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Python Glossary
Programming reference for Python

Class

Python is an Language that supports the Object Oriented Programming paradigm. Like other OOP languages,
Python has classes which are defined wireframes of objects. Python supports class inheritance. A class may have
many subclasses but may only inherit directly from one superclass.

Syntax
class ClassName(object):
"""This is a class"""
class_variable
def __init__(self,*args):
self.args = args
def __repr__(self):
return "Something to represent the object as a string"
def other_method(self,*args):
# do something else

Example
class Horse(object):
"""Horse represents a Horse"""
species = "Equus ferus caballus"
def __init__(self,color,weight,wild=False):
self.color = color
self.weight = weight
self.wild = wild
def __repr__(self):
return "%s horse weighing %f and wild status is %b" % (self.color,self.weight,self.wild)
def make_sound(self):
print "neighhhh"
def movement(self):
return "walk"

Syntax
class ClassName(SuperClass):
# same as above
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# use 'super' keyword to get from above

Example
class RaceHorse(Horse):
"""A faster horse that inherits from Horse"""
def movement(self):
return "run"
def movement_slow(self):
return super(Horse,self).movement()
def __repr__(self):
return "%s race horse weighing %f and wild status is %b" (self.color,self.weight,self.wild)

>> horse3 = RaceHorse("white",200)

>> print horse3.movement_slow()
"walk"
>> print horse3.movement()
"run"

Comments

Single-line Comments
Augmenting code with human readable descriptions can help document design decisions.

Example
# this is a single line comment.

Multi-line Comments
Some comments need to span several lines, use this if you have more than 4 single line comments in a row.

Example
'''
this is
a multi-line
comment, i am handy for commenting out whole
chunks of code very fast
'''

Dictionaries

Dictionaries are Python’s built-in associative data type. A dictionary is made of key-value pairs where each key
corresponds to a value. Like sets, dictionaries are unordered. A few notes about keys and values: * The key must
be immutable and hashable while the value can be of any type. Common examples of keys are tuples, strings and
numbers. * A single dictionary can contain keys of varying types and values of varying types.

Syntax
dict() #creates new empty dictionary
{} #creates new empty dictionary

Example

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>> my_dict = {}
>> content_of_value1 = "abcd"
>> content_of_value2 = "wxyz"
>> my_dict.update({"key_name1":content_of_value1})
>> my_dict.update({"key_name2":content_of_value2})
>> my_dict
{'key_name1':"abcd", 'key_name2':"wxyz"}
>> my_dict.get("key_name2")
"wxyz"

Syntax
{key1:value1,key2:value2}

Example
>> my_dict = {"key1":[1,2,3],"key2":"I am a string",123:456}
>> my_dict["key1"] #[1,2,3]
>> my_dict[123] #456
>> my_dict["new key"] = "New value"
>> print my_dict
{"key2":"I am a string", "new key":"New value", "key1":[1,2,3],123:456}

Functions
Python functions can be used to abstract pieces of code to use elsewhere.

Syntax

def function_name(parameters):
# Some code here

Example
def add_two(a, b):
c = a + b
return c

# or without the interim assignment to c

def add_two(a, b):
return a + b

Syntax

def function_name(parameters, named_default_parameter=value):

# Some code here

Example
def shout(exclamation="Hey!"):
print exclamation

shout() # Displays "Hey!"

shout("Watch Out!") # Displays "Watch Out!"

Function Objects
Python functions are first-class objects, which means that they can be stored in variables and lists and can even
be returned by other functions.
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Example

# Storing function objects in variables:

def say_hello(name):
return "Hello, " + name

foo = say_hello("Alice")
# Now the value of 'foo' is "Hello, Alice"

fun = say_hello
# Now the value of 'fun' is a function object we can use like the original function:
bar = fun("Bob")
# Now the value of 'bar' is "Hello, Bob"

Example

# Returning functions from functions

# A simple function
def say_hello(greeter, greeted):
return "Hello, " + greeted + ", I'm " + greeter + "."

# We can use it like this:

print say_hello("Alice", "Bob") # Displays "Hello, Bob, I'm Alice."

# We can also use it in a function:

def produce_greeting_from_alice(greeted):
return say_hello("Alice", greeted)

print produce_greeting_from_alice("Bob") # Displays "Hello, Bob, I'm Alice."

# We can also return a function from a function by nesting them:

def produce_greeting_from(greeter):
def greet(greeted):
return say_hello(greeter, greeted)
return greet

# Here we create a greeting function for Eve:

produce_greeting_from_eve = produce_greeting_from("Eve")
# 'produce_greeting_from_eve' is now a function:
print produce_greeting_from_eve("Alice") # Displays "Hello, Alice, I'm Eve."

# You can also invoke the function directly if you want:

print produce_greeting_from("Bob")("Eve") # Displays "Hello, Eve, I'm Bob."

Example
# Using functions in a dictionary instead of long if statements:

# Let's say we have a variable called 'current_action' and we want stuff to happen based on its value:

if current_action == 'PAUSE':
pause()
elif current_action == 'RESTART':
restart()
elif current_action == 'RESUME':
resume()

# This can get long and complicated if there are many values.
# Instead, we can use a dictionary:

response_dict = {
'PAUSE': pause,
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'RESTART': restart,
'RESUME': resume
}

response_dict[current_action]() # Gets the correct function from response_dict and calls it

len()
Using len(some_object) returns the number of top-level items contained in the object being queried.

Syntax

len(iterable)

Example

>> my_list = [0,4,5,2,3,4,5]

>> len(my_list)
7

>> my_string = 'abcdef'

>> len(my_string)
6

List Comprehensions

Convenient ways to generate or extract information from lists.

Syntax

[variable for variable in iterable condition]

[variable for variable in iterable]

Example

>> x_list = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]

>> even_list = [num for num in x_list if (num % 2 == 0)]
>> even_list
[2,4,6]

>> m_list = ['AB', 'AC', 'DA', 'FG', 'LB']

>> A_list = [duo for duo in m_list if ('A' in duo)]
>> A_list
['AB', 'AC', 'DA']

Lists
A Python data type that holds an ordered collection of values, which can be of any type. Lists are Python’s
ordered mutable data type. Unlike tuples, lists can be modified in-place.

Example
>> x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>> y = ['spam', 'eggs']
>> x
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>> y
['spam','eggs']

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>> y.append('mash')
>> y
['spam', 'eggs', 'mash']

>> y += ['beans']
>> y
['spam', 'eggs', 'mash', 'beans']

Loops

For Loops
Python provides a clean iteration syntax. Note the colon and indentation.

Example
>> for i in range(0, 3):
>> print(i*2)
0
2
4

>> m_list = ["Sir", "Lancelot", "Coconuts"]

>> for item in m_list:
>> print(item)
Sir
Lancelot
Coconuts

>> w_string = "Swift"

>> for letter in w_string:
>> print(letter)
S
w
i
f
t

While Loops
A While loop permits code to execute repeatedly until a certain condition is met. This is useful if the number of
iterations required to complete a task is unknown prior to flow entering the loop.

Syntax
while condition:
//do something

Example
>> looping_needed = True
>>
>> while looping_needed:
>> # some operation on data
>> if condition:
>> looping_needed = False

print()

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A function to display the output of a program. Using the parenthesized version is arguably more consistent.

Example

>> # this will work in all modern versions of Python

>> print("some text here")
"some text here"

>> # but this only works in Python versions lower than 3.x
>> print "some text here too"
"some text here too"

range()
The range() function returns a list of integers, the sequence of which is defined by the arguments passed to it.

Syntax
argument variations:
range(terminal)
range(start, terminal)
range(start, terminal, step_size)

Example
>> range(4)
[0, 1, 2, 3]

>> range(2, 8)
[2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

>> range(2, 13, 3)

[2, 5, 8, 11]

Sets

Sets are collections of unique but unordered items. It is possible to convert certain iterables to a set.

Example
>> new_set = {1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4,'A', 'B', 'B', 'C'}
>> new_set
{'A', 1, 'C', 3, 4, 2, 'B'}

>> dup_list = [1,1,2,2,2,3,4,55,5,5,6,7,8,8]

>> set_from_list = set(dup_list)
>> set_from_list
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 55}

Slice
A Pythonic way of extracting “slices” of a list using a special bracket notation that specifies the start and end of
the section of the list you wish to extract. Leaving the beginning value blank indicates you wish to start at the
beginning of the list, leaving the ending value blank indicates you wish to go to the end of the list. Using a
negative value references the end of the list (so that in a list of 4 elements, -1 means the 4th element). Slicing
always yields another list, even when extracting a single value.

Example

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>> # Specifying a beginning and end:

>> x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>> x[2:3]
[3]

>> # Specifying start at the beginning and end at the second element
>> x[:2]
[1, 2]

>> # Specifying start at the next to last element and go to the end
>> x[-2:]
[3, 4]

>> # Specifying start at the beginning and go to the next to last element
>> x[:-1]
[1, 2, 3]

>> # Specifying a step argument returns every n-th item

>> y = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
>> y[::2]
[1, 3, 5, 7]

>> # Return a reversed version of the list ( or string )

>> x[::-1]
[4, 3, 2, 1]

>> # String reverse

>> my_string = "Aloha"
>> my_string[::-1]
"aholA"

str()
Using the str() function allows you to represent the content of a variable as a string, provided that the data type
of the variable provides a neat way to do so. str() does not change the variable in place, it returns a ‘stringified’
version of it. On a more technical note, str() calls the special __str__ method of the object passed to it.

Syntax

str(object)

Example
>> # such features can be useful for concatenating strings
>> my_var = 123
>> my_var
123

>> str(my_var)
'123'

>> my_booking = "DB Airlines Flight " + str(my_var)

>> my_booking
'DB Airlines Flight 123'

Strings

Strings store characters and have many built-in convenience methods that let you modify their content. Strings
are immutable, meaning they cannot be changed in place.

Example
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>> my_string1 = "this is a valid string"

>> my_string2 = 'this is also a valid string'
>> my_string3 = 'this is' + ' ' + 'also' + ' ' + 'a string'
>> my_string3
"this is also a string"

Tuples
A Python data type that holds an ordered collection of values, which can be of any type. Python tuples are
“immutable,” meaning that they cannot be changed once created.

Example

>> x = (1, 2, 3, 4)
>> y = ('spam', 'eggs')

>> my_list = [1,2,3,4]

>> my_tuple = tuple(my_list)
>> my_tuple
(1, 2, 3, 4)

Tuple Assignment
Tuples can be expanded into variables easily.

Example
name, age = ("Alice", 19)
# Now name has the value "Alice" and age has the value 19

# You can also omit the parentheses:

name, age = "Alice", 19

Variables

Variables are assigned values using the = operator, which is not to be confused with the == sign used for testing
equality. A variable can hold almost any type of value such as lists, dictionaries, functions.

Example
>> x = 12
>> x
12

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