In order to start working with Python and R, you need to do some installation. General SQL Server setup is not in the scope of this book. However, if you are completely new to Python (and R), it might be helpful to give you a very quick overview of the installation.

Once you prepare the environment, you will start immediately with Python programming. Anyway, time to get our hands dirty. In this section, you will learn about:

• Installing Python
• A quick demo of Python capabilities
• Python core syntax elements
• Python variables
• Basic data structures in Python
• Branching and looping
• Classes and objects