Basic Python Interview Questions for Fresher’s

1. What is Python? List some popular applications of Python in the world of technology.

Python is a widely-used general-purpose, high-level programming language. It was created by Guido

van Rossum in 1991 and further developed by the Python Software Foundation. It was designed with
an emphasis on code readability, and its syntax allows programmers to express their concepts in
fewer lines of code.

It is used for:

System Scripting

Web Development

Game Development

Software Development

Complex Mathematics

2. What are the benefits of using Python language as a tool in the present scenario?

Object-Oriented Language

High-Level Language

Dynamically Typed language

Extensive support Libraries

Presence of third-party modules

Open source and community development

Portable and Interactive

Portable across Operating systems

3. Is Python a compiled language or an interpreted language?

Actually, Python is a partially compiled language and partially interpreted language. The compilation
part is done first when we execute our code and this will generate byte code internally this byte
code gets converted by the Python virtual machine(p.v.m) according to the underlying
platform(machine+operating system).

4. What does the ‘#’ symbol do in Python?

‘#’ is used to comment on everything that comes after on the line.

5. What is the difference between a Mutable datatype and an Immutable data type?

Mutable data types can be edited i.e., they can change at runtime. Eg – List, Dictionary, etc.
Immutable data types can not be edited i.e., they can not change at runtime. Eg – String, Tuple, etc.

6. How are arguments passed by value or by reference in Python?

Everything in Python is an object and all variables hold references to the objects. The reference
values are according to the functions; as a result, you cannot change the value of the references.
However, you can change the objects if it is mutable.

7. What is the difference between a Set and Dictionary?

The set is an unordered collection of data types that is iterable, mutable and has no duplicate
elements.A dictionary in Python is an ordered collection of data values, used to store data values like
a map.

8. What is List Comprehension? Give an Example.

List comprehension is a syntax construction to ease the creation of a list based on existing iterable.

For Example:

my_list = [i for i in range(1, 10)]

9. What is a lambda function?

A lambda function is an anonymous function. This function can have any number of parameters but,
can have just one statement. For Example:

a = lambda x, y : x*y

print(a(7, 19))

10. What is a pass in Python?

Pass means performing no operation or in other words, it is a placeholder in the compound

statement, where there should be a blank left and nothing has to be written there.

11. What is the difference between / and // in Python?

/ represents precise division (result is a floating point number) whereas // represents floor division
(result is an integer). For Example:

5//2 = 2

5/2 = 2.5

12. How is Exceptional handling done in Python?

There are 3 main keywords i.e. try, except, and finally which are used to catch exceptions and handle
the recovering mechanism accordingly. Try is the block of a code that is monitored for errors. Except
block gets executed when an error occurs. The beauty of the final block is to execute the code after
trying for an error. This block gets executed irrespective of whether an error occurred or not. Finally,
block is used to do therequired cleanup activities of objects/variables.
13. What is swapcase function in Python?

It is a string’s function that converts all uppercase characters into lowercase and vice versa. It is used
to alter the existing case of the string. This method creates a copy of the string which contains all the
characters in the swap case. For Example:

string = "GeeksforGeeks"

string.swapcase() ---> "gEEKSFORgEEKS"

14. Difference between for loop and while loop in Python

The “for” Loop is generally used to iterate through the elements of various collection types such as
List, Tuple, Set, and Dictionary. Developers use a “for” loop where they have both the conditions
start and the end. Whereas, the “while” loop is the actual looping feature that is used in any other
programming language. Programmers use a Python while loop where they just have the end
conditions.

15. Can we Pass a function as an argument in Python?

Yes, Several arguments can be passed to a function, including objects, variables (of the same or
distinct data types), and functions. Functions can be passed as parameters to other functions
because they are objects. Higher-order functions are functions that can take other functions as
arguments. To read more, refer to the article: Passing function as an argument in Python.

16. What are *args and *kwargs?

To pass a variable number of arguments to a function in Python, use the special syntax *args and
**kwargs in the function specification. It is used to pass a variable-length, keyword-free argument
list. By using the *, the variable we associate with the * becomes iterable, allowing you to do
operations on it such as iterating over it and using higher-order operations like map and filter.

17. Is Indentation Required in Python?

Yes, indentation is required in Python. A Python interpreter can be informed that a group of
statements belongs to a specific block of code by using Python indentation. Indentations make the
code easy to read for developers in all programming languages but in Python, it is very important to
indent the code in a specific order.

18. What is Scope in Python?

The location where we can find a variable and also access it if required is called the scope of a
variable.Python Local variable: Local variables are those that are initialized within a function and are
unique to that function. It cannot be accessed outside of the function. Python Global variables:
Global variables are the ones that are defined and declared outside any function and are not
specified to any function. Module-level scope: It refers to the global objects of the current module
accessible in the program.

Outermost scope: It refers to any built-in names that the program can call. The name referenced is
located last among the objects in this scope.
19. What is docstring in Python?

Python documentation strings (or docstrings) provide a convenient way of associating

documentation with Python modules, functions, classes, and methods.

Declaring Docstrings: The docstrings are declared using ”’triple single quotes”’ or “””triple double
quotes””” just below the class, method, or function declaration. All functions should have a
docstring.

Accessing Docstrings: The docstrings can be accessed using the __doc__ method of the object or
using the help function.

20. What is a dynamically typed language?

Typed languages are the languages in which we define the type of data type and it will be known by
the machine at the compile-time or at runtime. Typed languages can be classified into two
categories:

Statically typed languages: In this type of language, the data type of a variable is known at the
compile time which means the programmer has to specify the data type of a variable at the time of
its declaration. Dynamically typed languages: These are the languages that do not require any pre-
defined data type for any variable as it is interpreted at runtime by the machine itself. In these
languages, interpreters assign the data type to a variable at runtime depending on its value.

21. What is a break, continue, and pass in Python?

The break statement is used to terminate the loop or statement in which it is present. After that, the
control will pass to the statements that are present after the break statement, if available. Continue
is also a loop control statement just like the break statement. continue statement is opposite to that
of the break statement, instead of terminating the loop, it forces to execute the next iteration of the
loop. Pass means performing no operation or in other words, it is a placeholder in the compound
statement, where there should be a blank left and nothing has to be written there.

22. What are Built-in data types in Python?

The following are the standard or built-in data types in Python:

Numeric: The numeric data type in Python represents the data that has a numeric value. A numeric
value can be an integer, a floating number, a Boolean, or even a complex number.

Sequence Type: The sequence Data Type in Python is the ordered collection of similar or different
data types. There are several sequence types in Python:

Python String

Python List

Python Tuple

Python range
Mapping Types: In Python, hashable data can be mapped to random objects using a mapping object.
There is currently only one common mapping type, the dictionary, and mapping objects are mutable.

Python Dictionary

Set Types: In Python, a Set is an unordered collection of data types that is iterable, mutable, and has
no duplicate elements. The order of elements in a set is undefined though it may consist of various
elements.

23. How do you floor a number in Python?

The Python math module includes a method that can be used to calculate the floor of a number.

floor() method in Python returns the floor of x i.e., the largest integer not greater than x. Also, The
method ceil(x) in Python returns a ceiling value of x i.e., the smallest integer greater than or equal to
x.