets. This article covers the basics of Julia, which helps you to give an overview on how to declare variables, how to use functions, and many more.
If youāre interested in Machine Learning in Julia, then checkout Start Machine Leaning With Julia: Top Julia Libraries For Machine Learningš
In this section, we will learn variables and their types and how to perform simple mathematical operations using Julia.
In programming, when we want to store the data we want a container to store it, the name of this container is called variable. When we want to store the data in a variable, we do this by writing the below code:
name = "Akshay" number = 23 pie_value = 3.141
Here, theĀ name is a string that contains a text value, a number contains an integer and pie_value is a floating number. Unlike C++, we donāt need to specify variable type before the variable name.
If you want to print the value of the variable, we use the print keyword. Check the below code to print the variable value:
>>> print(name) Akshay
In Julia, many mathematical operations are present which we can perform on variables. For example addition, multiplication, subtraction and many more.
a = 2 b = 3 sum = a + b difference = a - b product = a * b quotient = b / a power = a^3 modulus = b % a
Check the below image for all the mathematical operations that are available in Julia:
For complete information on mathematical operations check this link
In Julia, every variable has its data type. There are many data types in Julia like Float, Int, String. Check the below image for all the data types that are available in Julia:
If we want to determine the type of variable, then we use typeof function:
>>>typeof(0.2) Float64 >>>typeof(50) Int64 >>>typeof("Akshay") String
For more information on variables and their types, check this Link.
These are the buildings blocks of Julia. All the operations that we perform on variables are carried out with the help of functions. These are also used to perform mathematical operations on variables.Ā In a nutshell, a function is a kind of box that takes the input to perform some operations and then finally return an output. In this section, we will study function in great detail.
function plus_two_number(x) Ā Ā Ā #perform addition operation Ā Ā Ā Ā return x + 2 end
Ā
We can also create an inline version of the function
plus_two_number(x) = x+2
plus_two_number = x -> x+2
function say_hello() Ā Ā Ā println("Hello") Ā Ā Ā return end
Ā
We can also take a value from the user and pass it to the function. Check the below code which converts weight(in kg) on Earth to some other value on a different planet
function Weight_calc(weight_Earth, g=9.81) return weight_Earth*g/9.81 end
Check the output below:
>>>Weight_calc(60) 60 >>>Weight_calc(60, 3.72) 22.75
For more information on functions, check this link
In this section, we will discuss how we can store data in memory using different data structures. We will discuss vectors, tuples, named tuples, matrices and dictionaries.
It is a list of ordered data which is having a common type (example Int, Any or Float) and it is a one-dimensional array. Check the below syntax to create a vector in Julia:
a = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] b = [1.2, 3,4,5,6] c = ["Akshay", "Gupta", "xyz"]
It is two-dimensional arrays. Check the below syntax to create a matrice in Julia
Matri_1 = [4,5,7; 8,1,3]
It is a fixed size group of variables and may contain a common type of data but it is not compulsory. Once the tuple is created, you can not increase the size. Tuples are created using below syntax:
a = (1,2,3,4,5) b = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
So these can be created by using parenthesis or without using them.
Tuple_1 = (1, 2, 3, 4) a, b, c, d= Tuple_1 >>>print("$a $b $c $d") 1 2 3 4
They are the same as a tuple with a name identifier for a single value. Check below example for the named tuple:
>>> named_tuple = (a = 1, b = "hello") (a = 1, b = "hello") >>>named_tuple[:a] 1
It is a collection of keys and values. They are unordered which means the order of key is not fixed. Check the below syntax to create a dictionary in Julia using the Dict keyword
Person_1 = Dict("Name" => "Akshay", "Phone" => 83659108, "Pant-size" => 40) Person_2 = Dict("Name" => "Raju", "Phone" => 75973937, "Pant-size" => 36) >>>print(Person_1[āNameā]) Akshay
For more information on data structures in Julia, check this link
In this section of the blog, we will see control statements in Julia. First, we will start with conditional blocks for example if ā¦ else and after that, we will see how to perform looping using For and While Loops.
I hope you must have studied about if else condition in C/C++. So, it uses to make decisions according to certain conditions.
For example, we want an absolute value of a number. It means we if the number that is passed is positive, then we will return the number itself. On the other hand, if itās negative, then we will return the opposite if a number. Check the below code on how the if-else statements work.
function absolute_value(x) if x >= 0 return x else return -x end end
Note: You can see if-else block is ended with end, like a function
Check More Than One Condition
If you want to check more than two conditions, then we can use
Check the below code on how to use and condition
if 1 < 4 & 3 < 5 print("Welcome!") end
If we want to iterate over a list of values and perform some operation then we can use it for loop in Julia. Check the below code to print the square of values from 1 to 10.
for j in 1:10 println(j^2) end
Output
1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 81 100
Check the below code of While loop in Julia
function while_loop() j=1 while(j<20) println(j) j += 1 end end
If we want to come out of the loop after a certain condition is met, use a Break keyword. Check the below code on how to use Break in Julia
for j in 1:10 if j>3 break else println(j^2) end end
Check the below code on how to use theĀ Continue keyword in Julia
for j in 1:20 if j %2 == 0 continue else println(j) end end
For more information on iterators and control flow, check this link
So in this article, we had a great detailed discussion on the Basics of Julia Programming Language. Hope you learn something from this blog and it will turn out best for your project. Thanks for reading and your patience. Good luck!
For more Blogs Related To Julia, Check below links:
Start Machine Leaning With Julia: Top Julia Libraries For Machine Learning
Data Visualization In Julia Using Plots.jl: With Practical Implementation
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