Python Programming

Course Summary

• basic concepts: interpreting and the interpreter, compilation and the compiler, language elements, lexis, syntax and semantics, Python keywords, instructions, indenting
• literals: Boolean, integer, floating-point numbers, scientific notation, strings
• operators: unary and binary, priorities and binding
• numeric operators: ** * / % // + –
• bitwise operators: ~ & ^ | << >>
• string operators: * +
• Boolean operators: not and or
• relational operators ( == != > >= < <= ), building complex Boolean expressions
• assignments and shortcut operators
• accuracy of floating-point numbers
• basic input and output: input(), print(), int(), float(), str() functions
• formatting print() output with end= and sep= arguments
• conditional statements: if, if-else, if-elif, if-elif-else
• the pass instruction
• simple lists: constructing vectors, indexing and slicing, the len() function
• simple strings: constructing, assigning, indexing, slicing comparing, immutability
• building loops: while, for, range(), in, iterating through sequences
• expanding loops: while-else, for-else, nesting loops and conditional statements
• controlling loop execution: break, continue

• strings in detail: ASCII, UNICODE, UTF-8, immutability, escaping using the \ character, quotes and apostrophes inside strings, multiline strings, copying vs. cloning, advanced slicing, string vs. string, string vs. non-string, basic string methods (upper(), lower(), isxxx(), capitalize(), split(), join(), etc.) and functions (len(), chr(), ord()), escape characters
• lists in detail: indexing, slicing, basic methods (append(), insert(), index()) and functions (len(), sorted(), etc.), del instruction, iterating lists with the for loop, initializing, in and not in operators, list comprehension, copying and cloning
• lists in lists: matrices and cubes
• tuples: indexing, slicing, building, immutability
• tuples vs. lists: similarities and differences, lists inside tuples and tuples inside lists
• dictionaries: building, indexing, adding and removing keys, iterating through dictionaries as well as their keys and values, checking key existence, keys(), items() and values() methods

• defining and invoking your own functions and generators
• return and yield keywords, returning results, the None keyword, recursion
• parameters vs. arguments, positional keyword and mixed argument passing, default parameter values
• converting generator objects into lists using the list() function
• name scopes, name hiding (shadowing), the global keyword
• lambda functions, defining and using
• map(), filter(), reduce(), reversed(), sorted() functions and the sort() method
• the if operator
• import directives, qualifying entities with module names, initializing modules
• writing and using modules, the __name__ variable
• pyc file creation and usage
• constructing and distributing packages, packages vs. directories, the role of the __init__.py file
• hiding module entities
• Python hashbangs, using multiline strings as module documentation

• defining your own classes, superclasses, subclasses, inheritance, searching for missing class components, creating objects
• class attributes: class variables and instance variables, defining, adding and removing attributes, explicit constructor invocation
• class methods: defining and using, the self parameter meaning and usage
• inheritance and overriding, finding class/object components
• single inheritance vs. multiple inheritance
• name mangling
• invoking methods, passing and using the self argument/parameter
• the __init__ method
• the role of the __str__ method
• introspection: __dict__, __name__, __module__, __bases__ properties, examining class/object structure
• writing and using constructors
• hasattr(), type(), issubclass(), isinstance(), super() functions
• using predefined exceptions and defining your own ones
• the try-except-else-finally block, the raise statement, the except-as variant
• exceptions hierarchy, assigning more than one exception to one except branch
• adding your own exceptions to an existing hierarchy
• assertions
• the anatomy of an exception object
• input/output basics: opening files with the open() function, stream objects, binary vs. text files, newline character translation, reading and writing files, bytearray objects
• read(), readinto(), readline(), write(), close() methods

Total: 60 Hours (approx. 20 Classes)