Python Fundamentals: Video (LiveLessons Series) Book

Preface vii

Lesson 1: Introduction: Administrivia, Installation, References/Resources 1

Downloading Python 1

Editors 1

IDEs 1

Interactive Interpreter 4

Exercises 5

Lesson 2: Getting Started 7

Python 2 to Python 3 Transition 7

Exercises 7

Lesson 3: Python Syntax Basics 9

Basic Syntax Rules 9

Commenting 9

Code Block Delimitation 9

Variables and Assignment 10

Identifier Rules 10

Functions 10

Importing Modules and Packages 11

User Keyboard Input 12

Exercises 12

Lesson 4: Standard Types 13

Standard Types 13

Numbers 13

Sequences 14

Hashing 18

Operators and Built-in Functions 21

Exercises 31

Lesson 5: *Objects and Memory Model 33

Objects 33

References (and Variables) 34

Reference Counting 34

Categorizing the Types 35

Quizzes 36

Exercises 36

Lesson 6: Loops and Conditionals 37

if Statement Family 37

Ternary Operator/Conditional Expression 37

Loops 38

while 38

for 38

Loop Helpers 42

Summary 43

Exercises 43

Lesson 7: Files and Input/Output 45

Files 45

Standard Files 45

File Objects 46

File Methods 46

Reading Data 46

Writing Data 48

Other File Attributes 48

Limitations of Files and Other Forms of Persistent Storage 49

Pickling Objects 49

Shelving Objects 50

Summary 51

Exercises 54

Lesson 8: Errors and Exceptions 55

Concepts 55

Exception Handling and Python 55

Using the try-except Statement 56

Causes of Exceptions 58

Handling Multiple Exceptions 58

Using else with try-except 59

The finally Statement 59

*Context Management 60

Throwing Exceptions with raise and assert 61

Creating Your Own Exceptions 62

Limitations 63

Non-Error Exceptions 63

Summary 64

Exercises 66

Lesson 9: Functions and Functional Programming 67

Arguments in Function Calls 68

Function Declarations and Definitions 68

Return Values 69

*Evaluation 69

Variable Scope and Namespaces 70

Functional Programming 74

* and ** Have Nothing to Do with Pointers in Python 75

Variable Arguments 76

Argument Groups/Collections/Expansion 76

*Advanced Topics 77

Summary 79

Exercises 79

Lesson 10: *Object-Oriented Programming 81

Structured Programming 81

Object-Oriented Programming 82

Structured/Procedural vs. Object-Oriented Programming 82

OOP and Python 83

Classes 84

Instances 86

Methods 87

Subclasses 88

Multiple Inheritance 91

Summary 92

Exercises 94