Python

in 90 minutes Joe James

Math & Computer Science Tutorials
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 Python Variables
Built-in Types Type Conversion
Integer int() # string to integer
Floating point float() # string to float
String str() # number to string
Boolean bool() # 0, [], None => False
Complex number hex() # decimal to hex
ord() # ASCII value
 Variable Naming Tips
• Naming can have letters, numbers and underscore, but cannot start with
a number
• Some Python reserved words cannot be used (eg. if, for, in, open)
• Use descriptive variable names
– first_name, date_of_birth, hair_color
• Case Matters
– name is not the same as Name All variables in Python are reference
variables, meaning the variable contains a
• Constants in all caps:
memory address to where the data is stored.
PI = 3.14159, DOZEN = 12
Memory Address Data

name 21F7h ‘Cassandra’

In Python, most variables are immutable, meaning they don’t
change in-place.

Python creates a new value in a different memory location when

a variable changes.
Integer Immutable
Float Immutable
String Immutable
Tuple Immutable
List Mutable
Set Mutable
Dictionary Mutable
 Boolean: True or False
bool(expression)

Evaluate to FALSE Evaluate to TRUE

0 any non-zero number
0.0 any non-empty string
"" any non-empty list
[]
None 1 10 > 5
3<2 1 or 0 -1 < 33
-1 > 33 81 and -23 8 >= 8
8 >= 100 ‘pig’ 0 == 0
1 and 0 5 <= 1 ‘cat’ == ‘cat’ 1.2 != 1.3
0 or "" 0 == 88 [‘dog’] 5 > 3 and 10
5-5 1.2 != 1.2 ‘a’ < ‘b’ 1 == 0 or [0]
 Python Math functions
Symbol Function Example Result
+ addition5 + 3 8
– subtraction 10 – 6 4
* multiplication3 * 7 21
// integer division 15 // 6 2
/ float division 15 / 6 2.5
** power 7 ** 2 49
 4 2 1 5 3
Example: x = 1 + 5 ** (3 // 2) – 6 % 4
Order of x = 1 + 5 ** (3 //
1 2) – 6 % 4
Operations
1. ( )
x = 1 + 5 ** (3
5 // 2) – 6 % 4
2. ** x = 1 + 5 ** (3
5 // 2) – 6 %
24
3. * / // %
4. + – x = 1 + 5 **6 (3 // 2) – 6 %2 4
5. left to right x = 1 + 5 ** (3 //
4 2) – 6 % 4
 Indexing Starts with 0
String: “Vikash”
List: [‘V’, ‘i’, ‘k’, ‘a’, ‘s’, ‘h’]
Index Value
0 V
1 i
2 k
3 a
4 s
5 h
 String Escape Sequences
my
\n newline print(‘my\ndog’) dog

\t tab print(‘my\tcat’) my cat

\\ backslash print(‘my\\turtle’) my\turtle

 range
range gives a sequence of integers
“to” means up to but not including.

range(2, 10, 3) # returns [2, 5, 8]

for i in range(5): [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]

from to step for i in range(7, 9): [7, 8]
(Inclusive. (Not
(Default 1) for i in range(1, 10, 2): [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
Default 0) inclusive)
for i in range(10, 6, -1): [10, 9, 8, 7]
List Tuple
General purpose Immutable (can’t add/change)
Most widely used data structure Useful for fixed data
Grow and shrink size as needed Faster than Lists
Sequence type Sequence type
Sortable

Set Dict
Store non-duplicate items Key/Value pairs
Very fast access vs Lists Associative array, like Java HashMap
Math Set ops (union, intersect) Unordered
Unordered
SEQUENCES (String, List, Tuple)
• indexing: x[6]
• slicing: x[1:4]
• adding/concatenating: +
• multiplying: *
• checking membership: in/not in
• iterating for i in x:
• len(sequence1)
• min(sequence1)
• max(sequence1)
• sum(sequence1[1:3]])
• sorted(list1)
• sequence1.count(item)
• sequence1.index(item)
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• indexing
– Access any item in the sequence using its index

String

x = 'frog'
print (x[3]) # prints 'g'

List

x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']

print (x[1]) # prints 'cow'
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• slicing
– Slice out substrings, sublists, subtuples using indexes
[start : end : step]
x = 'computer'
Code Result Explanation
x[1:4] 'omp' Items 1 to 3
x[1:6:2] 'opt' Items 1, 3, 5
x[3:] 'puter' Items 3 to end
x[:5] 'compu' Items 0 to 4
x[-1] 'r' Last item
x[-3:] 'ter' Last 3 items
x[:-2] 'comput' All except last 2 items
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• adding / concatenating
– Combine 2 sequences of the same type using +

String
x = 'horse' + 'shoe'
print (x) # prints 'horseshoe'

List

x = ['pig', 'cow'] + ['horse']

print (x) # prints ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• multiplying
– Multiply a sequence using *

String
x = ‘bug' * 3
print (x) # prints ‘bugbugbug'

List
x = [8, 5] * 3
print (x) # prints [8, 5, 8, 5, 8, 5]
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• checking membership
– Test whether an item is in or not in a sequence

String

x = 'bug'
print ('u' in x) # prints True

List

x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']

print ('cow' not in x) # prints False
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• iterating
– Iterate through the items in a sequence
Item
x = [7, 8, 3]
for item in x:
print (item * 2) # prints 14, 16, 6

Index & Item

x = [7, 8, 3]
for index, item in enumerate(x):
print (index, item) # prints 0 7, 1 8, 2 3
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• number of items
– Count the number of items in a sequence

String
x = 'bug'
print (len(x)) # prints 3

List
x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']
print (len(x)) # prints 3
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• minimum
– Find the minimum item in a sequence lexicographically
– alpha or numeric types, but cannot mix types
String
x = 'bug'
print (min(x)) # prints 'b'

List
x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']
print (min(x)) # prints 'cow'
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• maximum
– Find the maximum item in a sequence
– alpha or numeric types, but cannot mix types
String
x = 'bug'
print (max(x)) # prints 'u'

List
x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']
print (max(x)) # prints 'pig'
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• sum
– Find the sum of items in a sequence
– entire sequence must be numeric type
String -> Error

x = [5, 7, 'bug‘]
print (sum(x)) # error!

List
x = [2, 5, 8, 12]
print (sum(x)) # prints 27
print (sum(x[-2:])) # prints 20
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• sorting
– Returns a new list of items in sorted order
– Does not change the original list
String

x = 'bug'
print (sorted(x)) # prints ['b', 'g', 'u']

List

x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']

print (sorted(x)) # prints ['cow', 'horse', 'pig']
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• count (item)
– Returns count of an item
String

x = 'hippo'
print (x.count('p')) # prints 2

List

x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse', 'cow']

print (x.count('cow')) # prints 2
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• index (item)
– Returns the index of the first occurrence of an item
String
x = 'hippo'
print (x.index('p')) # prints 2

List

x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse', 'cow']

print (x.index('cow')) # prints 1
 SEQUENCES
String List Tuple
• unpacking
– Unpack the n items of a sequence into n variables

x = ['pig', 'cow', 'horse']

a, b, c = x # now a is 'pig'
# b is 'cow',
# c is 'horse'

Note:
The number of variables must exactly match the length of the list.
 LISTS
LISTS
All operations from Sequences, plus:
• constructors
• del list1[2] delete item from list1
• list1.append(item) appends an item to list1
• list1.extend(sequence1) appends a sequence to list1
• list1.insert(index, item) inserts item at index
• list1.pop() pops last item
• list1.remove(item) removes first instance of item
• list1.reverse() reverses list order
• list1.sort() sorts list in place
• list1.clear() empties list
 LISTS
• constructors – creating a new list
x = list((1, 2, 3)) # note double parens
x = ['a', 25, 'dog', 8.43]
x = list(tuple1)

List Comprehension:
x = [m for m in range(8)]
resulting list: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

x = [z**2 for z in range(10) if z>4]

resulting list: [25, 36, 49, 64, 81]
 LISTS
• delete
– Delete a list or an item from a list

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
del(x[1]) # [5, 8, 6]

del(x) # deletes list x

 LISTS
• append
– Append an item to a list

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
x.append(7) # [5, 3, 8, 6, 7]
 LISTS
• extend
– Append an sequence to a list

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
y = [12, 13]
x.extend(y) # [5, 3, 8, 6, 7, 12, 13]
 LISTS
• insert
– Insert an item at given index x.insert(index, item)

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
x.insert(1, 7) # [5, 7, 3, 8, 6]

x.insert(1,['a','m']) # [5, ['a', 'm'], 7, 3, 8,

6]
 LISTS
• pop
– Pops last item off the list, and returns item

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
x.pop() # [5, 3, 8]
# and returns the 6

print(x.pop()) # prints 8
# x is now [5, 3]
 LISTS
• remove
– Remove first instance of an item

x = [5, 3, 8, 6, 3]
x.remove(3) # [5, 8, 6, 3]
 LISTS
• reverse
– Reverse the order of the list

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
x.reverse() # [6, 8, 3, 5]
 LISTS
• sort
– Sort the list in place

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
x.sort() # [3, 5, 6, 8]

Note:
sorted(x) returns a new sorted list without changing the original list x.
x.sort() puts the items of x in sorted order (sorts in place).
 LISTS
• clear
– delete all items from the list

x = [5, 3, 8, 6]
x.clear() # []
 TUPLES
TUPLES
• Support all operations for Sequences
• Immutable, but member objects may be mutable
• If the contents of a list shouldn’t change, use a tuple
to prevent items from accidently being added,
changed or deleted
• Tuples are more efficient than lists due to Python’s
implementation
 TUPLES
• constructors – creating a new tuple
x = () # no-item tuple
x = (1,2,3)
x = 1, 2, 3 # parenthesis are optional
x = 2, # single-item tuple
x = tuple(list1) # tuple from list
 TUPLES
• immutable
– But member objects may be mutable

x = (1, 2, 3)
del(x[1]) # error!
x[1] = 8 # error!

x = ([1,2], 3) # 2-item tuple: list and int

del(x[0][1]) # ([1], 3)
 SETS
• constructors – creating a new set
x = {3,5,3,5} # {5, 3}
x = set() # empty set
x = set(list1) # new set from list
# strips duplicates

Set Comprehension:
x = {3*x for x in range(10) if x>5}
resulting set: {18, 21, 24, 27} but in random order
 SETS
• basic set operations
Description Code
Add item to set x x.add(item)
Remove item from set x x.remove(item)
Get length of set x len(x)
item in x
Check membership in x
item not in x
Pop random item from set x x.pop()
Delete all items from set x x.clear()
 SETS
• standard mathematical set operations
Set Function Description Code
Intersection AND set1 & set2
Union OR set1 | set2
Symmetric Difference XOR set1 ^ set2
Difference In set1 but not in set2 set1 – set2
Subset set2 contains set1 set1 <= set2
Superset set1 contains set2 set1 >= set2
 DICTIONARIES
• constructors – creating a new dict
x = {'pork':25.3, 'beef':33.8, 'chicken':22.7}
x = dict([('pork', 25.3),('beef', 33.8),('chicken', 22.7)])
x = dict(pork=25.3, beef=33.8, chicken=22.7)
 DICTIONARIES
• basic dict operations
Description Code
Add or change item in dict x x['beef'] = 25.2
Remove item from dict x del x['beef']
Get length of dict x len(x)
Check membership in x item in x
(only looks in keys, not values) item not in x
Delete all items from dict x x.clear()
Delete dict x del x
 DICTIONARIES
• accessing keys and values in a dict
x.keys() # returns list of keys in x
x.values() # returns list of values in x
x.items() # returns list of key-value tuple pairs in x

item in x.values() # tests membership in x: returns boolean

 DICTIONARIES
• iterating a dict
for key in x: # iterate keys
print(key, x[key]) # print all key/value pairs

for k, v in x.items(): # iterate key/value pairs

print(k, v) # print all key/value pairs

Note:
Entries in a dict are in random order.
A function is a block of statements that together
perform an operation.

Any operation that is used often in a program can be

split into its own function.
Function benefits:
Modularizes code
Easier to debug, re-use, maintain

Better

Contiguous Code Modular Code

 Classes and Objects
• Often programs must model the real world.
– A school has courses, instructors and students.
– A library has books and users.

• In programming this is done using Classes.

– A class combines related variables and functions for a real-world object into one code
block.
– A class is the block of code, which is the blueprint or recipe for making an object. An
object is an instance of a class (Instructor is a class, Professor Lee is an object of type
Instructor)
 LIBRARY

class: Book class: Customer

Variables (data) Variables (data)
- book_id - customer_id
- title - name
- phone_number
Functions (actions)
- Functions (actions)
- check_out_book (id)
- return_book (id)
© 2018 Joe James