Mastering Python Statements

When I first started looking at code, it felt like a mysterious language. But I soon realized that a computer program is really just a to-do list. Each item on that list is what we call a Statement.

In this guide, I’m going to share what I’ve learned about how Python handles these instructions and how you can write them cleanly.

What Exactly is a Statement?

Think of a statement as a complete sentence in a conversation. If I tell you, “Go to the store,” that is a clear instruction. In Python, a statement is a command that the computer executes.

For example, if I want to tell the computer to show some text on the screen, I use the print() statement:

print("Python is fun!")

Real-World Analogy: Imagine you are following a recipe to bake a cake. Each step—”Preheat the oven,” “Add two eggs,” “Stir the batter”—is a statement. If you skip one or mix them up, the cake won’t turn out right!

Step 1: Writing Multiple Statements

Most programs aren’t just one line long. They are a series of instructions. In Python, the computer is very disciplined: it reads your code from top to bottom, executing one statement at a time.

Take a look at this block of code:

print("Hello World!")
print("Have a good day.")
print("Learning Python is fun!")

What happens here?

1. The computer executes the first line and prints “Hello World!”.
2. It moves to the second line and prints “Have a good day.”
3. Finally, it finishes with “Learning Python is fun!”

Step 2: Understanding the “End of the Line”

One of my favorite things about Python is its simplicity. In many other languages like Java or C++, you have to end every single line with a semicolon (;). It’s like having to put a period at the end of every sentence or the computer gets confused.

In Python, the computer is smarter. It knows that when the line ends, the statement ends. No extra punctuation is required!

Step 3: The Rare (and Messy) Semicolon

While you don’t need semicolons, Python does allow them if you want to cram multiple instructions onto one line. It looks like this:

# Possible, but not recommended
print("Hello"); print("How are you?"); print("Bye bye!")

Even though this works, I rarely ever use it. Why? Because it makes the code harder to read. Imagine reading a book where every sentence was on the same line—it would be a headache!

The Golden Rule: If you try to put two statements on the same line without a semicolon, Python will throw a SyntaxError.

Python

# This will cause an error!
print("Python is fun!") print("Really!") 

My Best Practice Advice

After spending time with Python, here is my biggest takeaway for you: Keep it clean.

Always put each statement on its own line. It makes your code look professional, and more importantly, it makes it easier for you (and others) to fix if something goes wrong. Code is meant to be read by humans just as much as it is by machines.