Basics

Points about Python:

 In python, everything is an object

 A case sensitive language

Comment character in Python: hash key

Basic modes:

 Script
 Interactive

Indentation (no curly braces)

Interactive Mode
To access the interactive shell:

 $ python -i

To quit, type:

o Quit(), or
o Exit(), or
o Ctrl + D

Virtual Environments and Packages

(5, “12. Virtual environments …”)

Applications need specific Python packages and modules. A standard Python installation won't satisfy all
requirements. Virtual environment is for this purpose. For ex: application1 uses virtual environment 1
(python version 2, ...), application2 uses virtual environment 2 (python version 3, ...)

Creating a venv:

 python3 -m venv "path_of_directory" (-m: module)

o $ python3 -m venv my_virtual_env
 To activate the environment
o $ source my_virtual_env/bin/activate
 To deactivate, use
o $ deactivate
Coding Style
https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/controlflow.html#more-on-defining-functions

PEP 8: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/

 Variable naming convention

 Function naming convention

Variable
Points:

 No need to declare a variable (undefined var) before using it (ex: x = 7). However, to print a
variable (ex: print(x)), this var has to be defined.
 A var can point to different data type at different times
 Variable assignment:
o Multiple assignments on the same line
 Local & Global Scope (3,67)
o Global statement (3,70): read the note on (3,75) cause very important
 Checking the data type of an object:
o Print(type(x))

Data types: …

 Number
o Float
 Define a float number?
 Boolean (3, 32)
 String
 List
 Tuple (coursin of List) (3,96)
o https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html
 Set
o https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html
o Set comprehensions (similar to “list comprehensions)
 Dictionary (similar to an “associative array”)
o https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html
 Sequence Types: str, unicode, list, tuple, bytearray, buffer, xrange
o https://docs.python.org/2/library/stdtypes.html#typesseq

Scope
module scope

 Variables created outside of any function or class

local scope

 Variables created inside of a function or class

Data Types
String

Quotes
Use any of the below to open and close a string

 single quotes
 double quotes
 triple single quotes
 triple double quotes

To include double quotes inside a string, enclose them with single quotes and vice versa. Or we can also
use escape character ( \ )

triple quotes: create multiline strings or docstrings

Concatenation
+ (glue) and * (repeat: associated with loop) operators

 “one” + “two”

Others
About string:

 Immutable
 Quotes
 Escape characters (3,124)
 Raw strings (3,125)
 Special characters
 Indexing: positive vs negative index
 Slicing (substring)
 Length
 Formatting
 Unicode strings
List
About a list:

 Ordered list of items

 Mutable (can be changed after created)
 Items can be different data types
 Can contain duplicate items

Create a list

 >>> mylist = ['a', 1, 18.2]

Display element(s) of a list:

 >>> mylist[0] (display the 1st element using index 0)

 >>> mylist (display the whole list)
o Output: ['a', 1, 18.2]

Adding items to a list:

 “+” operator
 append() method

Remove item(s):

 Comparison: del – remove – pop

o https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11520492/difference-between-del-remove-and-
pop-on-lists

List methods:

 Append: add items to a list

o >>> mylist.append(‘new’)

Functions to use on a list:

 list([iterable]): returns a mutable sequence list of elements

o iterable is optional. If there is no argument, an empty list is returned
o iterable can be a string, list, tuple, set, dictionary, ...

Process the following infor (re-arrange the information)

 Slicing
 o Slices assignment
 Length
 Nesting lists
 Can be used as a stack or a queue
o https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html
 Methods of a list objects:
o https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html
 3 useful built-in functions to use with list:
o Filter()
o Map()
o Reduce()
 Concise ways to create a list (term: list comprehensions)
o https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html
o Tags: bracket, expression, for clause
o Nested list comprehensions

Tuple
About tuple:

 Just like a list; except:

 Immutable (cannot be changed)

Create a tuple:

 >>> mytup = ('a', 1, 18.2)

Display element(s) of a tuple:

 >>> mytup[0]
 >>> mytup (display the whole tuple)
o Output: ('a', 1, 18.2)

[Unordered] Dictionary
About dictionary:

 Unordered key-value pairs

 Keys don’t have to be same data type
 Values don’t have to be same data type
 A key is unique, has to be immutable and hash-able. For ex, a key can be a tuple (but not a list),
int, float, bool, str, bytes, ...

Create a dictionary

 >>> mydic = {"apples": 5, "pears": 2, "oranges": 9}

Display element(s) of a dictionary:

 >>> mydic['apples']

Dictionary methods:

 items(): yield the key-value pairs as a "list" of tuples

How to iterate through a dictionary

How to:

 Iterate through the keys

o >>> fruit_inventory = {"apples": 5, "pears": 2, "oranges": 9}
o >>> for fruit in fruit_inventory:
o ... print(fruit)
o ...
o oranges
o apples
o pears
 Iterate through (key, value) pairs:
o >>> fruit_inventory = {"apples": 5, "pears": 2, "oranges": 9}
o >>> for fruit in fruit_inventory.items():
o ... print(fruit)
o ...
o ('oranges', 9)
o ('apples', 5)
o ('pears', 2)
 Iterate through (key, value) pairs with the "key" and "value" being assigned to different
variables (feature: unpacking)
o >>> fruit_inventory = {"apples": 5, "pears": 2, "oranges": 9}
o >>> for fruit, quantity in fruit_inventory.items():
o ... print("You have {} {}.".format(quantity, fruit))
o ...
o You have 5 apples.
o You have 2 pears.
o You have 9 oranges.

Ordered Dictionary
About Ordered Dictionary

 OrderedDict must be imported first

o >>> from collections import OrderedDict
 o >>> od = OrderedDict()
o >>> od['apple'] = 5
o >>> od['orange'] = 6

Data type conversion

Operators

Comparison operators
(3, 33)

Comparing sequences and other types

 https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html

Boolean operators
(3,35)

Modules
https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/modules.html

Tags & Associations

 import, reuse
 private & global symbol table

Execute modules as scripts

Modules search path

Compiled Python file

 Tags & Associations

o *.pyc & *.pyo file formats
o Python interpreter, byte-compiled, platform independent (sharing)
o *.pyo file format, optimized code, flag (interpreter)

Standard modules

 Tags & Associations

o “Python Library Reference”
dir() function

 Tags & Associations

o Names’ definitions

Packages vs Modules

A package is a collection (directory) of Python modules, while a module is a single Python file. It contains
an additional __init__.py file to distinguish a package from a directory that happens to contain a bunch
of Python scripts

 Lib/urllib is a package. Inside this contains modules

Importing modules
(3, 57)

2 different syntaxes:

 import os
o Use dot-syntax to access its functionality
 os.path.abspath()
 from os.path import abspath
o Pull in only the functionality we need
 o Can call the function directly (no need the prefix)
 abspath()
o Using the full name is recommended for a more readable code

Input/Output

Input
Ex:

 name = input("give me your name: ")

o include the answer within quotes (singles or doubles)
 print("Your name is " + name)

Output
Displaying output
https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/inputoutput.html

3 ways of writing values:

 expression statements
 print statement
 write() method of file objects

Print command:

 Print 3
 Print “hello”
 Print (“hello”)
 print ("hello" + "\n") * 3
o print “hello\n” 3 times on the output (no need to use control flow statements like while,
for, or …)
 Concatenation:
o A string and a number
 Print(“your age is: “), age
 Print “your age is: “, age
 Print “your age is: “, str(age)
 Print(“your age is:”, age)
 o The function “print” joins parameters together with a space separator between them


 Keyword arguments (3,65): end, sep

Print out multiple lines:

 Use triple-quotes (either doubles or singles): """...""" or '''...'''. End of lines are automatically
included in the string, but it’s possible to prevent this by adding a \ at the end of the line.

A trailing comma avoids the newline after the output. Compare the followings:

 First:
o ... a, b = 0, 1
o >>> while b < 10:
o ... print b
o ... a, b = b, a+b
 Second:

o >>> a, b = 0, 1
o >>> while b < 1000:
o ... print b,
o ... a, b = b, a+b

Formatting output
2 ways:

 Manual string manipulation

 str.format() method

o
 % operator (old way of doing)
Reading & Writing files

File Objects

Saving structured data with Jason

Flow Control
Tools:

 While
 For
 If

Others:

 Break statement
 Continue statement
 Else clause
 Pass statement
 Range() function

Looping techniques

 https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html
 Some useful functions:
o Enumerate()
o Zip()
o Reversed()
o Sorted()
o Iteritems()

Conditions

 Used in while or if or …
 https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html

Ending a program early with sys.exit() (3,58)

If syntax (conditional statement)

if ...:

elif ...:

else:
For (iterative loop)
For syntax:

for "individual_item" in "iterator":

"statements"

 individual_item: this is just a variable

 iterator: can be lists, tuples, dictionaries, and range sequences

For illustration on how to use "for" for each data type, see the corresponding data type section

while (conditional loop)

while loop syntax

while "expression":

"statements"

Functions
(3, 61)

Some points:

 A func name can be re-assigned another name

 With or without return statement (None value (3, 65))
 Function’s arguments

def add(num1, num2):

result = num1 + num2

return result

Classes
https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/classes.html

Check the file “class.py”

Main points:

 __init__():
o Called automatically every time the class is being used
  Properties
o Can be modified
o Can be deleted (“del” keyword)
 Methods:
o Are functions that belong to the object
 The word “self”
o Is a reference to the current instance of the class.
o Can be named anything (doesn’t have to be named “self”), but it has to be the first
parameter of any function
 An object can be deleted with the “del” keyword
 Create an empty class with the pass statement

Rest API
Also check the title “Lib/urllib”

Library
Lib/json
Conversion table:

Json.loads

 Loads stands for “load string”

 Translate a string containing JSON data into a Python dictionary

Json.dumps
  Dumps stands for “dump string”
 Translate a Python value into a string of JSON-formatted data

Lib/xml/dom/minidom
Many Python approaches to parse an XML payload:

 MiniDom
 ElementTree

Python/cpython/Lib/urllib
(also check the title “Rest API”)

Check the example “HTTP Rest API.py”

Error “urllib.error.HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden”

This is probably because of mod_security or some similar server security feature which blocks known
spider/bot user agents (urllib uses something like python urllib/3.3.0, it's easily detected). Try setting a
known browser user agent with:

 req = Request(url)
 req.add_header('User-Agent', 'Mozilla/5.0')

or combine into one statement:

 req = Request(url, headers={'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0'})

urllib3/urllib3/src/urllib3

psf/requests
https://github.com/psf/requests

check the example file “psf-requests.py”

requests is built on top of urllib3

Errors and Exceptions

(3,72)

https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/errors.html

Regular Expression
(3,150)

Passing raw string to re.compile() (3,151)

  “r” stands for “raw string”
 Also check “string” under “variable” section

Grouping with parentheses (3,152)

 How to match parenthesis (escape the character)

 Difference between
o x.group() – x.groups()
o x.group(0) – x.group()

Matching multiple groups (3,153) (this one or that one)

Optional matching with question mark

Matching zero or more with the star

Matching one or more with the plus

Greedy and non-greedy matching

The findall() method

Debugging
When an error occurs, it will be displayed to the user in the form of a "stack trace"

If your script called a main() function, which in turn called a create_fortune_cookie_message() function,
which raised or generated an error... Your "call stack" would be:

Debugging your code

 use print statements

 o print("DEBUG: a =", a)
o print("==> Starting my_function()")
o “DEBUG” or “==>” are visual prefixes to visually highlight debugging statements
 Use Python interactive shell
o $ python -i <script_name.py>

REFERENCES
1. https://www.tutorialspoint.com/python/

2. https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/

3. Automate the boring stuff with Python

4. Python Programming for Beginners

5. https://docs.python.org/3/contents.html