UNIT I

ALGORITHMIC PROBLEM SOLVING

1.1 ALGORITHMS
In computing, we focus on the type of problems categorically known as algorithmic
problems, where their solutions are expressible in the form of algorithms.

The term ‗algorithm‘ was derived from the name of Mohammed al-Khowarizmi, a
Persian mathematician in the ninth century. Al-Khowarizmi → Algorismus (in Latin) →
Algorithm.

An algorithm is a well-defined computational procedure consisting of a set of

instructions that takes some value or set of values, as input, and produces some value or
set of values, as output. In other word, an algorithm is a procedure that accepts data;
manipulate them following the prescribed steps, so as to eventually fill the required unknown
with the desired value(s).

Input Algorithm Output

People of different professions have their own form of procedure in their line of work,
and they call it different names. For instance, a cook follows a procedure commonly known
as a recipe that converts the ingredients (input) into some culinary dish (output), after a
certain number of steps.

1.1.1 The Characteristics of a Good Algorithm

 Precision – the steps are precisely stated (defined).
 Uniqueness – results of each step are uniquely defined and only depend on the input
and the result of the preceding steps.
 Finiteness – the algorithm stops after a finite number of instructions are executed.
 Effectiveness – algorithm should be most effective among many different ways to
solve a problem.
 Input – the algorithm receives input.
 Output – the algorithm produces output.
 Generality – the algorithm applies to a set of inputs.

1.2 BUILDING BLOCKS OF ALGORITHM (INSTRUCTIONS, STATE,

CONTROL FLOW, FUNCTIONS)
An algorithm is an effective method that can be expressed within a finite amount of
space and time and in a well-defined formal language for calculating a function. Starting from
an initial state and initial input, the instructions describe a computation that, when executed,

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proceeds through a finite number of well-defined successive states, eventually producing
"output" and terminating at a final ending state. The transition from one state to the next is
not necessarily deterministic; that algorithms, known as randomized algorithms.

An instruction is a single operation, that describes a computation. When it executed

it convert one state to other.

Typically, when an algorithm is associated with processing information, data can be

read from an input source, written to an output device and stored for further processing.
Stored data are considered as part of the internal stateof the entity performing the algorithm.
In practice, the state is stored in one or more data structures.

The state of an algorithm is defined as its condition regarding stored data. The stored
data in an algorithm are stored as variables or constants. The state shows its current values or
contents.

Because an algorithm is a precise list of precise steps, the order of computation is

always crucial to the functioning of the algorithm. Instructions are usually assumed to be
listed explicitly, and are described as starting "from the top" and going "down to the bottom",
an idea that is described more formally by flow of control.

In computer science, control flow (or flow of control) is the order in which
individual statements, instructions or function calls of an algorithm are executed or evaluated.

For complex problems our goal is to divide the task into smaller and simpler functions
during algorithm design. So a set of related sequence of steps, part of larger algorithm is
known as functions.

1.2.1 Control Flow

Normally Algorithm has three control flows they are:
 Sequence
 Selection
 Iteration

Sequence: A sequence is a series of steps that occur one after the other, in the same order
every time. Consider a car starting off from a set of lights. Imagine the road in front of the car
is clear for many miles and the driver has no need to slow down or stop. The car will start in
first gear, then move to second, third, fourth and finally fifth. A good driver (who doesn‘t
have to slow down or stop) will move through the gears in this sequence, without skipping
gears.

Selection: A selection is a decision that has to be made. Consider a car approaching a set of
lights. If the lights turn from green to yellow, the driver will have to decide whether to stop or
continue through the intersection. If the driver stops, she will have to wait until the lights are
green again.

Iteration: Iteration is sometimes called repetition, which means a set of steps which are
repeated over and over until some event occurs. Consider the driver at the red light, waiting

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for it to turn green. She will check the lights and wait, check and wait. This sequence will be
repeated until the lights turn green.

1.3 NOTATION OF ALGORITHM

There are four different Notation of representing algorithms:

 Step-Form
 Pseudocode
 Flowchart
 Programming Language

1.3.1 Algorithm as Step-Form

It is a step – by – step procedure for solving a task or problem. The steps

must be ordered, unambiguous and finite in number. It is English like representation of logic
which is used to solve the problem.

Some guidelines for writing Step-Form algorithm are as follows:

 Keep in mind that algorithm is a step-by-step process.

 Use begin or start to start the process.
 Include variables and their usage.
 If there are any loops, try to give sub number lists.
 Try to give go back to step number if loop or condition fails.
 Use jump statement to jump from one statement to another.
 Try to avoid unwanted raw data in algorithm.
 Define expressions.
 Use break and stop to terminate the process.

For accomplishing a particular task, different algorithms can be written. The

different algorithms differ in their requirements of time and space. The programmer selects
the best suited algorithm for the given task to be solved.

Let as look at two simple algorithms to find the greatest among three numbers,
as follows:

Algorithm 1.1:

Step 1: Start.
Step 2: Read the three numbers A,B,C.
Step 3: Compare A and B. If A is greater perform step 4 else perform step 5.
Step 4: Compare A and C. If A is greater, output ―A is greater‖ else output ―C is greater‖.
Step 5: Compare B and C. If B is greater, output ―B is greatest‖ else output ―C is greatest‖.
Step 6: Stop.
Algorithm 1.2:

Step 1: Start.
Step 2: Read the three numbers A,B,C.

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Step 3: Compare A and B. If A is greater, store Ain MAX, else store B in MAX.
Step 4: Compare MAX and C. If MAX is greater, output ―MAX is greater‖ else output ―C is
greater‖.
Step 5: Stop.
Both the algorithms accomplish same goal, but in different ways. The
programmer selects the algorithm based on the advantages and disadvantages of each
algorithm. For example, the first algorithm has more number of comparisons, whereas in
second algorithm an additional variable MAX is required.

In the Algorithm 1.1, Algorithm 1.2, step 1 and 2 are in sequence logic and step 3, 4,
and 5 are in selection logic. In order to illustrate iteration logic, consider one more example.

Design an algorithm for adding the test scores given as: 26, 49, 98, 87, 62, 75
Algorithm 1.3:

Step 1: Start
Step 2: Sum = 0
Step 3: Get a value
Step 4: sum = sum + value
Step 5: If next value is present, go to step 3. Otherwise, go to step 6
Step 6: Output the sum
Step 7: Stop
In the Algorithm 1.3 step 5 have a go to statement with a back ward step
reference, so it means that iteration logic.

1.3.2 Pseudocode
Pseudocode ("sort of code") is another way of describing algorithms. It is
called "pseudo" code because of its strong resemblance to "real" program code. Pseudocode
is essentially English with some defined rules of structure and some keywords that make
it appear a bit like program code.

Some guidelines for writing pseudocode are as follows.

Note: These are not "strict" guidelines. Any words used that have similar form and function
may be used in an emergency - however, it would be best to stick to the pseudocode words
used here.

 for start and finish BEGIN MAINPROGRAM, END MAINPROGRAM -

this is often abbreviated to BEGIN and END - especially in smaller programs
 for initialization INITIALISATION, END INITIALISATION - this part is
optional, though it makes your program structure clearer
 for subprogram BEGIN SUBPROGRAM, END SUBPROGRAM
 for selection IF, THEN, ELSE, ENDIF
 for multi-way selection CASEWHERE, OTHERWISE, ENDCASE
 for pre-test repetition WHILE, ENDWHILE

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  for post-test repetition REPEAT, UNTIL
 Keywords are written in capitals.
 Structural elements come in pairs, eg for every BEGIN there is an END, for
every IF there is an ENDIF, etc.
 Indenting is used to show structure in the algorithm.
 The names of subprograms are underlined. This means that when refining
the solution to a problem, a word in an algorithm can be underlined and a
subprogram developed. This feature is to assist the use of the ‗top-down‘
development concept.

1.3.3 Flowcharts
Flowcharts are a diagrammatic method of representing algorithms. They use
an intuitive scheme of showing operations in boxes connected by lines and arrows that
graphically show the flow of control in an algorithm.

Table 1.1lists the flowchart symbol drawing, the name of the flowchart
symbol in Microsoft Office (with aliases in parentheses), and a short description of where and
how the flowchart symbol is used.

Table 1.1: Flowchart Symbols

NAME
SYMBOL DESCRIPTION
(ALIAS)
Flow Line
Flow line connectors show the direction that the process
(Arrow,
flows.
Connector)
Terminator
(Terminal Terminators show the start and stop points in a process.
Point, Oval)
The Data flowchart shape indicates inputs to and outputs
Data
from a process. As such, the shape is more often referred
(I/O)
to as an I/O shape than a Data shape.
Pretty self-explanatory - the Document flowchart symbol
Document
is for a process step that produces a document.
Show a Process or action step. This is the most common
Process
symbol in flowcharts.
Indicates a question or branch in the process flow.
Decision Typically, a Decision flowchart shape is used when there
are 2 options (Yes/No, No/No-Go, etc.)
This symbol is typically small and is used as a Connector
to show a jump from one point in the process flow to
another. Connectors are usually labeled with capital letters
Connector (A, B, AA) to show matching jump points. They are handy
(Inspection) for avoiding flow lines that cross other shapes and flow
lines. They are also handy for jumping to and from a sub-
processes defined in a separate area than the main
flowchart.

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 A Predefined Process symbol is a marker for another
Predefined
process step or series of process flow steps that are
Process
formally defined elsewhere. This shape commonly depicts
(Subroutine)
sub-processes (or subroutines in programming flowcharts).
As the names states, any process step that is a Preparation
Preparation
process flow step, such as a set-up operation.
Magnetic
The most universally recognizable symbol for a data
Disk
storage location, this flowchart shape depicts a database.
(Database)

1.3.4 Control Structures of Pseudocode and Flowcharts

Each control structures can be built from the basic elements as shown below.

Sequence: A sequence is a series of steps that take place one after another. Each step is
represented here by a new line.

Pseudocode Flowchart

BEGIN
Statement
Statement
END

Our sequence example of changing gears could be described as follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart
BEGIN

1st Gear

2nd Gear

3rd Gear

4th Gear

5th Gear

END

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Selection : A Selection is a decision. Some decisions may be answered as Yes or No. These
are called binary selections. Other decisions have more than two answers. These are
called multiway selections.

A binary selection may be described in pseudocode and flow chart as follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart
IF (question) THEN

statement

ELSE

statement

ENDIF

An example of someone at a set of traffic lights follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart
IF (lights are green) THEN

Go

ELSE

Stop

ENDIF

A Multiway Selection may be described as follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart

CASEWHERE (question)

Alternative 1: Statement

Alternative 2 : Statement

OTHERWISE : Statement

ENDCASE

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An example of someone at a set of traffic lights follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart

CASEWHERE Lights are :

Green : Go

Amber : Slowdown

Red : Stop

ENDCASE

Repetition: A sequence of steps which are repeated a number of times, is called repetition.
For a repeating process to end, a decision must be made. The decision is usually called a test.
The position of this test divides repetition structures into two types : Pre-test and Post-test
repetitions.

Pre-test repetitions (sometimes called guarded loops) will perform the test before any part
of the loop occurs.

Post-test repetitions (sometimes called un-guarded loops) will perform the test after the
main part of the loop (the body) has been performed at least once.

Pre-test repetitions may be described in as follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart

WHILE (question)

Statement

ENDWHILE

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A traffic lights example follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart

WHILE (lights are not green)

wait

ENDWHILE

Post-test repetitions may be described as follows:

Pseudocode Flowchart

REPEAT

Statement

UNTIL (Question)

A traffic lights example follows :

Pseudocode Flowchart

REPEAT

Wait

UNTIL lights are green

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Sub-Programs: A sub-program is a self-contained part of a larger program. The use of sub-
programs helps with "Top-Down" design of an algorithm, by providing a structure through
which a large and unwieldy solution may be broken down into smaller, more manageable,
components.

A sub-program is described as:

Pseudocode Flowchart

subprogram

Consider the total concept of driving a car. This activity is made up of a number of sub-
processes which each contribute to the driver arriving at a destination. Therefore, driving may
involve the processes of "Starting the car"; "Engaging the gears"; "Speeding up and slowing
down"; "Steering"; and "Stopping the car".

A (not very detailed) description of driving may look something like:

Pseudocode Flowchart

BEGIN

Start Car

Engage Gears

Navigate Car

Stop Car

END

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Note that the sub-program "Navigate Car" could be further developed into:

Pseudocode Flowchart

BEGINSUBPROGRAM Navigate

Steer Car

Speed up and slow down car

ENDSUBPROGRAM

In the example above, each of the sub-programs would have whole algorithms of their own,
incorporating some, or all, of the structures discussed earlier.

1.3.5 Programming Language

Computers won‘t understand your algorithm as they use a different language.

It will need to be translated into code, which the computer will then follow to complete a
task. This code is written in a programming language. There are many programming
languages available. Some of you may come across are C, C++, Java, Python, etc... Each of
this languageis suited to different things. In this book we will learn about Python
programming language.

1.4 RECURSION

A recursive algorithm is an algorithm which calls itself with "smaller (or

simpler)" input values, and which obtains the result for the current input by applying simple
operations to the returned value for the smaller (or simpler) input. More generally if a
problem can be solved utilizing solutions to smaller versions of the same problem, and the
smaller versions reduce to easily solvable cases, then one can use a recursive algorithm to
solve that problem.

1.4.1 Example

For positive values of n, let's write n!, as we known n! is a product of numbers

starting from n and going down to 1. n! = n. (n-1)…… 2 .1. But notice that (n-1) ... 2.1 is
another way of writing (n-1)!, and so we can say that n!=n.(n−1)!. So we wrote n! as a
product in which one of the factors is (n−1)!. You can compute n! by computing (n−1)! and
then multiplying the result of computing (n−1)! by n. You can compute the factorial function
on n by first computing the factorial function on n−1. So computing (n−1)! is
a subproblem that we solve to compute n!.

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Let's look at an example: computing 5!.

 You can compute 5! as 5⋅4!.

 Now you need to solve the subproblem of computing 4!, which you can compute as 4⋅
3!.
 Now you need to solve the subproblem of computing 3!, which is 3⋅2!.
 Now 2!, which is 2⋅1!.
 Now you need to compute 1!. You could say that 1! =1, because it's the product of all
the integers from 1 through 1. Or you can apply the formula that 1! = 1⋅0!. Let's do it
by applying the formula.
 We defined 0! to equal 1.
 Now you can compute1!=1⋅0!=1.
 Having computed 1!=1, you can compute 2!=2⋅1!=2.
 Having computed 2!=2, you can compute 3!=3⋅2!=6.
 Having computed 3!=6, you can compute 4!=4⋅3!=24.
 Finally, having computed 4!=24, you can finish up by computing 5!=5⋅4!=120.

So now we have another way of thinking about how to compute the value of n!, for all
nonnegative integers n:

 If n=0, then declare that n!=1.

 Otherwise, n must be positive. Solve the subproblem of computing (n−1)!, multiply
this result by n, and declare n! equal to the result of this product.

When we're computing n! in this way, we call the first case, where we immediately know the
answer, the base case, and we call the second case, where we have to compute the same
function but on a different value, the recursive case.

Base case is the case for which the solution can be stated non‐recursively(ie. the answer is
known). Recursive case is the case for which thesolution is expressed in terms of a smaller
version ofitself.
1.4.2 Recursion in Step Form
Recursion may be described as follows:
Syntax for recursive algorithm
Step 1: Start
Step 2: Statement(s)
Step 3: Call Subprogram(argument)
Step 4: Statement(s)
Step 5: Stop

Step 1: BEGIN Subprogram(argument)

Step 2: If base case then return base solution
Step 3: Else return recursive solution, include call subprogram(smaller version of argument)
Recursive algorithm solution for factorial problem

Step 1: Start
Step 2: Read number n
Step 3: Call factorial(n) and store the result in f

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Step 4: Print factorial f
Step 5: Stop

Step 1: BEGIN factorial(n)

Step 2: If n==1 then return 1
Step 3: Else
Return n*factorial(n-1)

1.4.3 Recursion in Flow Chart

Syntax for recursive flow chart

Begin
Subprogram subprogram(argument)
call(argument)

Return recursive
solution with
Subprogram No Is base
call(smaller Case
version of
argument)

Yes

Return base solution

Figure 1.1 Recursive Flow chart Syntax

End
Start Begin Factorial(N)
Subprogram

Read N yes
Is
N==1

Fact=Factorial(N)
No

Return 1 Return N*Factorial(N-1)

Print Fact

Stop
End Factorial

Figure 1.2 Recursive flow chart solution for factorial problem

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1.4.4 Recursion in Pseudocode

Syntax for recursive Pseudocode

SubprogramName(argument) BEGIN SUBPROGRAM SubprogramName(argument)
Is base Case
Return base case solution
Else
Return recursive solution with
SubprogramName (smaller version of
argument)
ENDSUBPROGRAM
Recursive Pseudocode solution for factorial problem

BEGIN Factorial BEGIN SUBPROGRAM Factotial(n)

REAR N IF n==1 THEN RETURN 1

Fact= Factorial(N) ELSE RETURN n*Factorial(n-1)

PRINT Fact ENDSUBPROGRAM

END

1.5 ALGORITHMIC PROBLEM SOLVING

We can consider algorithms to be procedural solutions to problems. These solutions

are not answers but specific instructions for getting answers. It is this emphasis on precisely
defined constructive procedures that makes computer science distinct from other disciplines.
In particular, this distinguishes it from theoretical mathematics, whose practitioners are
typically satisfied with just proving the existence of a solution to a problem and, possibly,
investigating the solution‘s properties. Let us discuss a sequence of steps one typically goes
through in designing and analysing an algorithm

1. Understanding the problem

2. Ascertain the capabilities of the computational device
3. Exact /approximate solution
4. Decide on the appropriate data structure
5. Algorithm design techniques
6. Methods of specifying an algorithm
7. Proving an algorithms correctness
8. Analysing an algorithm

Understanding the problem:

The problem given should be understood completely. Check if it is similar to some standard
problems & if a Known algorithm exists. Otherwise a new algorithm has to be developed.

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Ascertain the capabilities of the computational device:

Once a problem is understood, we need to Know the capabilities of the computing

device this can be done by Knowing the type of the architecture, speed & memory
availability.

Exact /approximate solution:

Once algorithm is developed, it is necessary to show that it computes answer for all the
possible legal inputs. The solution is stated in two forms, exact solution or approximate
solution. Examples of problems where an exact solution cannot be obtained are i) Finding a
square root of number. ii) Solutions of nonlinear equations.

Decide on the appropriate data structure:

Some algorithms do not demand any ingenuity in representing their inputs. Some others are
in fact are predicted on ingenious data structures. A data type is a well-defined collection of
data with a well-defined set of operations on it. A data structure is an actual implementation
of a particular abstract data type. The Elementary Data Structures are Arrays: These let you
access lots of data fast. (good) .You can have arrays of any other data type. (good) .However,
you cannot make arrays bigger if your program decides it needs more space. (bad). Records:
These let you organize non-homogeneous data into logical packages to keep everything
together. (good) .These packages do not include operations, just data fields (bad, which is
why we need objects) .Records do not help you process distinct items in loops (bad, which is
why arrays of records are used) Sets: These let you represent subsets of a set with such
operations as intersection, union, and equivalence. (good) .Built-in sets are limited to a
certain small size. (bad, but we can build our own set data type out of arrays to solve this
problem if necessary)

Algorithm design techniques:

Creating an algorithm is an art which may never be fully automated. By mastering these
design strategies, it will become easier for you to develop new and useful algorithms.
Dynamic programming is one such technique. Some of the techniques are especially useful in
fields other than computer science such as operation research and electrical engineering.
Some important design techniques are linear, nonlinear and integer programming

Methods of specifying an algorithm:

There are mainly two options for specifying an algorithm: use of natural language or
pseudocode& Flowcharts. A Pseudo code is a mixture of natural language & programming
language like constructs. A flowchart is a method of expressing an algorithm by a collection
of connected geometric shapes.

Proving algorithms correctness:

Once algorithm is developed, it is necessary to show that it computes answer for all the
possible legal inputs .We refer to this process as algorithm validation. The process of

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validation is to assure us that this algorithm will work correctly independent of issues
concerning programming language it will be written in.

Analysing algorithms:

As an algorithm is executed, it uses the computers central processing unit to perform

operation and its memory (both immediate and auxiliary) to hold the program and data.
Analysis of algorithms and performance analysis refers to the task of determining how much
computing time and storage an algorithm requires. This is a challenging area in which
sometimes requires grate mathematical skill. An important result of this study is that it allows
you to make quantitative judgments about the value of one algorithm over another. Another
result is that it allows you to predict whether the software will meet any efficiency constraint
that exits.

1.6 ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEMS

1.6.1 Find Minimum in a List

Consider the following requirement specification:

A user has a list of numbers and wishes to find the minimum value in the list.
An Algorithm is required which will allow the user to enter the numbers, and which will
calculate the minimum value that are input. The user is quite happy to enter a count of the
numbers in the list before entering the numbers.

Finding the minimum value in a list of items isn‘t difficult. Take the first
element and compare its value against the values of all other elements. Once we find a
smaller element we continue the comparisons with its value. Finally we find the minimum.

Figure 1.3 Steps to Find Minimum Element in a List

Step base algorithm to find minimum element in a list

Step 1: Start

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Step 2: Declare variables N, E, i and MIN.
Step 3: READ total number of element in the List as N
Step 4: READ first element as E
Step 5: MIN =E
Step 6: SET i=2
Step 7: IF i>n go to Step 12 ELSE go to step 8
Step 8: READ ith element as E
Step 9: IF E < MIN THEN SET MIN = E
Step 10: i=i+1
Step 11: go to step 7
Step 12: Print MIN
Step 13: Stop

Figure 1.4FlowChart to Find Minimum Element in a List

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Pseudocode to find minimum element in a list

READ total number of element in the List as N

READ first element as E
SET MIN =E
SET i=2
WHILE i<=n
READ ith element as E
IF E < MIN THEN
SET MIN = E
ENDIF
INCREMENT i by ONE
ENDWHILE
PRINT MIN

1.6.2 Insert a Card in a List of Sorted Cards

Insert a Card in a List of Sorted Cards – is same as inserting an element into a sorted array.

We start from the high end of the array and check to see if that's where we want to insert the
data. If so, fine. If not, we move the preceding element up one and then check to see if we
want to insert x in the ―hole‖ left behind. We repeat this step as necessary.

Thus the search for the place to insert x and the shifting of the higher elements of the array
are accomplished together.

Position 0 1 2 3 4 5 Element To Be Insert

Original List 4 6 9 10 11 7
7>11 × 4 6 9 10 11
7>10 × 4 6 9 10 11
7>9 × 4 6 9 10 11
7>6 √ 4 6 7 9 10 11
Figure 1.5 Steps to Insert a Card in a List of Sorted Cards

Step base algorithm toInsert a Card in a List of Sorted Cards

Step 1: Start
Step 2: Declare variables N, List[], i, and X.
Step 3: READ Number of element in sorted list as N
Step 4: SET i=0
Step 5: IF i<N THEN go to step 6 ELSE go to step 9
Step 6: READ Sorted list element as List[i]
Step 7: i=i+1
Step 8: go to step 5
Step 9: READ Element to be insert as X
Step 10: SET i = N-1
Step 11: IF i>=0 AND X<List[i] THEN go to step 12 ELSE go to step15
Step 12: List[i+1]=List[i]
Step 13: i=i-1

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Step 14: go to step 11
Step 15: List[i+1]=X

Figure 1.6Flow Chart to Insert a Card in a List of Sorted Cards

Pseudocode to Insert a Card in a List of Sorted Cards

READ Number of element in sorted list as N

SET i=0
WHILE i<N
READ Sorted list element as List[i]

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 i=i+1
ENDWHILE
READ Element to be insert as X
SET i = N-1
WHILE i >=0 and X < List[i]
List[i+1] =List[i]
i=i–1
END WHILE
List[i+1] = X

1.6.3 Guess an Integer Number in a Range

Let's play a little game to give an idea of how different algorithms for the same
problem can have wildly different efficiencies. The computer is going to randomly select an
integer from 1 to N and ask you to guess it. The computer will tell you if each guess is too
high or too low. We have to guess the number by making guesses until you find the number
that the computer chose. Once found the number, think about what technique used, when
deciding what number to guess next?

Maybe you guessed 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, and so on, until you guessed the
right number. We call this approach linear search, because you guess all the numbers as if
they were lined up in a row. It would work. But what is the highest number of guesses you
could need? If the computer selects N, you would need N guesses. Then again, you could be
really lucky, which would be when the computer selects 1 and you get the number on your
first guess. How about on average? If the computer is equally likely to select any number
from 1 to N, then on average you'll need N/2 guesses.
But you could do something more efficient than just guessing 1, 2, 3, 4, …,
right? Since the computer tells you whether a guess is too low, too high, or correct, you can
start off by guessing N/2. If the number that the computer selected is less than N/2, then
because you know that N/2 is too high, you can eliminate all the numbers from N/2 to N from
further consideration. If the number selected by the computer is greater than N/2, then you
can eliminate 1 through N/2. Either way, you can eliminate about half the numbers. On your
next guess, eliminate half of the remaining numbers. Keep going, always eliminating half of
the remaining numbers. We call this halving approach binary search, and no matter which
number from 1 to N the computer has selected, you should be able to find the number in at
most log2N+1 guesses with this technique. The following table shows the maximum number
of guesses for linear search and binary search for a few number sizes:

Highest Number Max Linear Search Guesses Max Binary Search Guesses
10 10 4
100 100 7
1,000 1,000 10

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10,000 10,000 14
100,000 100,000 17
1,000,000 1,000,000 20

Figure 1.7Flow Chart for Guess an Integer Number in a Range

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Step base algorithm to Guess an Integer Number in a Range

Step 1: Start
Step 2: SET Count =0
Step 3: READ Range as N
Step 4: SELECT an RANDOMNUMBER from 1 to N as R
Step 6: READ User Guessed Number as G
Step 7: Count = Count +1
Step 8: IF R==G THEN go to step 11 ELSE go to step 9
Step 9: IF R< G THEN PRINT ―Guess is Too High‖ AND go to step 6 ELSE go to step10
Step 10: IF R>G THEN PRINT ―Guess is Too Low‖ AND go to step 6
Step 11: PRINT Count as Number of Guesses Took

Pseudocode to Guess an Integer Number in a Range

SET Count =0
READ Range as N
SELECT an RANDOM NUMBER from 1 to N as R
WHILE TRUE
READ User guessed Number as G
Count =Count +1
IF R== G THEN
BREAK
ELSEIF R<G THEN
DISPLAY ―Guess is Too High‖
ELSEIF R>G THEN
DISPLAY ―Guess is Too Low‖
ENDIF
ENDWHILE
DISPLAY Count as Number of guesses Took

1.6.4 Tower of Hanoi

Tower of Hanoi, is a mathematical puzzle which consists of three towers
(pegs) and more than one rings is as depicted in Figure 1.8. These rings are of different sizes
and stacked upon in an ascending order, i.e. the smaller one sits over the larger one.

Figure 1.8 Tower of Hanoi

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 The mission is to move all the disks to some another tower without violating
the sequence of arrangement. A few rules to be followed for Tower of Hanoi are:

Rules

 Only one disk can be moved among the towers at any given time.
 Only the "top" disk can be removed.
 No large disk can sit over a small disk.

Figure 1.9Step by Step Moves in Solving Three Disk Tower of Hanoi Problem

Algorithm:

To write an algorithm for Tower of Hanoi, first we need to learn how to solve this problem
with lesser amount of disks, say → 1 or 2. We mark three towers with name, source,
destination and aux (only to help moving the disks). If we have only one disk, then it can
easily be moved from source to destination tower.

If we have 2 disks −

 First, we move the smaller (top) disk to aux tower.

 Then, we move the larger (bottom) disk to destination tower.
 And finally, we move the smaller disk from aux to destination tower.

So now, we are in a position to design an algorithm for Tower of Hanoi with more than two
disks. We divide the stack of disks in two parts. The largest disk (nth disk) is in one part and
all other (n-1) disks are in the second part.

Our ultimate aim is to move disk n from source to destination and then put all other (n-1)
disks onto it. We can imagine to apply the same in a recursive way for all given set of disks.

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The steps to follow are −
Step 1 − Move n-1 disks from source to aux
Step 2 − Move nth disk from source to dest
Step 3 − Move n-1 disks from aux to dest
A recursive Step based algorithm for Tower of Hanoi can be driven as follows −

Step 1: BEGIN Hanoi(disk, source, dest, aux)

Step 2: IF disk == 1 THEN go to step 3 ELSE go to step 4
Step 3: move disk from source to dest AND go to step 8
Step 4: CALL Hanoi(disk - 1, source, aux, dest)
Step 6: move disk from source to dest
Step 7: CALL Hanoi(disk - 1, aux, dest, source)
Step 8: END Hanoi
A recursive Pseudocodefor Tower of Hanoi can be driven as follows –

Procedure Hanoi(disk, source, dest, aux)

IF disk == 1 THEN
move disk from source to dest
ELSE
Hanoi(disk - 1, source, aux, dest) // Step 1
move disk from source to dest // Step 2
Hanoi(disk - 1, aux, dest, source) // Step 3
END IF
END Procedure

Figure 1.10Flow Chart for Tower of Hanoi Algorithm

Tower of Hanoi puzzle with n disks can be solved in minimum 2n−1 steps.

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 UNIT II
DATA, EXPRESSIONS, STATEMENTS
2.1 THE PYTHON INTERPRETER
The Python programming language was conceived in the late 1980s, and its
implementation was started in December 1989 by Guido van Rossum at CWI in the
Netherlands as a successor to the ABC programming language. When he began implementing
Python, Guido van Rossum was also reading the published scripts from “Monty Python’s
Flying Circus‖, a BBC comedy series from the 1970s. Van Rossum thought he needed a
name that was short, unique, and slightly mysterious, so he decided to call the language
Python.

Python is a cross-platform programming language, meaning, it runs on

multiple platforms like Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Unix and has even been ported to the
Java and .NET virtual machines. It is free and open source.

2.1.1 Starting the Interpreter

The Python interpreter is a program that reads and executes Python
code.Even though most of today‘s Linux and Mac have Python preinstalled in it, the version
might be out-of-date. So, it is always a good idea to install the most current version.

After installation, the python interpreter lives in the installed directory.

By default it is /usr/local/bin/pythonX.X in Linux/Unix and C:\PythonXX in

Windows, where the 'X' denotes the version number. To invoke it from the shell or the
command prompt we need to add this location in the search path.

Search path is a list of directories (locations) where the operating system

searches for executables. For example, in Windows command prompt, we can type set
path=%path%;c:\python27 (python27 means version 2.7, it might be different in your case) to
add the location to path for that particular session.In Mac OS we need not worry about this as
the installer takes care about the search path.

Now there are two ways to start Python.

Python Mode

Script Mode Interactive Mode

Figure 2.1 Modes of Python Interpreter

2.1.2 Interactive Mode

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 Typing python in the command line will invoke the interpreter in interactive mode.
When it starts, you should see output like this:

PYTHON 2.7.13 (V2.7.13:A06454B1AFA1, DEC 17 2016, 20:42:59) [MSC V.1500 32 BIT

(INTEL)] ON WIN32
TYPE "COPYRIGHT", "CREDITS" OR "LICENSE()" FOR MORE INFORMATION.
>>>
The first three lines contain information about the interpreter and the operating system
it‘s running on, so it might be different for you. But you should check that the version
number, which is 2.7.13 in this example, begins with 2, which indicates that you are running
Python 2. If it begins with 3, you are running Python 3.

The last line is a prompt that indicates that the interpreter is ready for you to enter code.
If you type a line of code and hit Enter, the interpreter displays the result:

>>> 5 + 4
9
This prompt can be used as a calculator. To exit this mode type exit() or quit() and press
enter.

2.1.3 Script Mode

This mode is used to execute Python program written in a file. Such a file is called
a script. Scripts can be saved to disk for future use. Python scripts have the extension .py,
meaning that the filename ends with .py.

For example: helloWorld.py

To execute this file in script mode we simply write python helloWorld.py at the
command prompt.

2.1.4 Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

We can use any text editing software to write a Python script file.

We just need to save it with the .py extension. But using an IDE can make our life a lot
easier. IDE is a piece of software that provides useful features like code hinting, syntax
highlighting and checking, file explorers etc. to the programmer for application development.

Using an IDE can get rid of redundant tasks and significantly decrease the time required for
application development.

IDEL is a graphical user interface (GUI) that can be installed along with the Python
programming language and is available from the official website.

We can also use other commercial or free IDE according to our preference.PyScripter IDEis
one of the Open source IDE.

2.1.5 Hello World Example

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Now that we have Python up and running, we can continue on to write our first Python
program.

Type the following code in any text editor or an IDE and save it as helloWorld.py

print("Hello world!")

Now at the command window, go to the loaction of this file. You can use the cd command to
change directory.

To run the script, type, python helloWorld.py in the command window. We should be able to
see the output as follows:

Hello world!

If you are using PyScripter, there is a green arrow button on top. Press that button or
press Ctrl+F9 on your keyboard to run the program.

In this program we have used the built-in function print(), to print out a string to the
screen. String is the value inside the quotation marks, i.e. Hello world!.

2.2 VALUES AND TYPES

A value is one of the basic things a program works with, like a letter or a number.
Some example values are 5, 83.0, and 'Hello, World!'.These values belong to different types:
5 is an integer, 83.0 is a floating-point number, and'Hello, World!' is a string, so-called
because the letters it contains are strung together.If you are not sure what type a value has,
the interpreter can tell you:
>>>type(5)
<class 'int'>
>>>type(83.0)
<class 'float'>
>>>type('Hello, World!')
<class 'str'>

In these results, the word ―class‖ is used in the sense of a category; a type is a
category ofvalues.Not surprisingly, integers belong to the type int, strings belong to str and
floating-pointnumbers belong to float.What about values like '5' and '83.0'? They look like
numbers, but they are in quotationmarks like strings.
>>>type('5')
<class 'str'>
>>>type('83.0')
<class 'str'>

They‘re strings.When you type a large integer, you might be tempted to use commas
between groups ofdigits, as in 1,000,000. This is not a legal integer in Python, but it is legal:
>>> 1,000,000
(1, 0, 0)

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 That‘s not what we expected at all! Python interprets 1,000,000 as a comma-
separatedsequence of integers. We‘ll learn more about this kind of sequence later.
2.2.1 Standard Data Types
Python has various standard data types that are used to define the operationspossible
on them and the storage method for each of them.
Python has five standard data types −
 Numbers
 String
 List
 Tuple
 Dictionary
2.2.1.1 Python Numbers
Number data types store numeric values. Number objects are created when you assign
a value to them. For example –
var1 =1
var2 =10
You can also delete the reference to a number object by using the del statement. The
syntax of the del statement is −
del var1[,var2[,var3[....,varN]]]]
You can delete a single object or multiple objects by using the del statement. For
example −
delvar
delvar_a,var_b
Python supports four different numerical types −
 int (signed integers)
 long (long integers, they can also be represented in octal and hexadecimal)
 float (floating point real values)
 complex (complex numbers)
Examples
Here are some examples of numbers –

Table 2.1: Different number format example

int long float complex

10 51924361L 0.0 3.14j

100 -0x19323L 15.20 45.j

-786 0122L -21.9 9.322e-36j

080 0xDEFABCECBDAECBFBAEl 32.3+e18 .876j

-0490 535633629843L -90. -.6545+0J

-0x260 -052318172735L -32.54e100 3e+26J

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 0x69 -4721885298529L 70.2-E12 4.53e-7j

 Python allows you to use a lowercase l with long, but it is recommended that you use
only an uppercase L to avoid confusion with the number 1. Python displays long
integers with an uppercase L.
 A complex number consists of an ordered pair of real floating-point numbers denoted
by x + yj, where x and y are the real numbers and j is the imaginary unit.
2.2.1.2 Python Strings
Strings in Python are identified as a contiguous set of characters represented
in the quotation marks. Python allows for either pairs of single or double quotes. Subsets of
strings can be taken using the slice operator ([ ] and [:] ) with indexes starting at 0 in the
beginning of the string and working their way from -1 at the end.

The plus (+) sign is the string concatenation operator and the asterisk (*) is
the repetition operator. For example –

str = 'Python Programming'

printstr # Prints complete string
printstr[0] # Prints first character of the string
printstr[-1] # Prints last character of the string
printstr[2:5] # Prints characters starting from 3rd to 5th
printstr[2:] # Prints string starting from 3rd character
printstr * 2 # Prints string two times
printstr + " Course" # Prints concatenated string
This will produce the following result –

Python Programming
P
g
tho
thon Programming
Python ProgrammingPython Programming
Python Programming Course
2.2.1.3 Python Lists
Lists are the most versatile of Python's compound data types. A list contains
items separated by commas and enclosed within square brackets ([]). To some extent, lists
are similar to arrays in C. One difference between them is that all the items belonging to a
list can be of different data type.

The values stored in a list can be accessed using the slice operator ([ ] and [:])
with indexes starting at 0 in the beginning of the list and working their way to end -1. The
plus (+) sign is the list concatenation operator, and the asterisk (*) is the repetition operator.
For example −

list = [ 'Hai', 123 , 1.75, 'vinu', 100.25 ]

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smalllist = [251, 'vinu']
print list # Prints complete list
print list[0] # Prints first element of the list
print list[-1] # Prints last element of the list
print list[1:3] # Prints elements starting from 2nd till 3rd
print list[2:] # Prints elements starting from 3rd element
printsmalllist * 2 # Prints list two times
print list + smalllist # Prints concatenated lists
This produces the following result –

['Hai', 123, 1.75, 'vinu', 100.25]

Hai
100.25
[123, 1.75]
[1.75, 'vinu', 100.25]
[251, 'vinu', 251, 'vinu']
['Hai', 123, 1.75, 'vinu', 100.25, 251, 'vinu']
2.2.1.4 Python Boolean
A Boolean type was added to Python 2.3. Two new constants were added
tothe __builtin__ module, True and False. True and False are simply set to integer values of
1 and 0 and aren't a different type.
The type object for this new type is named bool; the constructor for it takes any Python value
and converts it to True or False.

>>>bool(1)
True
>>>bool(0)
False
Python's Booleans were added with the primary goal of making code clearer.
For example, if you're reading a function and encounter the statement return 1, you might
wonder whether the 1 represents a Boolean truth value, an index, or a coefficient that
multiplies some other quantity. If the statement is return True, however, the meaning of the
return value is quite clear.
Python's Booleans were not added for the sake of strict type-checking. A very
strict language such as Pascal would also prevent you performing arithmetic with Booleans,
and would require that the expression in an if statement always evaluate to a Boolean result.
Python is not this strict and never will be. This means you can still use any expression in
an if statement, even ones that evaluate to a list or tuple or some random object. The Boolean
type is a subclass of the int class so that arithmetic using a Boolean still works.
>>> True + 1
2
>>> False + 1
1
>>> False * 85

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0
>>> True * 85
85
>>>True+True
2
>>>False+False
0

We will discuss about data types like Tuple, Dictionary in Unit IV.

2.2.2 Data Type Conversion

Sometimes, you may need to perform conversions between the built-in types.
To convert between types, you simply use the type name as a function.

There are several built-in functions to perform conversion from one data type
to another. These functions return a new object representing the converted value.

Table 2.2: Data Type Conversion

Function Description

int(x [,base]) Converts x to an integer. base specifies the base if x is a string.

long(x [,base] ) Converts x to a long integer. base specifies the base if x is a

string.

float(x) Converts x to a floating-point number.

complex(real Creates a complex number.

[,imag])

str(x) Converts object x to a string representation.

repr(x) Converts object x to an expression string.

eval(str) Evaluates a string and returns an object.

list(s) Converts s to a list.

chr(x) Converts an integer to a character.

unichr(x) Converts an integer to a Unicode character.

ord(x) Converts a single character to its integer value.

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hex(x) Converts an integer to a hexadecimal string.

oct(x) Converts an integer to an octal string.

2.3 VARIABLES

A variable is a name that refers to a value. Variable reserved memory

locations to store values. This means that when you create a variable you reserve some space
in memory. Based on the data type of a variable, the interpreter allocates memory and
decides what can be stored in the reserved memory.

2.3.1 Assignment Statements

An assignment statement creates a new variable and gives it a value:

>>>message = 'Introducing Python Variable'

>>>num = 15
>>>radius = 5.4
This example makes three assignments. The first assigns a string to a new
variable named message; the second gives the integer 15 to num; the third assigns floating
point value 5.4 to variable radius.

2.3.2 Variable Names

Programmers generally choose names for their variables that are meaningful

The Rules

 Variables names must start with a letter or an underscore, such as:

o _mark
o mark_
 The remainder of your variable name may consist of letters, numbers and underscores.
o subject1
o my2ndsubject
o un_der_scores
 Names are case sensitive.
o case_sensitive, CASE_SENSITIVE, and Case_Sensitive are each a different
variable.
 Can be any (reasonable) length
 There are some reserved (KeyWords)words which you cannot use as a variable name
because Python uses them for other things.

The interpreter uses keywords to recognize the structure of the program, and
they cannot be used as variable names.

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Python 3 has these keywords:

False class finally is return None

continue for lambda try True def

from nonlocal while and del global

not with as elif if or

yield assert else import pass break

except in raise

You don‘t have to memorize this list. In most development environments,

keywords are displayed in a different color; if you try to use one as a variable name, you‘ll
know.

If you give a variable an illegal name, you get a syntax error:

>>>1book = 'python'
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>>more@ = 1000000
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>>class = 'Fundamentals of programming'
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
1book is illegal because it begins with a number. more@ is illegal because it
contains an illegal character, @. class is illegal because it is a keyword.
Good Variable Name

 Choose meaningful name instead of short name. roll_no is better than rn.
 Maintain the length of a variable name. Roll_no_of_a_student is too long?
 Be consistent; roll_no or orRollNo
 Begin a variable name with an underscore(_) character for a special case.
2.4 EXPRESSIONS AND STATEMENTS
An expression is a combination of values, variables, and operators. A value
all by itself is considered an expression, and so is a variable, so the following are all legal
expressions:
>>> 50
50
>>> 10<5
False
>>> 50+20
70
When you type an expression at the prompt, the interpreter evaluates it, which
means that it finds the value of the expression.

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 A statement is a unit of code that has an effect, like creating a variable or
displaying a value.

>>> n = 25

>>>print(n)

The first line is an assignment statement that gives a value to n. The second
line is a print statement that displays the value of n. When you type a statement, the
interpreter executes it, which means that it does whatever the statement says. In general,
statements don‘t have values.

2.4.1 Difference Between a Statement and an Expression

A statement is a complete line of code that performs some action, while an
expression is any section of the code that evaluates to a value. Expressions can be combined
―horizontally‖ into larger expressions using operators, while statements can only be
combined ―vertically‖ by writing one after another, or with block constructs. Every
expression can be used as a statement, but most statements cannot be used as expressions.
2.5 OPERATORS
In this section, you'll learn everything about different types of operators in
Python, their syntax and how to use them with examples.

Operators are special symbols in Python that carry out computation. The value
that the operator operates on is called the operand.

For example:

>>>10+5
15

Here, + is the operator that performs addition. 10 and 5 are the operands and 15 is the output
of the operation. Python has a number of operators which are classified below.

 Arithmetic operators
 Comparison (Relational) operators
 Logical (Boolean) operators
 Bitwise operators
 Assignment operators
 Special operators

2.5.1 Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical operations like addition, subtraction,
multiplication etc.

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 Table 2.3: Arithmetic operators in Python

Operator Meaning Example

+ Add two operands or unary plus x + y
+2
- Subtract right operand from the left or unary minus x - y
-2
* Multiply two operands x*y
/ Divide left operand by the right one (always results into x / y
float)
% Modulus - remainder of the division of left operand by the x % y (remainder
right of x/y)
// Floor division - division that results into whole number x // y
adjusted to the left in the number line
** Exponent - left operand raised to the power of right x**y (x to the
power y)

Example
x=7
y=3
print('x + y =',x+y)
print('x - y =',x-y)
print('x * y =',x*y)
print('x / y =',x/y)
print('x // y =',x//y)
print('x % y =',x%y)
print('x ** y =',x**y)
When you run the program, the output will be:
x + y = 10
x-y=4
x * y = 21
x / y = 2.3333333333333335
x // y = 2
x%y=1
x ** y = 343
2.5.2 Comparison or Relational Operators
Comparison operators are used to compare values. It either
returns True or False according to the condition.

Table 2.4:Comparison Operators in Python

Operator Meaning Example

> Greater that - True if left operand is greater than the right x>y
< Less that - True if left operand is less than the right x<y
== Equal to - True if both operands are equal x == y

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!= Not equal to - True if operands are not equal x != y
>= Greater than or equal to - True if left operand is greater than or equal x >= y
to the right
<= Less than or equal to - True if left operand is less than or equal to the x <= y
right

Example
x=5
y=7
print('x > y is',x>y)
print('x < y is',x<y)
print('x == y is',x==y)
print('x != y is',x!=y)
print('x >= y is',x>=y)
print('x <= y is',x<=y)
When you run the program, the output will be:
x >y is False
x <y is True
x == y is False
x != y is True
x >= y is False
x <= y is True
2.5.3 Logical Operators

Logical operators are the and, or, not operators.

Table 2.5: Logical operators in Python

Operator Meaning Example

and True if both the operands are true x and y
or True if either of the operands is true x or y
not True if operand is false (complements the operand) not x

Example
x = True
y = False
print('x and y is',x and y)
print('x or y is',x or y)
print('not x is',not x)
When you run the program, the output will be:
x and y is False
x or y is True
not x is False

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2.5.4 Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operators act on operands as if they were string of binary digits. It

operates bit by bit, hence the name.

For example, 2 is 10 in binary and 7 is 111.

In Table 2.6: Let x = 10 (0000 1010 in binary) and y = 4 (0000 0100 in binary)

Table 2.6: Bitwise operators in Python

Operator Meaning Example

& Bitwise AND x& y = 0 (0000 0000)
| Bitwise OR x | y = 14 (0000 1110)
~ Bitwise NOT ~x = -11 (1111 0101)
^ Bitwise XOR x ^ y = 14 (0000 1110)
>> Bitwise right shift x>> 2 = 2 (0000 0010)
<< Bitwise left shift x<< 2 = 40 (0010 1000)

Example
x=10
y=4
print('x& y=',x& y)
print('x | y=',x | y)
print('~x=',~x)
print('x ^ y=',x ^ y)
print('x>> 2=',x>> 2)
print('x<< 2=',x<< 2)
When you run the program, the output will be:
x& y= 0
x | y= 14
~x= -11
x ^ y= 14
x>> 2= 2
x<< 2= 40
2.5.5 Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used in Python to assign values to variables.

a = 10 is a simple assignment operator that assigns the value 10 on the right to

the variable a on the left.

There are various compound operators in Python like a += 10 that adds to the
variable and later assigns the same. It is equivalent to a = a + 10.

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Table 2.7: Assignment operators in Python

Operator Example Equivatent to

= x=5 x=5
+= x += 5 x=x+5
-= x -= 5 x=x-5
*= x *= 5 x=x*5
/= x /= 5 x=x/5
%= x %= 5 x=x%5
//= x //= 5 x = x // 5
**= x **= 5 x = x ** 5
&= x &= 5 x=x&5
|= x |= 5 x=x|5
^= x ^= 5 x=x^5
>>= x >>= 5 x = x >> 5
<<= x <<= 5 x = x << 5
2.5.6 Special Operators

Python language offers some special type of operators like the identity
operator or the membership operator. They are described below with examples.

2.5.6.1 Identity Operators

is and is not are the identity operators in Python. They are used to check if two values (or
variables) are located on the same part of the memory. Two variables that are equal does not
imply that they are identical.

Table 2.8: Identity operators in Python

Operator Meaning Example

is True if the operands are identical (refer to the same object) x is True
is not True if the operands are not identical (do not refer to the same x is not
object) True

Example
x1 = 7
y1 = 7
x2 = 'Welcome'
y2 = 'Welcome'
x3 = [1,2,3]
y3 = [1,2,3]
print(x1 is not y1)
print(x2 is y2)
print(x3 is y3)
When you run the program, the output will be:
False

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True
False

Here, we see that x1 and y1 are integers of same values, so they are equal as
well as identical. Same is the case with x2 and y2 (strings).But x3 and y3 are list. They are
equal but not identical. Since list are mutable (can be changed), interpreter locates them
separately in memory although they are equal.

2.5.6.2 Membership Operators

in and not in are the membership operators in Python. They are used to test whether a value
or variable is found in a sequence (string, list, tuple, set and dictionary).

Table 2.9: Membership operators in Python

Operator Meaning Example

in True if value/variable is found in the sequence 5 in x
not in True if value/variable is not found in the sequence 5 not in x

Example
x = 'Python Programming'
print('Program' not in x)
print('Program' in x)
print('program' in x)
When you run the program, the output will be:
False
True
False
Here, ' Program ' is in x but ' program' is not present in x, since Python is case
sensitive.
2.6 PRECEDENCE OF PYTHON OPERATORS
The combination of values, variables, operators and function calls is termed as
an expression. Python interpreter can evaluate a valid expression. When an expression
contains more than one operator, the order of evaluation dependson the Precedence of
operations.

For example, multiplication has higher precedence than subtraction.

>>> 20 – 5*3
5
But we can change this order using parentheses () as it has higher precedence.
>>> (20 - 5) *3
45

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 The operator precedence in Python are listed in the following table. It is in
descending order, upper group has higher precedence than the lower ones.

Table 2.10: Operator precedence rule in Python

Operators Meaning
() Parentheses
** Exponent
+x, -x, ~x Unary plus, Unary minus, Bitwise NOT
*, /, //, % Multiplication, Division, Floor division, Modulus
+, - Addition, Subtraction
<<, >> Bitwise shift operators
& Bitwise AND
^ Bitwise XOR
| Bitwise OR
==, !=, >, >=, <, <=, is, is not, in, not in Comparisions, Identity, Membership operators
not Logical NOT
and Logical AND
or Logical OR

2.7 ASSOCIATIVITY OF PYTHON OPERATORS

We can see in the above table that more than one operator exists in the same
group. These operators have the same precedence.

When two operators have the same precedence, associativity helps to

determine which the order of operations.

Associativity is the order in which an expression is evaluated that has multiple

operator of the same precedence. Almost all the operators have left-to-right associativity.

For example, multiplication and floor division have the same precedence.
Hence, if both of them are present in an expression, left one is evaluates first.

>>> 10 * 7 // 3
23
>>> 10 * (7//3)
20
>>> (10 * 7)//3
23
We can see that 10 * 7 // 3is equivalent to (10 * 7)//3.

Exponent operator ** has right-to-left associativity in Python.

>>> 5 ** 2 ** 3
390625

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>>> (5** 2) **3
15625
>>> 5 **(2 **3)
390625
We can see that 2 ** 3 ** 2 is equivalent to 2 ** (3 ** 2).
2.7.1 Non Associative Operators

Some operators like assignment operators and comparison operators do not

have associativity in Python. There are separate rules for sequences of this kind of operator
and cannot be expressed as associativity.

For example, x < y < z neither means (x < y) < z nor x < (y < z). x < y < z is equivalent to x
< y and y < z, and is evaluates from left-to-right.

Furthermore, while chaining of assignments like x = y = z is perfectly valid, x = y += zwill

result into error.

2.8 TUPLE ASSIGNMENT

It is often useful to swap the values of two variables. With conventional
assignments, you have to use a temporary variable. For example, to swap a and b:
>>>temp = a
>>> a = b
>>> b = temp
This solution is cumbersome; tuple assignment is more elegant:
>>>a, b = b, a
The left side is a tuple of variables; the right side is a tuple of expressions.
Each value is assigned to its respective variable. All the expressions on the right side are
evaluated before any of the assignments. The number of variables on the left and the number
of values on the right have to be the
same:
>>>a, b = 1, 2, 3
ValueError: too many values to unpack
More generally, the right side can be any kind of sequence (string, list or
tuple). For example, to split an email address into a user name and a domain, you could write:
>>>addr = '[email protected]'
>>>uname, domain = addr.split('@')
The return value from split is a list with two elements; the first element is
assigned to uname, the second to domain.
>>>uname
'monty'
>>>domain
'python.org'

2.9 COMMENTS

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 As programs get bigger and more complicated, they get more difficult to read.
Formal languages are dense, and it is often difficult to look at a piece of code and figure out
what it is doing, or why. For this reason, it is a good idea to add notes to your programs to
explain in natural language what the program is doing. These notes are called comments, and
they start with the # symbol:
# computeArea of a triangle using Base and Height
area= (base*height)/2
In this case, the comment appears on a line by itself. You can also put
comments at the endof a line:
area= (base*height)/2 # Area of a triangle using Base and Height
Everything from the # to the end of the line is ignored—it has no effect on the
execution ofthe program.Comments are most useful when they document non-obvious
features of the code. It isreasonable to assume that the reader can figure out what the code
does; it is more useful toexplain why.
This comment is redundant with the code and useless:
base= 5 # assign 5 to base
This comment contains useful information that is not in the code:
base = 5 # base is in centimetre.
Good variable names can reduce the need for comments, but long names can
make complexexpressions hard to read, so there is a tradeoff.

If we have comments that extend multiple lines, one way of doing it is to use
hash (#) in the beginning of each line. For example:

#This is a long comment

#and it extends
#to multiple lines

Another way of doing this is to use triple quotes, either ''' or """.

These triple quotes are generally used for multi-line strings. But they can be used as multi-
line comment as well. Unless they are not docstrings, they do not generate any extra code.

"""This is also a
perfect example of
multi-line comments"""
2.9.1 Docstring in Python

Docstring is short for documentation string. It is a string that occurs as the

first statement in a module, function, class, or method definition. We must write what a
function/class does in the docstring. Triple quotes are used while writing docstrings. For
example:

def area(r):
"""Compute the area of Circle"""
return 3.14159*r**2

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 Docstring is available to us as the attribute __doc__ of the function. Issue the
following code in shell once you run the above program.
>>>print(area.__doc__)
Compute the area of Circle
2.10. MODULES AND FUNCTIONS

2.10.1 Functions
In the context of programming, a function is a named sequence of statements
that performs a computation. When you define a function, you specify the name and the
sequence of statements. Later, you can ―call‖ the function by name. Functions help break our
program into smaller and modular chunks. As our program grows larger and larger, functions
make it more organized and manageable. Furthermore, it avoids repetition and makes code
reusable.
Functions

Built-in Functions User Define Function

Figure 2.2Types of Functions

Functions can be classified into

 Built-in Functions
 User Defined Functions
2.10.1.1 Built-in Functions
The Python interpreter has a number of functions that are always available for
use. These functions are called built-in functions.We have already seen one example of a
function call:type()
>>>type(25)
<class 'int'>
The name of the function is type. The expression in parentheses is called the
argument of the function. The result, for this function, is the type of the argument.It is
common to say that a function ―takes‖ an argument and ―returns‖ a result. The resultis also
called the return value.
Python provides functions that convert values from one type to another. The
intfunctiontakes any value and converts it to an integer, if it can, or complains otherwise:
>>>int('25')
25
>>>int('Python')
ValueError: invalid literal for int(): Python
intcan convert floating-point values to integers, but it doesn‘t round off; it
chops off thefraction part:
>>>int(9.999999)
9
>>>int(-2.3)
-2

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 floatconverts integers and strings to floating-point numbers:
>>>float(25)
25.0
>>>float('3.14159')
3.14159
Finally, strconverts its argument to a string:
>>>str(25)
'25'
>>>str(3.14159)
'3.14159'

2.10.1.1.1. range() – function

The range() constructor returns an immutable sequence object of integers
between the given start integer to the stop integer.

Python's range() Parameters

The range() function has two sets of parameters, as follows:
range(stop)

 stop: Number of integers (whole numbers) to generate, starting from zero.

eg. range(3) == [0, 1, 2].

range([start], stop[, step])

 start: Starting number of the sequence.

 stop: Generate numbers up to, but not including this number.
 step: Difference between each number in the sequence.

Note that:

 All parameters must be integers.

 All parameters can be positive or negative.

>>>range(10)
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
>>>range(5,10)
[5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
>>>range(10,1,-2)
[10, 8, 6, 4, 2]

2.10.1.1.2. Printing to the Screen

In python 3, print function will prints as strings everything in a comma-
separated sequence of expressions, and it will separate the results with single blanks by
default. Note that you can mix types: anything that is not already a string is automatically
converted to its string representation.

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Eg.

>>> x=10
>>> y=7
>>>print('The sum of', x, 'plus', y, 'is', x+y)
The sum of 10 plus 7 is 17
You can also use it with no parameters:

print()

to just advance to the next line.

In python 2, simplest way to produce output is using the print statementwhere

you can pass zero or more expressions separated by commas. Thisfunction converts the
expressions you pass into a string and writes the result to standard output as follows

>>> x=10
>>> y=7
>>>print'The sum of', x, 'plus', y, 'is', x+y
The sum of 10 plus 7 is 17

2.10.1.1.3. Reading Keyboard Input

Python provides two built-in functions to read a line of text from standard
input, which by default comes from the keyboard. These functions are −

 raw_input

 input

The raw_input Function

The raw_input([prompt]) function reads one line from standard input and
returns it as a string.

>>>str = raw_input("Enter your input: ");

Enter your input: range(0,10)
>>> print "Received input is : ", str
Received input is : range(0,10)
This prompts you to enter any string and it would display same string on the
screen.

The input Function

The input([prompt]) function is equivalent to raw_input, except that it
assumes the input is a valid Python expression and returns the evaluated result to you.

>>>str = input("Enter your input: ");

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Enter your input: range(0,10)
>>> print "Received input is : ", str
Received input is : [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Input data is evaluated and the list is generated

2.10.1.2 User-defined functions

As you already know, Python gives you many built-in functions like print(),
input(), type() etc. but you can also create your own functions. These functions are
called user-defined functions.

2.10.1.2.1 Function Definition and Use

Syntax of Function definition
deffunction_name(parameters):
"""docstring"""
statement(s)

Above shown is a function definition which consists of following components.

1. Keyword def marks the start of function header.

2. A function name to uniquely identify it. Function naming follows the same rules of
writing identifiers in Python.
3. Parameters (arguments) through which we pass values to a function. They are
optional.
4. A colon (:) to mark the end of function header.
5. Optional documentation string (docstring) to describe what the function does.
6. One or more valid python statements that make up the function body. Statements must
have same indentation level (usually 4 spaces).
7. An optional return statement to return a value from the function.

Example of a function
def welcome(person_name):
"""This function welcome
the person passed in as
parameter"""
print(" Welcome " , person_name , " to Python Function Section")

Using Function or Function Call

Once we have defined a function, we can call it from another function,

program or even the Python prompt. To call a function we simply type the function name
with appropriate parameters.
>>>welcome('Vinu')
Welcome Vinu to Python Function Section

The return statement

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 The return statement is used to exit a function and go back to the place from
where it was called.

Syntax of return
return [expression_list]

This statement can contain expression which gets evaluated and the value is
returned. If there is no expression in the statement or the return statement itself is not present
inside a function, then the function will return the None object.

defabsolute_value(num):
"""This function returns the absolute
value of the entered number"""

ifnum>= 0:
returnnum
else:
return -num
print(absolute_value(5))
print(absolute_value(-7))

When you run the program, the output will be:

5
7
2.10.2 Flow of Execution
To ensure that a function is defined before its first use, you have to know the order
statements run in, which is called the flow of execution. Execution always begins at the first
statement of the program. Statements are run one at a time, in order from top to bottom.
Function definitions do not alter the flow of execution of the program, but remember that
statements inside the function don‘t run until the function is called. A function call is like a
detour in the flow of execution. Instead of going to the next statement, the flow jumps to the
body of the function, runs the statements there, and then comes back to pick up where it left
off.Figure 2.3 show the flow of execution

Figure 2.3 Flow of execution when function Call

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 That sounds simple enough, until you remember that one function can call
another. While in the middle of one function, the program might have to run the statements in
another function. Then, while running that new function, the program might have to run yet
another function! Fortunately, Python is good at keeping track of where it is, so each time a
function completes, the program picks up where it left off in the function that called it. When
it gets to the end of the program, it terminates.
In summary, when you read a program, you don‘t always want to read from
top to bottom. Sometimes it makes more sense if you follow the flow of execution.
2.10.3 Parameters and Arguments
Some of the functions we have seen require arguments. For example, when
you call type() you pass a variable or value as an argument. Some functions take more than
one argument: eg, range() function take one or two or three arguments.

Inside the function, the arguments are assigned to variables called

parameters. Here is a definition for a function that takes an argument:

def welcome(person_name):
print(" Welcome " , person_name , " to Python Function Section")
This function assigns the argument to a parameter named person_name. When
the function is called, it prints the value of the parameter (whatever it is). This function works
with any value that can be printed.

>>>welcome("Vinu")
Welcome Vinu to Python Function Section
>>>welcome(100)
Welcome 100 to Python Function Section
>>>welcome(50.23)
Welcome 50.23 to Python Function Section
The argument is evaluated before the function is called, so in the below
examples the expressions 'vinu'*3 is evaluated.

>>>welcome('vinu'*3)
Welcome vinuvinuvinu to Python Function Section

You can also use a variable as an argument:

>>>student_name='Ranjith'
>>>welcome(student_name)
Welcome Ranjith to Python Function Section

2.10.4 Modules
A module allows you to logically organize your Python code. Grouping
related code into a module makes the code easier to understand and use. A module is a file
that contains a collection of related functions. Python has lot of built-in modules; math
module is one of them. math module provides most of the familiar mathematical functions.
Before we can use the functions in a module, we have to import it with an
import statement:

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>>> import math
This statement creates a module object named math. If you display the
module object, youget some information about it:
>>>math
<module 'math' (built-in)>
The module object contains the functions and variables defined in the module.
To access one of the functions, you have to specify the name of the module and the name of
the function, separated by a dot (also known as a period). This format is called dot notation.
>>>math.log10(200)
2.3010299956639813
>>>math.sqrt(10)
3.1622776601683795
Math module have functions like log(), sqrt(), etc… In order to know what are
the functions available in particular module, we can use dir() function after importing
particular module. Similarly if we want to know detail description about a particular module
or function or variable means we can use help() function.
Eg.
>>> import math
>>>dir(math)
['__doc__', '__name__', '__package__', 'acos', 'acosh', 'asin', 'asinh', 'atan', 'atan2', 'atanh',
'ceil', 'copysign', 'cos', 'cosh', 'degrees', 'e', 'erf', 'erfc', 'exp', 'expm1', 'fabs', 'factorial', 'floor',
'fmod', 'frexp', 'fsum', 'gamma', 'hypot', 'isinf', 'isnan', 'ldexp', 'lgamma', 'log', 'log10', 'log1p',
'modf', 'pi', 'pow', 'radians', 'sin', 'sinh', 'sqrt', 'tan', 'tanh', 'trunc']
>>>help(pow)
Help on built-in function pow in module __builtin__:

pow(...)
pow(x, y[, z]) -> number

With two arguments, equivalent to x**y. With three arguments,

equivalent to (x**y) % z, but may be more efficient (e.g. for longs).

2.10.4.1 Writing modules

Any file that contains Python code can be imported as a module. For example,
suppose you have a file named addModule.py with the following code:
def add(a, b):
result = a + b
print(result)
add(10,20)
If you run this program, it will add 10 and 20 and print 30. We can import it
like this:
>>> import addModule
30
Now you have a module object addModule
>>>addModule
<module 'addModule' from 'G:/class/python/code\addModule.py'>
The module object provides add():
>>>addModule.add(120,150)

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270
So that‘s how you write modules in Python.
The only problem with this example is that when you import the module it
runs the test code at the bottom. Normally when you import a module, it defines new
functions but it doesn‘t run them.

Programs that will be imported as modules often use the following idiom:
if __name__ == '__main__':
add(10,20)
__name__ is a built-in variable that is set when the program starts. If the
program is running as a script, __name__ has the value '__main__'; in that case, the test code
runs. Otherwise, if the module is being imported, the test code is skipped. Modify
addModule.py file as given below.
def add(a, b):
result = a + b
print(result)
if __name__ == '__main__':
add(10,20)
Now while importing addModule test case is not running
>>> import addModule
__name__ has module name as its value when it is imported. Warning: If you
import a module that has already been imported, Python does nothing. It does not re-read the
file, even if it has changed. If you want to reload a module, you can use the built-in function
reload, but it can be tricky, so the safest thing to do is restart the interpreter and then import
the module again.

2.11 ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMS

2.11.1 Exchange the Value of two Variables

In python exchange of values of two variables (swapping) can be done in
different ways

 Using Third Variable

 Without Using Third Variable
o Using Tuple Assignment method
o Using Arithmetic operators
o Using Bitwise operators

2.11.1.1 Using Third Variable

1 var1 = input("Enter value of variable1: ")

2 var2 = input("Enter value of variable2: ")
3 temp = var1
4 var1 = var2
5 var2 = temp
6 print("After swapping:")
7 print("First Variable =",var1,)
8 print("Second Variable=",var2,)
When you run the program, the output will be:

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Enter value of variable1: 5
Enter value of variable2: 10
After swapping:
First Variable = 10
Second Variable= 5
In the above program line number 3,4,5, are used to swap the values of two variables. In this
program, we use the temp variable to temporarily hold the value of var1. We then put the
value of var2 in var1 and later temp in var2. In this way, the values get exchanged. In this
method we are using one more variable other than var1,var2. So we calling it as swapping
with the use of third variable.
2.11.1.2 Without Using Third Variable

We can do the same swapping operation even without the use of third variable,
There are number of ways to do this, they are.

2.11.1.2.1 Using Tuple Assignment method

In this method inthe above programinstead of line number 3,4,5 use a single
tuple assignment statement
var1 , var2 = var2 , var1
The left side is a tuple of variables; the right side is a tuple of expressions.
Each value is assigned to its respective variable. All the expressions on the right side are
evaluated before any of the assignments.

2.11.1.2.2 Using Arithmetic operators

If the variables are both numbers, Swapping can be performed using simple
mathematical addition subtraction relationship or multiplication division relationship.

Addition and Subtraction

In this method inthe above program instead of line number 3,4,5 use the following
code

x=x+y
y=x-y
x=x-y
Multiplication and Division

In this method inthe above program instead of line number 3,4,5 use the following
code

x=x*y
y=x/y
x=x/y
2.11.1.2.3 Using Bitwise operators

If the variables are integers then we can perform swapping with the help of bitwise
XOR operator. In order to do this in the above program instead of line number 3,4,5 use the
following code

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x=x^y
y=x^y
x=x^y

2.11.2 Circulate the Value of N Variables

Problem of circulating a Python list by an arbitrary number of items to the
right or left can be easily performed by List slicing operator.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Figure 2.4.aExample List

Consider the above list Figure 2.4.a; circulation of the above list by n position
can be easily achieved by slicing the array into two and concatenating them. Slicing is done
as nth element to end element + beginning element to n-1th element. Suppose n=2 means,
given list is rotated 2 positions towards left side as given in Figure 2.4.b

3 4 5 6 7 1 2
Figure 2.4.b Left Circulated List

Suppose n= - 2 means, given list is rotated 2 position towards right side as

given in Figure 2.4.c

6 7 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 2.4.c Right Circulated List

So the simple function to perform this circulation operation is

def circulate(list, n):

return list[n:] + list[:n]

>>>circulate([1,2,3,4,5,6,7], 2)
[3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1, 2]
>>>circulate([1,2,3,4,5,6,7], -2)
[6, 7, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

2.11.3 Test for Leap Year

In order to check whether a year is leap year or not python provide a isleap()
function in calendar module. So if you want to check whether a year is leap year or not, first
import calendar module. Then use the isleap() function.

>>> import calendar

>>>calendar
<module 'calendar' from 'C:\Python27\lib\calendar.pyc'>
>>>calendar.isleap(2003)
False
>>> import calendar

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>>>calendar.isleap(2000)
True
>>>calendar.isleap(2004)
True
>>>calendar.isleap(2003)
False
>>>calendar.isleap(1900)
False
>>>calendar.isleap(2020)
True

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 UNIT III
CONTROL FLOW, FUNCTIONS
3.1 CONDITIONALS
Flow of execution of instruction can be controlled using conditional
statements. Conditional statements have some Boolean expression. Boolean expression can
have relational operators or logical operators or both.

3.1.1 Boolean Expressions

A boolean expression is an expression it‘s result is either true or false. The
following examples use the operator ==, which compares two operands and produces True if
they are equal and False otherwise:

>>> 9 == 9
True
>>> 9 == 6
False
True and False are special values that belong to the type bool; they are not strings:

>>>type(True)
<class 'bool'>
>>>type(False)
<class 'bool'>
Boolean expression can have relational operators or logical operators.The ==
operator is one of the relational operators; the others are:

x==y #x is equal to y
x != y # x is not equal to y
x>y # x is greater than y
x<y # x is less than y
x >= y # x is greater than or equal to y
x <= y # x is less than or equal to y
More explanation can found in 2.5.2.Although these operations are probably
familiar to you, the Python symbols are different from the mathematical symbols. A common
error is to use a single equal sign (=) instead of a double equal sign (==). Remember that = is
an assignment operator and == is a relational operator. There is no such thing as =< or =>.

3.1.2 Logical operators

There are three logical operators: and, or, and not. The semantics (meaning)
of these operators is similar to their meaning in English. This was explained in 2.5.3

For example:

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 x> 0 and x < 10 is true only if x is greater than 0 and less than 10.

n%2 == 0 or n%3 == 0 is true if either or both of the conditions is true, that is, if the
number is divisible by 2 or 3.

not operator negates a boolean expression, so not (x > y) is true if x > y is false, that
is, if x is less than or equal to y.

Note:- Any nonzero number is interpreted as True

>>>95 and True

True
>>>mark=95
>>>mark>0 and mark<=100
True
>>>mark=102
>>>mark>0 and mark<=100
False
3.2 SELECTION

In Unit I, you were introduced to the concept of flow of control: the sequence
of statements that the computer executes. In procedurally written code, the computer usually
executes instructions in the order that they appear. However, this is not always the case. One
of the ways in which programmers can change the flow of control is the use of selection
control statements.

Now we will learn about selection statements, which allow a program to

choose when to execute certain instructions. For example, a program might choose how to
proceed on the basis of the user‘s input. As you will be able to see, such statements make a
program more versatile.

In python selection can be achieved through

 if statement
 The elif Statement
 if...elif...else
 Nested if statements

3.2.1 Conditional Execution

In order to write useful programs, we almost always need the ability to
check conditions and change the behaviour of the program accordingly. Selection or
Conditional statements give us this ability. The simplest form is the if statement:

General Syntax of if statement is

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if TEST EXPRESSION:
STATEMENT(S) # executed if condition evaluates to True

Here, the program evaluates the TEST EXPRESSION and will execute
statement(s) only if the text expression is True.If the text expression is False, the statement(s)
is not executed.

A few important things to note about if statements:

1. The colon (:) is significant and required. It separates the header of the compound
statement from the body.
2. The line after the colon must be indented. It is standard in Python to use four spaces for
indenting.
3. All lines indented the same amount after the colon will be executed whenever the
BOOLEAN_EXPRESSION is true.
4. Python interprets non-zero values as True. None and 0 are interpreted as False.

Figure 3.1 if Statement Flowchart

Here is an example:

mark = 102
if mark >= 100:
print(mark, " is a Not a valid mark.")
print("This is always printed.")

Output will be:

102 is a Not a valid mark.

This is always printed.
The boolean expression after the if statement (here mark>=100)is called
the condition. If it is true, then all the indented statements get executed.
There is no limit on the number of statements that can appear in the body, but
there has to be at least one. Occasionally, it is useful to have a body with no statements (usually

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as a place keeper for code you haven‘t written yet). In that case, you can use the pass statement,
which does nothing.

if x < 0:
pass # TODO: need to handle negative values!
3.2.2 Alternative execution
A second form of the if statement is ―alternative execution‖, in which there are
two possibilities and the condition determines which one runs. In other words ,It is frequently
the case that you want one thing to happen when a condition it true, and something else to
happen when it is false. For that we have if else statement. The syntax looks like this:
General Syntax of if ..elsestatement is

if TEST EXPRESSION:
STATEMENTS_1 # executed if condition evaluates to True
else:
STATEMENTS_2 # executed if condition evaluates to False

Each statement inside the if block of an if else statement is executed in order if

the test expression evaluates to True. The entire block of statements is skipped if the test
expression evaluates to False, and instead all the statements under the else clause are executed.

Figure 3.2if..else Flowchart

There is no limit on the number of statements that can appear under the two
clauses of an if else statement, but there has to be at least one statement in each block.
Occasionally, it is useful to have a section with no statements, for code you haven‘t written yet.
In that case, you can use the passstatement, which does nothing except act as a placeholder.

if True: # This is always true

pass # so this is always executed, but it does nothing
else:
pass

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Here is an example:
age=21 #age=17
if age >= 18:
print("Eligible to vote")
else:
print("Not Eligible to vote")

Output will be:

Eligible to vote

In the above example, when age is greater than 18, the test expression is true
and body of if is executed and body of else is skipped.If age is less than 18, the test
expression is false and body of else is executed and body of if is skipped.If age is equal to 18,
the test expression is true and body of if is executed and body of else is skipped.

3.2.3 Chained Conditionals

Sometimes there are more than two possibilities and we need more than two
branches. One way to express a computation like that is a chained conditional. The syntax
looks like this:
General Syntax of if..elif...else statement is

if TEST EXPRESSION1:
STATEMENTS_A
elif TEST EXPRESSION2:
STATEMENTS_B
else:
STATEMENTS_C

The elif is short for else if. It allows us to check for multiple expressions.If the
condition for if is False, it checks the condition of the next elif block and so on.If all the
conditions are False, body of else is executed.Only one block among the
several if...elif...else blocks is executed according to the condition.The if block can have only
one else block. But it can have multiple elif blocks.

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 Figure 3.3 Flowchart of if...elif...else

Each condition is checked in order. If the first is false, the next is checked, and
so on. If one of them is true, the corresponding branch executes, and the statement ends. Even if
more than one condition is true, only the first true branch executes.
Here is an example:
time=17 #time=10, time=13, time=17, time=22
if time<12:
print("Good Morning")
elif time<15:
print("Good Afternoon")
elif time<20:
print("Good Evening")
else:
print("Good Night")

Output will be:

Good Evening

When variable time is less than 12, Good Morning is printed.If time is less
than 15, Good Afternoon is printed.If time is less than 20, Good Evening is printed. If all
above conditions fails Good Night is printed.

3.2.4 Nested Conditionals

One conditional can also be nested within another. ie, We can have
a if...elif...else statement inside another if...elif...else statement. This is called nesting in
computer programming.

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 Any number of these statements can be nested inside one another. Indentation
is the only way to figure out the level of nesting.

General Syntax of Nested if..else statement is

if TEST EXPRESSION1:
if TEST EXPRESSION2:
STATEMENTS_B
else:
STATEMENTS_C
else:
if TEST EXPRESSION3:
STATEMENTS_D
else:
STATEMENTS_E

Figure 3.4Flowchart of Nested if..else

The outer conditional contains two branches. Those two branches contain
another if… else statement, which has two branches of its own. Those two branches could
contain conditional statements as well.

Here is an example:
a=10
b=20
c=5
if a>b:
if a>c:
print("Greatest number is ",a)
else:

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 print("Greatest number is ",c)
else:
if b>c:
print("Greatest number is ",b)
else:
print("Greatest number is ",c)
Output will be :
Greatest number is 20
Although the indentation of the statements makes the structure apparent, nested
conditionals very quickly become difficult to read. In general, it is a good idea to avoid them
when you can.
Logical operators often provide a way to simplify nested conditional
statements. For example, we can rewrite the above code using single if…elif…. else statement:
a=10
b=20
c=5
if a>b and a>c:
print("Greatest number is ",a)
elif b>a and b>c:
print("Greatest number is ",b)
else:
print("Greatest number is ",c)
Another example, we can rewrite the following code using a single conditional:
if 0 < x:
if x < 10:
print('x is a positive single-digit number. ')
The print statement runs only if we make it pass both conditionals, so we can
get the same effect with the and operator:
if 0 < x and x < 10:
print('x is a positive single-digit number. ')
For this kind of condition, Python provides a more concise option:
if 0 < x < 10:
print('x is a positive single-digit number. ')
3.3 ITERATION
Computers are often used to automate repetitive tasks. Repeating identical or
similar tasks without making errors is something that computers do well and people do poorly.
Repeated execution of a set of statements is called iteration.Python has two
statements for iteration
 for statement
 while statement
Before we look at those, we need to review a few ideas.

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Reassignmnent

As we saw back in the variable section, it is legal to make more than one
assignment to the same variable. A new assignment makes an existing variable refer to a new
value (and stop referring to the old value).
age = 26
print(age)
age = 17
print(age)
The output of this program is
26
17
because the first time age is printed, its value is 26, and the second time, its
value is 17.
Here is what reassignment looks like in a state snapshot:

26

age 17

Figure 3.5 State Diagram for Reassignment

With reassignment it is especially important to distinguish between an
assignment statement and a boolean expression that tests for equality. Because Python uses the
equal token (=) for assignment, it is tempting to interpret a statement like a = b as a boolean
test. Unlike mathematics, Remember that the Python token for the equality operator is ==.
Note too that an equality test is symmetric, but assignment is not. For example,
if a == 7 then 7 == a. But in Python, the statement a = 7 is legal and 7 = a is not.
Furthermore, in mathematics, a statement of equality is always true.
If a == b now, then a will always equal b. In Python, an assignment statement can make two
variables equal, but because of the possibility of reassignment, they don‘t have to stay that way:
a=5
b=a # after executing this line, a and b are now equal
a=3 # after executing this line, a and b are no longer equal
The third line changes the value of a but does not change the value of b, so they
are no longer equal.

Updating variables

When an assignment statement is executed, the right-hand-side expression (i.e.

the expression that comes after the assignment token) is evaluated first. Then the result of that
evaluation is written into the variable on the left hand side, thereby changing it.
One of the most common forms of reassignment is an update, where the new
value of the variable depends on its old value.

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n=5
n=3*n+1
The second line means ―get the current value of n, multiply it by three and add
one, and put the answer back into n as its new value‖. So after executing the two lines
above, n will have the value 16.
If you try to get the value of a variable that doesn‘t exist yet, you‘ll get an error:
>>> x = x + 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<interactive input>", line 1, in
NameError: name 'x' is not defined
Before you can update a variable, you have to initialize it, usually with a simple assignment:
>>> x = 0
>>> x = x + 1
This second statement — updating a variable by adding 1 to it. It is very
common. It is called an increment of the variable; subtracting 1 is called a decrement.
3.3.1 The while statement

The while loop in Python is used to iterate over a block of code as long as the
test expression (condition) is true.We generally use this loop when we don't know
beforehand, the number of times to iterate.

The general syntax for the while statement :

while TEST_EXPRESSION:
STATEMENTS

In while loop, test expression is checked first. The body of the loop is entered
only if the TEST_EXPRESSION evaluates to True. After one iteration, the test expression is
checked again. This process continues until the TEST_EXPRESSION evaluates to False.

In Python, the body of the while loop is determined through indentation.Body

starts with indentation and the first unindented line marks the end.

Python interprets any non-zero value as True. None and 0 are interpreted
as False.

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Flowchart of while Loop

Figure 3.6 Flowchart of while Loop

Example:
Python program to find sum of first n numbers using while loop
n = 20
sum = 0 # initialize sum and counter
i=1
while i <= n:
sum = sum + i
i = i+1 # update counter
print("The sum is", sum) # print the sum
When you run the program, the output will be:
The sum is 210

In the above program, the test expression will be True as long as our counter
variable i is less than or equal to n (20 in our program).

We need to increase the value of counter variable in the body of the loop. This
is very important (and mostly forgotten). Failing to do so will result in an infinite loop (never
ending loop).Finally the result is displayed.

3.3.2 The for Statement

The for loop in Python is used to iterate over a sequence (list, tuple, string) or
other iterable objects. Iterating over a sequence is called traversal.

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The general syntax for the while statement:
for LOOP_VARIABLE in SEQUENCE:
STATEMENTS

Here, LOOP_VARIABLE is the variable that takes the value of the item
inside the sequence on each iteration.

Loop continues until we reach the last item in the sequence. The body of for
loop is separated from the rest of the code using indentation.

Figure 3.7Flowchart of for Loop

Example
marks = [95,98,89,93,86]
total = 0
forsubject_mark in marks:
total = total+subject_mark
print("Total Mark is ", total)
when you run the program, the output will be:
Total Mark is 461
We can use the range() function in for loops to iterate through a sequence of
numbers.
Example:
sum=0
for i in range(20):
sum=sum+i

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print("Sum is ", sum)

Output will be:

Sum is 190

3.3.3 Break, Continue, Pass

You might face a situation in which you need to exit a loop completely when
an external condition is triggered or there may also be a situation when you want to skip a
part of the loop and start next execution.

Python provides break and continue statements to handle such situations and
to have good control on your loop.This section will discuss the break,
continue and pass statements available in Python.
3.3.3.1 The break Statement
The break statement in Python terminates the current loop and resumes
execution at the next statement. The most common use for break is when some external
condition is triggered requiring a hasty exit from a loop. The break statement can be used in
both while and for loops.

Example:
for letter in 'Welcome': # First Example
if letter == 'c':
break
print('Current Letter :', letter)
var = 10 # Second Example
whilevar> 0:
print('Current variable value :', var)
var = var -1
ifvar == 5:
break
print "End!"

This will produce the following output:

Current Letter : W
Current Letter : e
Current Letter : l
Current variable value : 10
Current variable value : 9
Current variable value : 8
Current variable value : 7
Current variable value : 6
End!

3.3.3.2 The continue Statement:

The continue statement in Python returns the control to the beginning of the
while loop. The continue statement rejects all the remaining statements in the current
iteration of the loop and moves the control back to the top of the loop.The continue statement
can be used in both while and for loops.

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Example:

for letter in 'Welcome': # First Example

if letter == 'c':
continue
print('Current Letter :', letter)
var = 10 # Second Example
whilevar> 0:
print('Current variable value :', var)
var = var -1
ifvar == 5:
continue
print "End!"

This will produce the following output:

Current Letter : W
Current Letter : e
Current Letter : l
Current Letter : o
Current Letter : m
Current Letter : e
Current variable value : 10
Current variable value : 9
Current variable value : 8
Current variable value : 7
Current variable value : 6
Current variable value : 5
Current variable value : 4
Current variable value : 3
Current variable value : 2
Current variable value : 1
End!
3.3.3.3 The else Statement Used with Loops
Python supports to have an else statement associated with a loop statements.
 If the else statement is used with a for loop, the else statement is executed when the
loop has exhausted iterating the list.
 If the else statement is used with a while loop, the else statement is executed when the
condition becomes false.
while loop with else
We can have an optional else block with while loop as well.The else part is executed if the
condition in the while loop evaluates to False. The while loop can be terminated with a break
statement.In such case, the else part is ignored. Hence, a while loop's else part runs if no
break occurs and the condition is false.

Here is an example to illustrate this.

counter = 0

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while counter < 3:
print("Inside loop")
counter = counter + 1
else:
print("Inside else")

Output

Inside loop
Inside loop
Inside loop
Inside else
Here, we use a counter variable to print the string Inside loop three times.On
the forth iteration, the condition in while becomes False. Hence, the else part is executed.
for loop with else

A for loop can have an optional else block as well. The else part is executed if the items in
the sequence used in for loop exhausts.break statement can be used to stop a for loop. In such
case, the else part is ignored.Hence, a for loop's else part runs if no break occurs.

Here is an example to illustrate this.

digits = [0, 1, 5]
for i in digits:
print(i)
else:
print("No items left.")

When you run the program, the output will be:

0
1
5
No items left.

Here, the for loop prints items of the list until the loop exhausts. When the for
loop exhausts, it executes the block of code in the else and prints

3.3.3.4 The pass Statement

In Python programming, pass is a null statement. The difference between

a comment and pass statement in Python is that, while the interpreter ignores a comment
entirely, pass is not ignored.However, nothing happens when pass is executed. It results into
no operation (NOP).

Syntax of pass

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pass

We generally use it as a placeholder.

Suppose we have a loop or a function that is not implemented yet, but we want
to implement it in the future. They cannot have an empty body. The interpreter would
complain. So, we use the pass statement to construct a body that does nothing.

Example
sequence = {'p', 'a', 's', 's'}
forval in sequence:
pass
We can do the same thing in an empty function

def function(args):
pass

3.4 FRUITFUL FUNCTIONS

3.4.1 Return Values

The built-in functions we have used, such as abs, pow, int, max, and range,
have produced results. Calling each of these functions generates a value, which we usually
assign to a variable or use as part of an expression.
biggest = max(3, 7, 2, 5)
x = abs(3 - 11) + 10
Here, we are going to write more functions that return values, which we will
call fruitful functions, for want of a better name. The first example is area, which returns the
area of a circle with the given radius:
def area(radius):
b = 3.14159 * radius**2
return b
We have seen the return statement before, but in a fruitful function
the return statement includes a return value. This statement means: evaluate the return
expression, and then return it immediately as the result of this function. The expression
provided can be arbitrarily complicated, so we could have written this function like this:
def area(radius):
return 3.14159 * radius * radius
On the other hand, temporary variables like b above often make debugging easier.
Sometimes it is useful to have multiple return statements, one in each branch of
a conditional. We have already seen the built-in abs, now we see how to write our own:
defabsolute_value(x):
if x < 0:
return -x

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 else:
return x
Another way to write the above function is to leave out the else and just follow
the if condition by the second return statement.
defabsolute_value(x):
if x < 0:
return -x
return x
Think about this version and convince yourself it works the same as the first one.
Code that appears after a return statement, or any other place the flow of
execution can never reach, is called dead code, or unreachable code.
In a fruitful function, it is a good idea to ensure that every possible path through
the program hits a return statement. The following version of absolute_value fails to do this:
defbad_absolute_value(x):
if x < 0:
return -x
elif x > 0:
return x
This version is not correct because if x happens to be 0, neither condition is true,
and the function ends without hitting a return statement. In this case, the return value is a
special value called None:
>>>print(bad_absolute_value(0))
None
All Python functions return None whenever they do not return another value.
It is also possible to use a return statement in the middle of a for loop, in which case control
immediately returns from the function. Let us assume that we want a function which looks
through a list of words. It should return the first 2-letter word. If there is not one, it should
return the empty string:
def find_first_2_letter_word(xs):
forwd in xs:
iflen(wd) == 2:
returnwd
return ""
While running output will be:
>>> find_first_2_letter_word(["This", "is", "a", "dead", "parrot"])
'is'
>>> find_first_2_letter_word(["I", "like", "cheese"])
''
Single-step through this code and convince yourself that in the first test case that
we‘ve provided, the function returns while processing the second element in the list: it does not
have to traverse the whole list.

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3.4.2 Debugging with print
Another powerful technique for debugging (an alternative to single-stepping and
inspection of program variables), is to insert extra print functions in carefully selected places in
your code. Then, by inspecting the output of the program, you can check whether the algorithm
is doing what you expect it to. Be clear about the following, however:

 You must have a clear solution to the problem, and must know what should happen
before you can debug a program. Work on solving the problem on a piece of paper
(perhaps using a flowchart to record the steps you take) before you concern yourself
with writing code. Writing a program doesn‘t solve the problem — it
simply automates the manual steps you would take. So first make sure you have a pen-
and-paper manual solution that works. Programming then is about making those manual
steps happen automatically.
 Do not write chatterbox functions. A chatterbox is a fruitful function that, in addition
to its primary task, also asks the user for input, or prints output, when it would be more
useful if it simply shut up and did its work quietly.

For example, we‘ve seen built-in functions like range, max and abs. None of
these would be useful building blocks for other programs if they prompted the user for input, or
printed their results while they performed their tasks.

So a good tip is to avoid calling print and input functions inside

fruitfulfunctions, unless the primary purpose of your function is to perform input and output.
The one exception to this rule might be to temporarily sprinkle some calls to print into your
code to help debug and understand what is happening when the code runs, but these will then
be removed once you get things working.
3.4.3 Composition
You can call one function from within another. This ability is
called composition.

As an example, we‘ll write a function that takes two points, the center of the
circle and a point on the perimeter, and computes the area of the circle.
Assume that the center point is stored in the variables xc and yc, and the
perimeter point is in xp and yp. The first step is to find the radius of the circle, which is the
distance between the two points. Fortunately, we‘ve just written a function, distance, that does
just that, so now all we have to do is use it:
radius = distance(xc, yc, xp, yp)
The second step is to find the area of a circle with that radius and return it.
Again we will use one of our earlier functions:
result = area(radius)
return result
Wrapping that up in a function, we get:
def area2(xc, yc, xp, yp):
radius = distance(xc, yc, xp, yp)

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 result = area(radius)
return result
We called this function area2 to distinguish it from the area function defined
earlier.
The temporary variables radius and result are useful for development,
debugging, and single-stepping through the code to inspect what is happening, but once the
program is working, we can make it more concise by composing the function calls:
def area2(xc, yc, xp, yp):
return area(distance(xc, yc, xp, yp))
3.4 SCOPE: GLOBAL AND LOCAL

Namespace is a collection of names. In Python, you can imagine a namespace

as a mapping of every name; you have defined, to corresponding objects. Different
namespaces can co-exist at a given time but are completely isolated.

Although there are various unique namespaces defined, we may not be able to
access all of them from every part of the program. The concept of scope comes into play.

Scope is the portion of the program from where a namespace can be accessed
directly without any prefix.

At any given moment, there are at least three nested scopes.

1. Scope of the current function which has local names

2. Scope of the module which has global names
3. Outermost scope which has built-in names

When a reference is made inside a function, the name is searched in the local
namespace, then in the global namespace and finally in the built-in namespace.

If there is a function inside another function, a new scope is nested inside the local scope.

Example
defouter_function():
b = ―India‖
definner_func():
c = ―TamilNadu‖
a = ―World‖

Here, the variable a is in the global namespace. Variable b is in the local

namespace of outer_function() and c is in the nested local namespace of inner_function().

When we are in inner_function(), c is local to us, b is nonlocal and a is global.

We can read as well as assign new values to c but can only
read b and a from inner_function().

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 If we try to assign as a value to b, a new variable b is created in the local
namespace which is different than the nonlocal b. Same thing happens when we assign a
value to a.

However, if we declare a as global, all the reference and assignment go to the

global a. Similarly, if we want to rebind the variable b, it must be declared as nonlocal. The
following example will further clarify this.

defouter_function():
a ="i am in India"
definner_function():
a = "i am in TamilNadu"
print('a =',a)
inner_function()
print('a =',a)
a = "i am in World"
outer_function()
print('a =',a)

As you can see, the output of this program is

a = i am in TamilNadu
a = i am in India
a = i am in World

In this program, three different variables a are defined in separate namespaces

and accessed accordingly. While in the following program,

defouter_function():
global a
a = "i am in India"
definner_function():
global a
a = "i am in TamilNadu"
print('a =',a)
inner_function()
print('a =',a)
a = "i am in World"
outer_function()
print('a =',a)
The output of the program is.
a = i am in TamilNadu
a = i am in TamilNadu
a = i am in TamilNadu
Here, all reference and assignment are to the global a due to the use of keyword global.
3.6 RECURSION
A recursive function is a function which calls itself with "smaller (or simpler)"
input values. Generally if a problem can be solved utilizing solutions to smaller versions of

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the same problem, and the smaller versions reduce to easily solvable cases, then one can use a
recursive function to solve that problem.

3.6.1 Base Condition in Recursion

Base case is the smallest version of the problem, which cannot expressed in
terms of smaller problems, Also this base case have predefined solution. In recursive
program, the solution to base case is provided and solution of bigger problem is expressed in
terms of smaller problems.

For Example:

Following is an example of recursive function to find the factorial of an integer.

For positive values of n, let's write n!, as we known n! is a product of numbers

starting from n and going down to 1. n! = n. (n-1)…… 2 .1. But notice that (n-1) ... 2.1 is
another way of writing (n-1)!, and so we can say that n!=n.(n−1)!. So we wrote n! as a
product in which one of the factors is (n−1)!. You can compute n! by computing (n−1)! and
then multiplying the result of computing (n−1)! by n. You can compute the factorial function
on n by first computing the factorial function on n−1. So computing (n−1)! is
a subproblem that we solve to compute n!.

In the above example, base case for n == 1 is defined and larger value of
number can be solved by converting to smaller one till base case is reached.

Python program to find factorial of a given number using recursive function is.

def factorial(n):
if n == 1:
return 1
else:
return (n * factorial(n-1))
num = 5
print("The factorial of", num, "is", factorial(num))

Output will be:

The factorial of 7 is 120

In the above example, factorial() is a recursive functions as it calls itself.When

we call this function with a positive integer, it will recursively call itself by decreasing the
number.Each function call multiples the number with the factorial of number 1 until the
number is equal to one. This recursive call can be explained in the following steps.

factorial(5) # 1st call with 5

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5 * factorial(4) # 2nd call with 4
5 * 4 * factorial(3) # 3rd call with 3
5 * 4 * 3 * factorial(2) # 4th call with 2
5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * factorial(1) # 5th call with 1
5*4*3*2*1 # return from 5th call as n==1
5*4*3*2 # return from 4th call
5*4*6 # return from 3rd call
5 * 24 # return from 2nd call
120 # return from 1st call

Our recursion ends when the number reduces to 1. This is called the base condition.Every
recursive function must have a base condition that stops the recursion or else the function
calls itself infinitely

Advantages of recursion

1. Recursive functions make the code look clean and elegant.

2. A complex task can be broken down into simpler sub-problems using recursion.
3. Sequence generation is easier with recursion than using some nested iteration.

Disadvantages of recursion

1. Sometimes the logic behind recursion is hard to follow through.

2. Recursive calls are expensive (inefficient) as they take up a lot of memory and time.
3. Recursive functions are hard to debug.

3.7 STRINGS
A string is a sequence of characters. You can access the characters one at a
time with the bracket operator:
>>>subject = 'python'
>>>letter = subject [1]

The second statement selects character number 1 from fruit and assigns it to
letter. The expression in brackets is called an index. The index indicates which character in
the sequence you want. But you might not get what you expect:
>>>letter
'y'

For most people, the first letter of 'python' is p, not y. But for computer
scientists, the index is an offset from the beginning of the string, and the offset of the first
letter is zero.
>>>letter = subject [0]
>>>letter

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'p'
So p is the 0th letter (―zero-eth‖) of 'python', y is the 1th letter (―one-eth‖), and
t is the 2thletter (―two-eth‖).
As an index you can use an expression that contains variables and operators:
>>> i = 1
>>> subject [i]
'y'
>>> subject [i+1]
't
But the value of the index has to be an integer. Otherwise you get:
>>>letter =subject [1.5]
TypeError: string indices must be integers

3.7.1 len()
len is a built-in function that returns the number of characters in a string:
>>>subject = 'python'
>>>len(subject)
6
To get the last letter of a string, you might be tempted to try something like this:
>>>length = len(subject)
>>>last = subject [length]
IndexError: string index out of range
The reason for the IndexError is that there is no letter in 'python' with the
index 6. Since we started counting at zero, the six letters are numbered 0 to 5. To get the last
character, you have to subtract 1 from length:
>>>last = subject [length-1]
>>>last
't'
Or you can use negative indices, which count backward from the end of the
string. The expression subject [-1] yields the last letter, subject [-2] yields the second to last,
and so on.

3.7.2 Traversal with a for Loop

A lot of computations involve processing a string one character at a time.
Often they start at the beginning, select each character in turn, do something to it, and
continue until the end. This pattern of processing is called a traversal. One way to write a
traversal is with a while loop:
index = 0
while index <len(subject):
letter = subjec [index]
print(letter)
index = index + 1
This loop traverses the string and displays each letter on a line by itself. The
loop condition is index <len(subjec), so when index is equal to the length of the string, the
condition is false, and the body of the loop doesn‘t run. The last character accessed is the one
with the index len(subjec)-1, which is the last character in the string.

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 Another way to write a traversal is with a for loop:
for letter in subject:
print(letter)
subject ‘ p y t h o n ‘
Index 0 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 3.8Slice indices

Each time through the loop, the next character in the string is assigned to the
variable letter. The loop continues until no characters are left.
The following example shows how to use concatenation (string addition) and a
for loop to generate an abecedarian series (that is, in alphabetical order). In Robert
McCloskey‘s book MakeWay for Ducklings, the names of the ducklings are Jack, Kack,
Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack. This loop outputs these names in order:
prefixes = 'JKLMNOPQ'
suffix = 'ack'
for letter in prefixes:
print(letter + suffix)
The output is:
Jack
Kack
Lack
Mack
Nack
Oack
Pack
Qack
3.7.3 String Slices
A segment of a string is called a slice. Selecting a slice is similar to selecting a character:
>>> s = 'Monty Python'
>>>s[0:5]
'Monty'
>>>s[6:12]
'Python'
The operator [n:m] returns the part of the string from the ―n-eth‖ character to
the ―m-eth‖ character, including the first but excluding the last. This behavior is
counterintuitive, but it might help to imagine the indices pointing between the characters, as
in Figure 3.8. If you omit the first index (before the colon), the slice starts at the beginning of
the string. If you omit the second index, the slice goes to the end of the string:
>>>subject = 'python'
>>>subject[:3]
. 'pyt'
>>>subject[3:]
'hon'
If the first index is greater than or equal to the second the result is an empty
string, represented by two quotation marks:
>>>subject = 'python'
>>>subject[3:3]
''

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 An empty string contains no characters and has length 0, but other than that, it
is the same as any other string.

Continuing this example, subject[:] gives entire string.

>>>subject = 'python'
>>>subject[:]
python
3.7.4 Strings are Immutable
It is tempting to use the [] operator on the left side of an assignment, with the
intention of changing a character in a string. For example:
>>> greeting = 'Hello, world!'
>>>greeting[0] = 'J'
TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment
The reason for the error is that strings are immutable, which means you can‘t
change an existing string. The best you can do is create a new string that is a variation on the
original:
>>> greeting = 'Hello, world!'
>>>new_greeting = 'J' + greeting[1:]
>>>new_greeting
'Jello, world!'
This example concatenates a new first letter onto a slice of greeting. It has no
effect on the original string.

3.7.5 String Methods

Strings provide methods that perform a variety of useful operations. A method is similar
to a function it takes arguments and returns a value but the syntax is different. A method is
similar to a function it takes arguments and returns a value but the syntax is different.
1. capitalize()
Returns a copy of the string with the first character of the string capitalized
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.capitalize()
'Hello'
2. index()
This function indicates in which index the item is present
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.index('l')
2
3. rindex()
It is same as index() but it will display the rightmost index or last index of the value
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.rindex('l')
3
4. isalnum()
Returns True if string contains alphabets or numbers.
>>>a='hello '

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>>> a.isalnum()
True
5. isdigit()
Returns True if string contains digits.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.isdigit()
False
6. isalpha()
Returns True if string contains alphabet.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.isalpha()
True
7. islower()
Tests if all characters of the string are in lowercase and returns True if string is in lower
case.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.islower()
True
8. isupper()
Tests if all characters of the string are in uppercase and returns True if string is in upper
case.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.isupper()
False
9. lower()
Returns a copy of string in which all characters are converted to lowercase.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.lower()
'hello'
10. count(str, beg, end)
Returns the number of occurrences of the value in string
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.count('l')
2
11. centre(width, fillchar)
Return a copy of string centered of the given width
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.center(20)
' hello '
12. endswith(suffix)
Returns True if string ends with that value otherwise False
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.endswith('o')
True

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 13. split()
Return a list of words in string which is separated by white space. This function takes a
string and splits it into individual words.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.split()
['hello']
14. title()
Return the string as title. First letter of each word in string in capitalize.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.title()
'Hello'
15. swapcase()
It will change the case. If the given string is in uppercase this function will convert into
lower case and vice versa.
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.swapcase()
'HELLO'
16. join()
Return a string that is the concatenation of the strings in the sequence. Join a list of words
into a single string with string as its separator
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.join('hai')
'hhelloahelloi'
17. startswith()
Returns True if the string starts with that value otherwise False
>>>a='hello '
>>> a.startswith('h')
True

18. upper( )
The method upper takes a string and returns a new string with all uppercase letters.
Instead of the function syntax upper(word), it uses the method syntax word.upper().
>>>word = 'python'
>>>new_word = word.upper()
>>>new_word
'PYTHON
19. find(obj)
It will display the lower index where the value is found otherwise return -1

>>>word = 'python'
>>>index = word.find('t')
>>>index
2

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3.7.6 The in Operator
The word in is a Boolean operator that takes two strings and returns True if the
first appears as a substring in the second:
>>> 't' in 'python'
True
>>> 'jan' in 'python'
False
For example, the following function prints all the letters from word1 that also
appear in word2:
defin_both(word1, word2):
for letter in word1:
if letter in word2:
print(letter)
With well-chosen variable names, Python sometimes reads like English. You
could read this loop, ―for (each) letter in (the first) word, if (the) letter (appears) in (the
second) word, print (the) letter.‖

Here‘s what you get if you compare 'django' and 'mongodb'

>>>in_both('django','mongodb')
d
n
g
o
3.7.7 String Comparison
The relational operators work on strings. To see if two strings are equal:
if word == 'python':
print('All right, python.')
Other relational operations are useful for putting words in alphabetical order:
if word < ' python ':
print('Your word, ' + word + ', comes before python.')
elif word > ' python ':
print('Your word, ' + word + ', comes after python.')
else:
print('All right, python.')
Python does not handle uppercase and lowercase letters the same way people
do. All the uppercase letters come before all the lowercase letters, so:
Your word, Python, comes before c language
A common way to address this problem is to convert strings to a standard
format, such as all lowercase, before performing the comparison.
3.8 LISTS AS ARRAYS
Most of programs work not only with variables. They also use lists of
variables. For example, a program can handle an information about students in a class by
reading the list of students from the keyboard or from a file. A change in the number of
students in the class must not require modification of the program source code.
To store such data, in Python you can use the data structure called list (in most
programming languages the different term is used — ―array‖).

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 Arrays are sequence types and behave very much like lists, except that the
type of objects stored in them is constrained. A list (array) is a set of objects. Individual
objects can be accessed using ordered indexes that represent the position of each object
within the list (array).

The list can be set manually by enumerating of the elements the list in square
brackets, like here:
Primes = [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13]
Rainbow = ['Red', 'Orange', 'Yellow', 'Green', 'Blue', 'Indigo', 'Violet']

The list Primes has 6 elements, namely: Primes[0] == 2, Primes[1] == 3,

Primes[2] == 5, Primes[3] == 7,Primes[4] == 11, Primes[5] == 13. The list Rainbow has 7
elements, each of which is the string.

Like the characters in the string, the list elements can also have negative
index, for example, Primes[-1] == 13,Primes[-6] == 2. The negative index means we start at
the last element and go left when reading a list.

You can obtain the number of elements in a list with the

function len (meaning length of the list), e.g.len(Primes) == 6.

Unlike strings, the elements of a list are changeable; they can be changed by
assigning them new values.

Consider several ways of creating and reading lists. First of all, you can create
an empty list (the list with no items, its length is 0), and you can add items to the end of your
list using append. For example, suppose the program receives the number of elements in the
list n, and then n elements of the list one by one each at the separate line. Here is an example
of input data in this format:
a = [] # start an empty list
n = int(input('Enter No of Elements')) # read number of element in the list
for i in range(n):
new_element = int(input('Enter Element :')) # read next element
a.append(new_element) # add it to the list
# the last two lines could be replaced by
one:
# a.append(int(input('Enter Element :')))
print(a)
Output will be
Enter No of Elements5
Enter Element :2
Enter Element :7
Enter Element :4
Enter Element :3
Enter Element :8
[2, 7, 4, 3, 8]
In the demonstrated example the empty list is created, then the number of
elements is read, then you read the list items line by line and append to the end. The same
thing can be done, saving the variable n:

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 Next method to creating and reading lists is, first, consider the size of the list
and create a list from the desired number of elements, then loop through the variable i starting
with number 0 and inside the loop read i-th element of the list:
a = [0] * int(input('Enter No of Elements :'))
for i in range(len(a)):
a[i] = int(input('Enter Element : '))
print (a)

Output will be
Enter No of Elements :3
Enter Element : 2
Enter Element : 4
Enter Element : 3
[2, 4, 3]

You can print elements of a list a with print(a); this displays the list items
surrounded by square brackets and separated by commands. In general, this is inconvenient;
in common, you are about to print all the elements in one line or one item per line. Here are
two examples of that, using other forms of loop:
a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
for i in range(len(a)):
print(a[i])

Here the index i is changed, then the element a[i] is displayed.

a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
for elem in a:
print(elem, end=' ')
In this example, the list items are displayed in one line separated by spaces,
and it's not the index that is changed but rather the value of the variable itself (for example, in
the loop for elem in ['red', 'green', 'blue'] variable elemwill take the values 'red', 'green', 'blue'
successively.

3.9 ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMS:

3.9.1 Square Roots
Loops are often used in programs that compute numerical results by starting
with an approximate answer and iteratively improving it. For example, one way of computing
square roots is Newton’s method. Suppose that you want to know the square root of a. If you
start with almost any estimate, x, you can compute a better estimate with the following
formula:

For example, if a is 4 and x is 3:

>>> a = 4
>>> x = 3
>>> y = (x + a/x) / 2
>>>y
2.16666666667

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 The result is closer to the correct answer (√4 = 2). If we repeat the process
with the new estimate, it gets even closer:
>>> x = y
>>> y = (x + a/x) / 2
>>>y
2.00641025641
After a few more updates, the estimate is almost exact:
>>> x = y
>>> y = (x + a/x) / 2
>>>y
2.00001024003
>>> x = y
>>> y = (x + a/x) / 2
>>>y
2.00000000003
In general we don‘t know ahead of time how many steps it takes to get to the right answer,
but we know when we get there because the estimate stops changing:
>>> x = y
>>> y = (x + a/x) / 2
>>>y
2.0
>>> x = y
>>> y = (x + a/x) / 2
>>>y
2.0
When y == x, we can stop. Here is a program that starts with an initial estimate, x= 0.5*a,
and improves it until it stops changing:
defsquare_root(a):
x=.5*a
while True:
print(x)
y = (x + a/x) / 2
if y == x:
break
x=y
print("Square Root of ", a , " is ", y)
square_root(25)

Output will be:

12.5
7.25
5.349137931034482
5.011394106532552
5.000012953048684
5.000000000016778
5.0
Square Root of 25 is 5.0
3.9.2 GCD

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3.9.2.1 Euclidean algorithm

This algorithm is based on the fact that GCD of two numbers divides their
difference as well. In this algorithm, we divide the greater by smaller and take the remainder.
Now, divide the smaller by this remainder. Repeat until the remainder is 0.

For example, if we want to find the GCD of 108 and 30, we divide 108 by 30.
The remainder is 18. Now, we divide 30 by 18 and the remainder is 12. Now, we divide 18
by 12 and the remainder is 6. Now, we divide 12 by 6 and the remainder is 0. Hence, 6 is the
required GCD.

defcomputeGCD(x, y):
while(y):F
x, y = y, x % y #can also be written as follows
return x #reminder=x%y
# x=y
#y=reminder
a=108
b=30
print('GCD of ',a ,' and ' , b, ' is ',computeGCD(a,b))

Output will be:

GCD of 108 and 30 is 6

Here we loop until y becomes zero. The statement x, y = y, x % y does

swapping of values in Python. In each iteration, we place the value of y in x and the
remainder (x % y) in y, simultaneously. When y becomes zero, we have GCD in x.

3.9.3 Exponentiation
Simplest way to find the exponentiation of a number xy in python is, the use of ** operator
>>> 4**3
64
Another way to find the exponentiation of a number x y in python is, the use of
pow() function that is available in math module. eg
>>> import math
>>>math.pow(4,3)
64.0
We can also write our own function to find the exponentiation of a number x y using looping
statement.
defmy_pow(x,y):
powered = x
if y == 0:
powered=1
else:
while y > 1:
powered *= x
y -= 1

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 return powered
a=4
b=3
print(a, ' Power ', b, ' is ', my_pow(a,b))
Output will be:
4 Power 3 is 64

3.9.4 Sum of a List (Array) of Numbers

Suppose that you want to calculate the sum of a list of numbers such as: [1,
3,5,7,9]. An iterative function that computes the sum is shown inIterative
Summationprogram.The function uses an accumulator variable (Sum) to compute a running
total of all the numbers in the list by starting with 00 and adding each number in the list.

Iterative Summation:
deflistsum(numList):
Sum = 0
for i in numList:
Sum = Sum + i
return Sum

my_list=[1,3,5,7,9]
print(listsum(my_list))
Output will be:
25
Pretend for a minute that you do not have while loops or for loops. How would
you compute the sum of a list of numbers? If you were a mathematician you might start by
recalling that addition is a function that is defined for two parameters, a pair of numbers. To
redefine the problem from adding a list to adding pairs of numbers, we could rewrite the list
as a fully parenthesized expression. Such an expression looks like this:
((((1+3)+5)+7)+9)
We can also parenthesize the expression the other way around,
(1+(3+(5+(7+9))))
Notice that the innermost set of parentheses, (7+9), is a problem that we can solve without a
loop or any special constructs. In fact, we can use the following sequence of simplifications
to compute a final sum.
total= (1+(3+(5+(7+9))))
total= (1+(3+(5+16)))
total= (1+(3+21))
total= (1+24)
total= 25
How can we take this idea and turn it into a Python program? First, let‘s
restate the sum problem in terms of Python lists. We might say the sum of the list numList is

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the sum of the first element of the list (numList[0]),and the sum of the numbers in the rest of
the list (numList[1:]).To state it in a functional form:
listSum(numList)=first(numList)+listSum(rest(numList))
I n this equation first(numList)) returns the first element of the list
and rest(numList) returns a list of everything but the first element. This is easily expressed in
Python as shown in Recursive Summation program.
Recursive Summation:
deflistsum(numList):
iflen(numList) == 1:
returnnumList[0]
else:
returnnumList[0] + listsum(numList[1:])
my_list=[1,3,5,7,9]
print(listsum(my_list))

Output will be:

25
There are a few key ideas in this listing to look at. First, on line 2we are
checking to see if the list is one element long. This check is crucial and is our escape (base
case) clause from the function. The sum of a list of length 1 is trivial; it is just the number in
the list. Second, on line 5 our function calls itself! This is the reason that we call
the listsum algorithm recursive. A recursive function is a function that calls itself.
Figure 3.9 shows the series of recursive calls that are needed to sum the
list [1,3,5,7,9]. You should think of this series of calls as a series of simplifications. Each
time we make a recursive call we are solving a smaller problem, until we reach the point
where the problem cannot get any smaller.

Figure 3.9Recursive Calls in List Sum

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 When we reach the point where the problem is as simple as it can get, we
begin to piece together the solutions of each of the small problems until the initial problem is
solved. Figure 3.10 shows the additions that are performed as listsum works its way
backward through the series of calls. When listsum returns from the topmost problem, we
have the solution to the whole problem.

Figure 3.10Recursive Return for List Sum

3.9.5 Linear Search

Given an array arr[] of n elements, write a function to search a given element x in arr[].
A simple approach is to do linear search, i.e
 Start from the leftmost element of arr[] and one by one compare x with each element
of arr[]
 If x matches with an element, return the index.
 If x doesn‘t match with any of elements, return -1.

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Example:

Figure 3.11Linear Search : Searching for 9 in 10 Element Array.

deflinear_search(arr, x):
for i in range(len(arr)):
ifarr[i] == x:
return i
return -1
data = []
n = int(input('Enter Number of Elements in the Array: '))
for i in range(0, n):
data.append(input('Enter the Element :'))
x = input('Enter the Element to be Search ')
found=linear_search(data,x)
if found!=-1:
print('Element ', x,' Found at Position ',found+1)
else:
print('Element ',x,' is Not Found in the Array ')
Output will be:
Enter Number of Elements in the Array: 5
Enter the Element : 2
Enter the Element : 7
Enter the Element : 4
Enter the Element : 9
Enter the Element : 1
Enter the Element to be Search 9
Element 9 Found at Position 4

The time complexity of above algorithm is O(n).

Linear search is rarely used practically because other search algorithms such
as the binary search algorithm and hash tables allow significantly faster searching comparison
to Linear search.

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3.9.6 Binary Search
Given a sorted array arr[] of n elements, write a function to search a given
element x in arr[].A simple approach is to do linear search.The time complexity of above
algorithm is O(n). Another approach to perform the same task is using Binary Search.
Binary Search: Search a sorted array by repeatedly dividing the search
interval in half. Begin with an interval covering the whole array. If the value of the search
key is less than the item in the middle of the interval, narrow the interval to the lower half.
Otherwise narrow it to the upper half. Repeatedly check until the value is found or the
interval is empty.
Example:

Figure 3.12Binary Search: Searching for 23 in 10 Element Array.

The idea of binary search is to use the information that the array is sorted and
reduce the time complexity to O(Logn).
We basically ignore half of the elements just after one comparison.
1. Compare x with the middle element.
2. If x matches with middle element, we return the mid index.
3. Else If x is greater than the mid element, then x can only lie in right half subarray after
the mid element. So we recur for right half.
4. Else (x is smaller) recur for the left half.
Recursive implementation of Binary Search
defbinarySearch (arr, left, right, x):
ifright>= left:
mid = left + (right - left)/2
ifarr[mid] == x:
return mid
elifarr[mid] > x:
returnbinarySearch(arr, left, mid-1, x)
else:
returnbinarySearch(arr, mid+1, right, x)
else:
return -1
data = []
n = int(input('Enter Number of Elements in the Array: '))
for i in range(0, n):
data.append(input('Enter the Element :'))

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x = input('Enter the Element to be Search ')
result = binarySearch(data, 0, len(data), x)
if result != -1:
print ("Element is present at index ", result+1)
else:
print ("Element is not present in array")
Output will be:
Enter Number of Elements in the Array: 5
Enter the Element :2
Enter the Element :7
Enter the Element :9
Enter the Element :11
Enter the Element :14
Enter the Element to be Search 11
Element is present at index 4
Iterative Implementation of Binary Search
defbinarySearch(arr, left, right, x):
whileleft<= right:
mid = left + (right - left)/2;
ifarr[mid] == x:
return mid
elifarr[mid] < x:
left= mid + left
else:
right= mid - left
return -1
data = []
n = int(input('Enter Number of Elements in the Array: '))
for i in range(0, n):
data.append(input('Enter the Element :'))
x = input('Enter the Element to be Search ')
result = binarySearch(data, 0, len(data), x)
if result != -1:
print ("Element is present at index ", result+1)
else:
print ("Element is not present in array")
Auxiliary Space: O(1) in case of iterative implementation. In case of recursive
implementation, O(Logn) recursion call stack space.

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 UNIT IV
LISTS, TUPLES, DICTIONARIES
In this Unit we will discuss about Python‘s built-in compound types like Lists,
Tuples, Dictionaries and their use.

4.1 LISTS
Like a string, a list is a sequence of values. In a string, the values are
characters; in a list, they can be any type. The values in a list are called elements or
sometimes items. There are several ways to create a new list; the simplest is to enclose the
elements in square brackets ([ and ]): It can have any number of items and they may be of
different types (integer, float, string etc.).

Syntax
[] # empty list
[1, 2, 3] # list of integers
['physics', 'chemistry',‘computer‘] # list of strings
[1, "Hello", 3.4] # list with mixed datatypes
Also, a list can even have another list as an item. This is called nested list.
my_list = ["mouse", [8, 4, 6], ['a']] # nested list
As you might expect, you can assign list values to variables:
>>>subject= ['physics', 'chemistry','computer']
>>>mark=[98,87,94]
>>>empty=[]
>>>print(Subject,mark,empty)
['physics', 'chemistry', 'computer'], [98, 87, 94], []

4.1.1 Lists are Mutable

The syntax for accessing the elements of a list is the same as for accessing the
characters of a string—the bracket operator. The expression inside the brackets specifies the
index. Remember that the indices start at 0:
>>>subject[0]
'physics'
Unlike strings, lists are mutable. When the bracket operator appears on the left
side of an assignment, it identifies the element of the list that will be assigned.
>>>mark=[98,87,94]
>>>mark[2]=100
>>>mark
[98, 87, 100]

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 0 'physics'
subject
1 'chemistry'

2 'computer'

mark 0 98

1 87

2 94

100

empty

Figure 4.1 State diagrams

Figure 4.1 shows the state diagram for the lists subject, mark, and empty. 2nd
element of mark,which used to be 94, is now 100

List indices work the same way as string indices:

 Any integer expression can be used as an index.
 If you try to read or write an element that does not exist, you get an IndexError.
 If an index has a negative value, it counts backward from the end of the list.
The in operator also works on lists.
>>>subject= ['physics', 'chemistry', 'computer']
>>> 'chemistry' in subject
True
>>> 'english' in subject
False
4.1.2 Traversing a List, List Loop
The most common way to traverse the elements of a list is with a for loop.
The Syntax is :
for VARIABLE in LIST:
STATEMENT(S) USING VARIABLE
Elementsin the List are stores in VARIABLE one by onefor each iteration.
WE can use the element stored in VARIABLE for further processing inside the loop body
Example:
>>>for s in subject:
print(s)

physics
chemistry
computer

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 This works well if you only need to read the elements of the list. But if you
want to write or update the elements, you need the indices. A common way to do that is to
combine the built-in functions range and len:
The Syntax is :
forITERATION_VARIABLE in range(len(LIST_NAME)):
STATEMENT(S) Using LIST_NAME[ITERATION_VARIABLE]
ITERATION_VARIABLE holds value from 0 to length of LIST_NAME one by one.
Using that ITERATION_VARIABLEwe can access individual element of LIST_NAME for
reading and writing
>>>for i in range(len(mark)):
mark[i] = mark[i] * 2
>>>mark
[196, 174, 200]
This loop traverses the list and updates each element. len returns the number
of elements in the list. range returns a list of indices from 0 to n-1, where n is the length of
the list. Each time through the loop i gets the index of the next element. The assignment
statement in the body uses i to read the old value of the element and to assign the new value.
A for loop over an empty list never runs the body:
for x in []:
print('This never happens.')
Although a list can contain another list, the nested list still counts as a single
element. Thelength of the following list is 3:
>>>my_list = ["mouse", [8, 4, 6], ['a']]
>>>len(my_list)
3
4.1.3 List Operations
The + operator concatenates lists:
>>>first=[100,200,300]
>>>second=[55,65]
>>>third=first+second
>>>third
[100, 200, 300, 55, 65]
The * operator repeats a list a given number of times:
>>> [5]*3
[5, 5, 5]
>>> [55,65]*3
[55, 65, 55, 65, 55, 65]
4.1.4 List Slices
The slice operator also works on lists:
>>> w=['w','e','l','c','o','m','e']
>>>w[2:5]
['l', 'c', 'o']
>>>w[:3 ]

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['w', 'e', 'l']
>>>w[5:]
['m', 'e']
>>>w[:]
['w', 'e', 'l', 'c', 'o', 'm', 'e']
If you omit the first index, the slice starts at the beginning. If you omit the
second, the slice goes to the end. So if you omit both, the slice is a copy of the whole list.
4.1.5 List Methods
Python includes following list methods. Python provides methods that operate on
lists. For example:
1. list.append(obj)
Appends object obj to list
>>> t = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>>t.append('d')
>>> t
['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
2. list.count(obj)
Returns count of how many times obj occurs in list
>>>aList = [123, 'xyz', 'zara', 'abc', 123]
>>>aList.count(123)
2
>>>aList.count('xyz')
1
3. list.extend(seq)

Appends the contents of seq to list

>>> t1 = ['a', 'b', 'c']

>>> t2 = ['d', 'e']

>>> t1.extend(t2)

>>> t1

['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']

This example leaves t2 unmodified.

4. list.index(obj)

Returns the lowest index in list that obj appears

>>>aList = [123, 'xyz', 'zara', 'abc', 123]

>>>aList.index(123)

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>>>aList.index('xyz')

1
5. list.insert(index, obj)

Inserts object obj into list at offset index

>>>aList.insert( 3, 2009)

>>>aList

[123, 'xyz', 'zara', 2009, 'abc', 123]

6. list.pop(obj=list[-1])

Removes and returns last object or obj from list

>>>aList = [123, 'xyz', 'zara', 'abc']

>>>aList.pop()

'abc'

>>>aList.pop(2)

'zara'

>>>aList

[123, 'xyz']
7. list.remove(obj)

Removes object obj from list

>>>aList = [123, 'xyz', 'zara', 'abc']

>>>aList.remove('xyz')

>>>aList

[123, 'zara', 'abc']

8. list.reverse()

Reverses objects of list in place

>>>aList = [123, 'xyz', 'zara', 'abc', 'xyz']

>>>aList.reverse()

>>>aList

['xyz', 'abc', 'zara', 'xyz', 123]

9. list.sort([func])

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Sorts objects of list, use compare func if given

>>> t = ['d', 'c', 'e', 'b', 'a']

>>>t.sort()

>>> t

['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']

10. list.pop(obj)
pop modifies the list and returns the element that was removed.
>>> t = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>> x = t.pop(1)
>>>t
['a', 'c']
>>>x
'b'
11. list.remove(obj)

If you know the element you want to remove (but not the index), you can use remove:
>>> t = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>>t.remove('b')
>>>t
['a', 'c']
12. list.append(obj)
The append method add the object at the end of a list.
>>> t1 = [10, 20]
>>> t2 = t1.append(30)
>>> t1
[10, 20, 30]
>>> t2
None

4.1.6 Deleting Elements

There are several ways to delete elements from a list. If you know the index of
the element you want to delete, you can use pop:
>>> t = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>> x = t.pop(1)
>>>t
['a', 'c']
>>>x
'b'
pop modifies the list and returns the element that was removed. If you don‘t
provide an index, it deletes and returns the last element. If you don‘t need the removed value,
you can use the del operator:

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>>> t = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>>del t[1]
>>>t
['a', 'c']
If you know the element you want to remove (but not the index), you can use remove:
>>> t = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>>t.remove('b')
>>>t
['a', 'c']
The return value from remove is None. To remove more than one element, you can use del
with a slice index:
>>> t = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f']
>>>del t[1:5]
>>>t
['a', 'f']
As usual, the slice selects all the elements up to but not including the second index.
4.1.7 Aliasing
If one is a refers to an object and you assign two = one, then both variables
refer to the same object:
>>>one = [10, 20, 30]
>>>two = one
>>>two is one
True
The state diagram looks likeFigure 4.2

one 0 10

1 20

two 2 30

Figure 4.2State diagrams

>>>two[1]=40
>>>one
[10, 40, 30]
Although this behavior can be useful, it is error-prone. In general, it is safer to
avoid aliasing when you are working with mutable objects.

4.1.8 Cloning Lists

If we want to modify a list and also keep a copy of the original, we need to be
able to make a copy of the list itself, not just the reference. This process is sometimes
called cloning, to avoid the ambiguity of the word copy.

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 The easiest way to clone a list is to use the slice operator. Taking any slice
of a creates a new list. In this case the slice happens to consist of the whole list.
Example.
a = [81, 82, 83]
b = a[:] # make a clone using slice
print(a == b)
print(a is b)
b[0] = 5
print(a)
print(b)
Output will be
True
False
[81, 82, 83]
[5, 82, 83]
Now we are free to make changes to b without worrying about a. Again, we can clearly see
that a and b are entirely different list objects.

But the problem is if the list is a nested one this method won‘t work.

Example
a = [81, 82, [83,84]]
b = a[:] # make a clone using slice
print(a == b)
print(a is b)
b[2][0] = 5
print(a)
print(b)
Output will be:
True
False
[81, 82, [5, 84]]
[81, 82, [5, 84]]
Change in list b affect list a. In order to overcome this issue python provide a module called
copy. This module provides generic shallow and deep copy operations.

4.1.8.1 Copy Module

Interface summary:

copy.copy(x)
Return a shallow copy of x.
copy.deepcopy(x)
Return a deep copy of x.

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The difference between shallow and deep copying is only relevant for compound objects
(objects that contain other objects, like lists or class instances):

 A shallow copy constructs a new compound object and then (to the extent possible)
inserts references into it to the objects found in the original.
 A deep copy constructs a new compound object and then, recursively,
inserts copies into it of the objects found in the original.

Shallow copy Example:

import copy
a = [81, 82, [83,84]]
b = copy.copy(a) # make a clone using shallow copy()
print(a == b)
print(a is b)
b[1]=10
b[2][0] = 5
print(a)
print(b)
Output will be:
True
False
[81, 82, [5, 84]]
[81, 10, [5, 84]]

Deep copy Example:

import copy
a = [81, 82, [83,84]]
b = copy.deepcopy(a) # make a clone using deepcopy()
print(a == b)
print(a is b)
b[1]=10
b[2][0] = 5
print(a)
print(b)
Output will be:
True
False
[81, 82, [83, 84]]
[81, 10, [5, 84]]
We can notice the difference between shallow copy and deep copy from the
above examples. In shallow copy method change made in nested list b affect list a also it is
same as copying using slice operator. But in deep copy method changes made in nested list b
does not affect list a.

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4.1.9 List Parameters

When you pass a list to a function, the function gets a reference to the list. If
the function modifies the list, the caller sees the change. For example, delete_head removes
the first element from a list:
defdelete_head(t):
del t[0]
Here‘s how it is used:
>>>letters = ['x', 'y', 'z']
>>>delete_head(letters)
>>>letters
['y', 'z']
The parameter t and the variable letters are aliases for the same object. It is
important to distinguish between operations that modify lists and operations that create new
lists. For example, the append method modifies a list, but the + operator creates a new list.
Here‘s an example using append:
>>> t1 = [10, 20]
>>> t2 = t1.append(30)
>>> t1
[10, 20, 30]
>>> t2
None
The return value from append is None.
Here‘s an example using the + operator:
>>> t3 = t1 + [40]
>>> t1
[10, 20, 30]
>>> t3
[10, 20, 30, 40]
The result of the operator is a new list, and the original list is unchanged. This
difference is important when you write functions that are supposed to modify lists. For
example, this function does not delete the head of a list:
defbad_delete_head(t):
t = t[1:] # WRONG!
The slice operator creates a new list and the assignment makes t refer to it, but
that doesn‘taffect the caller.
>>> t4 = [10, 20, 30]
>>>bad_delete_head(t4)
>>> t4
[10, 20, 30]
At the beginning of bad_delete_head, t and t4 refer to the same list. At the end,
t refers to a new list, but t4 still refers to the original, unmodified list.An alternative is to
write a function that creates and returns a new list. For example, tail returns all except first
element of a list:
def tail(t):

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 return t[1:]
This function leaves the original list unmodified. Here‘s how it is used:
>>>letters = ['x', 'y', 'z']
>>>rest = tail(letters)
>>>rest
['y', 'z']

4.2 TUPLES
A tuple is a sequence of immutable Python objects. Tuples are sequences, just
like lists. The differences between tuples and lists are, the tuples cannot be changed unlike
lists and tuples use parentheses, whereas lists use square brackets.
4.2.1 Creating Tuples
Similar to List, Tuple is a sequence of values. The values can be any type, and
they are indexed by integers. The important difference is that tuples are immutable.
Syntactically, a tuple is a comma-separated list of values:
>>>message= 'h','a','i'
>>>type(message)
<type 'tuple'>
Although it is not necessary, it is common to enclose tuples in parentheses:
>>>message= ('h','a','i')
>>>type(message)
<type 'tuple'>
To create a tuple with a single element, you have to include a final comma:
>>> t1 = 'a',
>>>type(t1)
<class 'tuple'>
A value in parentheses is not a tuple:
>>> t2 = ('a')
>>>type(t2)
<class 'str'>
Another way to create a tuple is the built-in function tuple. With no argument, it creates
an empty tuple:
>>> t = tuple()
>>>t
()
If the argument is a sequence (string, list or tuple), the result is a tuple with the elements of
the sequence:
>>>course=tuple('python')
>>>course
('p', 'y', 't', 'h', 'o', 'n')
Because tuple is the name of a built-in function, you should avoid using it as a variable
name.Most list operators also work on tuples. The square bracket operator indexes an
element:
>>>course = ('p', 'y', 't', 'h', 'o', 'n')
>>>cource[0]

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'p'
And the slice operator selects a range of elements.
>>>course[3:5]
('h', 'o')
But if you try to modify one of the elements of the tuple, you get an error:
>>>course[0]='P'
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment
Because tuples are immutable, you can‘t modify the elements. But you can replace one tuple
with another:
>>>course=('P',)+course[1:]
>>>course
('P', 'y', 't', 'h', 'o', 'n')
This statement makes a new tuple and then makes course refer to it.The relational operators
work with tuples and other sequences; Python starts by comparing the first element from each
sequence. If they are equal, it goes on to the next elements, and so on, until it finds elements
that differ. Subsequent elements are not considered, even if they are really big.
>>> (0, 1, 2) < (0, 3, 4)
True
>>> (0, 1, 2000000) < (0, 3, 4)
True

4.2.2 Tuple Assignment

It is often useful to swap the values of two variables. With conventional

assignments, youhave to use a temporary variable. For example, to swap a and b:
>>>temp = a
>>> a = b
>>> b = temp
This solution is cumbersome; tuple assignment is more elegant:
>>>a, b = b, a
The left side is a tuple of variables; the right side is a tuple of expressions.
Each value is assigned to its respective variable. All the expressions on the right side are
evaluated before any of the assignments. The number of variables on the left and the number
of values on the right have to be thesame:
>>>a, b = 1, 2, 3
ValueError: too many values to unpack
More generally, the right side can be any kind of sequence (string, list or
tuple). For example, to split an email address into a user name and a domain, you could write:
>>>email='[email protected]'
>>>username,domain=email.split('@')
The return value from split is a list with two elements; the first element is
assigned to username, the second to domain.
>>>username
'hodcse'
>>>domain
'stjosephs.ac.in'

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4.2.3 Tuples as return Values
Strictly speaking, a function can only return one value, but if the value is a
tuple, the effect is the same as returning multiple values. For example, if you want to divide
two integers and compute the quotient and remainder, it is inefficient to compute x/y and then
x%y. It is better to compute them both at the same time.
The built-in function divmod takes two arguments and returns a tuple of two
values, the quotient and remainder. You can store the result as a tuple:
>>> t = divmod(7, 3)
>>>t
(2, 1)
Or use tuple assignment to store the elements separately:
>>>quot, rem = divmod(7, 3)
Here is an example of a function that returns a tuple:
defmin_max(t):
return min(t), max(t)
max and min are built-in functions that find the largest and smallest elements
of a sequence.min_max computes both and returns a tuple of two values.
>>>quot
2
>>>rem
1

4.2.4 Variable-Length Argument Tuples

Functions can take a variable number of arguments. A parameter name that

begins with * gathers arguments into a tuple. For example, displayall takes any number of
arguments and prints them:

>>>defdisplayall(*args):
print(args)
The gather parameter can have any name you like, but args is conventional.
Here‘s how the function works:
>>>displayall('python',355.50,3)
('python', 355.5, 3)

The complement of gather is scatter. If you have a sequence of values and

you want to pass it to a function as multiple arguments, you can use the * operator. For
example, divmod takes exactly two arguments; it doesn‘t work with a tuple:
>>> t = (7, 3)
>>>divmod(t)
TypeError: divmod expected 2 arguments, got 1
But if you scatter the tuple, it works:
>>>divmod(*t)
(2, 1)
Many of the built-in functions use variable-length argument tuples. For
example, max and min can take any number of arguments:
>>>max(55,72,38)

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72
But sum does not.
>>>sum(1, 2, 3)
TypeError: sum expected at most 2 arguments, got 3

4.2.5 Lists and Tuples

zip is a built-in function that takes two or more sequences and returns a list of
tuples where each tuple contains one element from each sequence. The name of the function
refers to a zipper, which joins and interleaves two rows of teeth.
This example zips a string and a list:
>>> s='hai'
>>> t=[0,1,2]
>>>zip(s,t)
[('h', 0), ('a', 1), ('i', 2)]
The result is a zip object that knows how to iterate through the pairs. The
most common use of zip is in a for loop:
>>>for pair in zip(s, t):
print(pair)

('h', 0)
('a', 1)
('i', 2)
A zip object is a kind of iterator, which is any object that iterates through a
sequence. Iterators are similar to lists in some ways, but unlike lists, you can‘t use an index to
select an element from an iterator.
If you want to use list operators and methods, you can use a zip object to make a list:
>>>list(zip(s, t))
[('h', 0), ('a', 1), ('i', 2)]
The result is a list of tuples; in this example, each tuple contains a character
from the string and the corresponding element from the list.
If the sequences are not the same length, the result has the length of the shorter one.
>>>list(zip('Vinu', 'Ranjith'))
[('V', 'R'), ('i', 'a'), ('n', 'n'), ('u', 'j')]
You can use tuple assignment in a for loop to traverse a list of tuples:
>>> t=[('h',0),('a',1),('i',2)]
>>>forletter,number in t:
print(number,letter)

(0, 'h')
(1, 'a')
(2, 'i')
Each time through the loop, Python selects the next tuple in the list and
assigns the elements to letter and number.

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 If you combine zip, for and tuple assignment, you get a useful idiom for
traversing two (or more) sequences at the same time. For example, has_match takes two
sequences, t1 and t2, and returns True if there is an index i such that t1[i] == t2[i]:
defhas_match(t1, t2):
for x, y in zip(t1, t2):
if x == y:
return True
return False
If you need to traverse the elements of a sequence and their indices, you can
use the built-in function enumerate:
>>>for index, element in enumerate('hai'):
print(index, element)
(0, 'h')
(1, 'a')
(2, 'i')
The result from enumerate is an enumerate object, which iterates a sequence
of pairs; each pair contains an index (starting from 0) and an element from the given
sequence.
4.2.6 Tuple Methods
1. t.index(value)
Return the index of the value
>>> t=(1,9)

>>> t.index(9)
1
2. t.count(value)
Return the total number of occurrences of value
>>> t=(1,9)

>>> t.count(9)
1
3. sorted( )
This function sorts the elements of the tuple and returns the sorted element in the form of list.
>>> a=(2,4,1)

>>> sorted(a)
[1, 2, 4]
4. len( )
Return the length of the tuple
>>> t=(1,9)

>>> len(t)
2
5. max( )
Return the maximum element of the tuple.
>>> t=(1,9)

>>> max(t)

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9
6. min( )
Return the minimum element of the tuple
>>> t=(1,9)

>>> min(t)
1
7. sum( )
Return the sum of elements in the tuple.
>>>a=[1, 2, 4]

>>> sum(a)
7
8. del()
Delete the entire tuple
>>> del t

>>> d

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#22>", line 1, in <module>

NameError: name 'd' is not defined

4.3 DICTIONARIES
Dictionaries are one of Python‘s best features; they are the building blocks of
many efficient and elegant algorithms.
4.3.1 A Dictionary is a Mapping
A dictionary is like a list, but more general. In a list, the indices have to be
integers; in a dictionary they can be (almost) any type.
A dictionary contains a collection of indices, which are called keys, and a
collection of values. Each key is associated with a single value. The association of a key and
a value is called a key-value pair or sometimes an item.

In mathematical language, a dictionary represents a mapping from keys to

values, so you can also say that each key ―maps to‖ a value. As an example, we‘ll build a
dictionary that maps from English to Tamil words, so the keys and the values are all strings.
The function dict creates a new dictionary with no items. Because dict is the
name of a built-in function, you should avoid using it as a variable name.
4.3.2 Creates Dictionary
>>>eng_tam=dict()
>>>eng_tam
{}
The squiggly-brackets, {}, represent an empty dictionary. To add items to the
dictionary, you can use square brackets:

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>>>eng_tam['two']='irantu'
This line creates an item that maps from the key 'two' to the value 'irantu'. If
we print the dictionary again, we see a key-value pair with a colon between the key and
value:
>>>eng_tam
{'two': 'irantu'}
This output format is also an input format. For example, you can create a new
dictionary with three items:
>>>eng_tam={'two':'irantu','three':'munru','four':'nanku'}
But if you print eng_tam, you might be surprised:
>>>eng_tam
{'four': 'nanku', 'two': 'irantu', 'three': 'munru'}
The order of the key-value pairs might not be the same. If you type the same
example on your computer, you might get a different result. In general, the order of items in a
dictionary is unpredictable.
But that‘s not a problem because the elements of a dictionary are never
indexed with integer indices. Instead, you use the keys to look up the corresponding values:
>>>eng_tam['two']
'irantu'
The key 'two' always maps to the value ' irantu ' so the order of the items
doesn‘t matter. If the key isn‘t in the dictionary, you get an exception:
>>>eng_tam['five']
KeyError: 'five'
The len function works on dictionaries; it returns the number of key-value pairs:
>>>len(eng_tam)
3
The in operator works on dictionaries, too; it tells you whether something
appears as a key in the dictionary (appearing as a value is not good enough).
>>> 'two'ineng_tam
True
>>> 'irantu' in eng_tam
False
To see whether something appears as a value in a dictionary, you can use the
method values, which returns a collection of values, and then use the in operator:
>>> meaning = eng_tam.values()
>>> 'irantu' in meaning
True

The in operator uses different algorithms for lists and dictionaries. For lists, it
searches theelements of the list in order. As the list gets longer, the search time gets longer in
direct proportion.For dictionaries, Python uses an algorithm called a hashtable that has a
remarkable property: the in operator takes about the same amount of time no matter how
many items are in the dictionary.

4.3.3 Dictionary as a Collection of Counters

Suppose you are given a string and you want to count how many times each
letter appears.

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There are several ways you could do it:
1. You could create 26 variables, one for each letter of the alphabet. Then you could
traverse the string and, for each character, increment the corresponding counter,
probably using a chained conditional.
2. You could create a list with 26 elements. Then you could convert each character to a
number (using the built-in function ord), use the number as an index into the list, and
increment the appropriate counter.
3. You could create a dictionary with characters as keys and counters as the
corresponding values. The first time you see a character, you would add an item to the
dictionary. After that you would increment the value of an existing item.
Each of these options performs the same computation, but each of them implements that
computation in a different way.
An implementation is a way of performing a computation; some
implementations are better than others. For example, an advantage of the dictionary
implementation is that we don‘t have to know ahead of time which letters appear in the string
and we only have to make room for the letters that do appear.
Here is what the code might look like:

def histogram(s):
d = dict()
for c in s:
if c not in d:
d[c] = 1
else:
d[c] += 1
return d

The name of the function is histogram, which is a statistical term for a

collection of counters (or frequencies).The first line of the function creates an empty
dictionary. The for loop traverses the string. Each time through the loop, if the character c is
not in the dictionary, we create a new item with key c and the initial value 1 (since we have
seen this letter once). If c is already in the dictionary we increment d[c].
Here‘s how it works:

>>> h=histogram('python programmimg')

>>>h
{'a': 1, ' ': 1, 'g': 2, 'i': 1, 'h': 1, 'm': 3, 'o': 2, 'n': 1, 'p': 2, 'r': 2, 't': 1, 'y': 1}
The histogram indicates that the letters 'a ' and ' ' appear once; 'g' appears
twice, and so on.Dictionaries have a method called get that takes a key and a default value. If
the key appears in the dictionary, get returns the corresponding value; otherwise it returns the
default value. For example:
>>> h = histogram('a')
>>>h
{'a': 1}
>>>h.get('a', 0)
1
>>>h.get('b', 0)
0
>>>
4.3.4 Looping and Dictionaries

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 If you use a dictionary in a for statement, it traverses the keys of the
dictionary. For example,print_hist prints each key and the corresponding value:
defprint_hist(h):
for c in h:
print(c, h[c])
Here‘s what the output looks like:
>>> h = histogram('programming')
>>>print_hist(h)
('a', 1)
('g', 2)
('i', 1)
('m', 2)
('o', 1)
('n', 1)
('p', 1)
('r', 2)
Again, the keys are in no particular order. To traverse the keys in sorted order,
you can use the built-in function sorted:
>>>for key in sorted(h):
print(key, h[key])

('a', 1)
('g', 2)
('i', 1)
('m', 2)
('n', 1)
('o', 1)
('p', 1)
('r', 2)

4.3.5 Reverse Lookup

Given a dictionary d and a key k, it is easy to find the corresponding value v =
d[k]. This operation is called a lookup.
But what if you have v and you want to find k? You have two problems: first,
there might be more than one key that maps to the value v. Depending on the application, you
might be able to pick one, or you might have to make a list that contains all of them. Second,
there is no simple syntax to do a reverse lookup; you have to search.
Here is a function that takes a value and returns the first key that maps to that
value:

defreverse_lookup(d, v):
for k in d:
if d[k] == v:
return k
raiseLookupError()

This function is yet another example of the search pattern, but it uses a feature
we haven‘t seen before, raise. The raise statement causes an exception; in this case it
causes a LookupError, which is a built-in exception used to indicate that a lookup operation
failed.

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 If we get to the end of the loop, that means v doesn‘t appear in the dictionary
as a value, so we raise an exception.
Here is an example of a successful reverse lookup:
>>> h = histogram('programming')
>>>key = reverse_lookup(h, 2)
>>>key
'g'
And an unsuccessful one:
>>>key = reverse_lookup(h, 3)

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#38>", line 1, in <module>
key = reverse_lookup(h, 3)
File "G:\class\python\code\dictionary.py", line 22, in reverse_lookup
raiseLookupError()
LookupError

The effect when you raise an exception is the same as when Python raises one:
it prints atraceback and an error message. The raise statement can take a detailed error
message as an optional argument. For example:
>>> raise LookupError('value does not appear in the dictionary')
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
LookupError: value does not appear in the dictionary
A reverse lookup is much slower than a forward lookup; if you have to do it
often, or if the dictionary gets big, the performance of your program will suffer.

4.3.6 Dictionaries and Lists

Lists can appear as values in a dictionary. For example, if you are given a
dictionary that maps from letters to frequencies, you might want to invert it; that is, create a
dictionary that maps from frequencies to letters. Since there might be several letters with the
same frequency, each value in the inverted dictionary should be a list of letters. Here is a
function that inverts a dictionary:

definvert_dict(d):
inverse = dict()
for key in d:
val = d[key]
ifval not in inverse:
inverse[val] = [key]
else:
inverse[val].append(key)
return inverse

Each time through the loop, key gets a key from d and val gets the
corresponding value. If val is not in inverse, that means we haven‘t seen it before, so we
create a new item and initialize it with a singleton (a list that contains a single element).
Otherwise we have seen this value before, so we append the corresponding key to the list.
Here is an example:

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>>>hist = histogram('programming')
>>>hist
{'a': 1, 'g': 2, 'i': 1, 'm': 2, 'o': 1, 'n': 1, 'p': 1, 'r': 2}
>>>inverse = invert_dict(hist)
>>>inverse
{1: ['a', 'i', 'o', 'n', 'p'], 2: ['g', 'm', 'r']}
Lists can be values in a dictionary, as this example shows, but they cannot be
keys. Here‘swhat happens if you try:
>>> t = [1, 2, 3]
>>> d = dict()
>>>d[t] = 'oops'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
TypeError: list objects are unhashable

4.3.7 Dictionary methods

1. d.copy( )
Make a shallow copy of dictionary
>>>d1={1:'A',2:'p',3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}
>>> d1.copy()
{1: 'A', 2: 'p', 3: 'p', 4: 'l', 5: 'e'}
2. d.get(key)
Return the value of key if it is present otherwise it won‘t return anything
>>>d1={1:'A',2:'p',3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}
>>> d1.get(2)
'p'
3. d.has_key(key)
Return True if dictionary has key k, 0 otherwise
>>>d1={1:'A',2:'p',3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}
>>> d1.has_key(2)
True
4. d.items()
Return a list of (key, value) pairs
>>>d1={1:'A',2:'p',3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}
>>> d1.items()
[(1, 'A'), (2, 'p'), (3, 'p'), (4, 'l'), (5, 'e')]
5. d.keys()
Return a list of keys in dictionary
>>>d1={1:'A',2:'p',3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}
>>> d1.keys()
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
6. d1.update(d2)
It update the value of d2 to d1
>>>d1={1:'A',2:'p',3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}

>>> d2={'a':'How','b':'are','c':'you'}

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>>> d1.update(d2)

>>> d1
{'a': 'How', 1: 'A', 2: 'p', 3: 'p', 4: 'l', 5: 'e', 'c': 'you', 'b': 'are'}
7. d.values()
Return a list of values in dictionary d
>>>d1={1:'A',2:'p',3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}

>>> d1.values()
['How', 'A', 'p', 'p', 'l', 'e', 'you', 'are']
8. popitem( )
Remove a random key-value from the dictionary.
>>> d={1: 'a', 3: 'p', 4: 'l', 5: 'e'}

>>> d.popitem()

(1, 'a')

9. pop( )
Remove the key-value pair from the dictionary and return the removed value.

>>>d={1:'a',2:'p', 3:'p',4:'l',5:'e'}

>>>d.pop(2)

'p'

10. d.clear()
Remove all items from dictionary d

>>> d1.clear()

>>> d1

{}

4.3.8 Advanced List Processing - List Comprehension

Python supports a concept called "list comprehensions". It can be used to

construct lists in a very natural, easy way, like a mathematician is used to do.Following
function takes a list of strings, maps the string method capitalize to the elements, and returns
a new list of strings:
defcapitalize_all(t):
res = []
for s in t:
res.append(s.capitalize())
return res
We can write this more concisely using a list comprehension:
defcapitalize_all(t):
return [s.capitalize() for s in t]

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 The bracket operators indicate that we are constructing a new list. The
expression inside the brackets specifies the elements of the list, and the for clause indicates
what sequence we are traversing.
The syntax of a list comprehension is a little awkward because the loop
variable, s in this example, appears in the expression before we get to the definition.
List comprehensions can also be used for filtering. For example, this function
selects only the elements of t that are upper case, and returns a new list:
defonly_upper(t):
res = []
for s in t:
ifs.isupper():
res.append(s)
return res
We can rewrite it using a list comprehension
defonly_upper(t):
return [s for s in t if s.isupper()]
List comprehensions are concise and easy to read, at least for simple
expressions. And they are usually faster than the equivalent for loops, sometimes much
faster.

4.4 ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMS

4.4.1 Sorting
It is an operation in which all the elements of a list are arranged in a
predetermined order. The elements can be arranged in a sequence from smallest to largest
such that every element is less than or equal to its next neighbour in the list. Such an
arrangement is called ascending order. Assuming an array or List containing N elements, the
ascending order can be defined by the following relation:

List[i] <= List [i+1], 0 < i < N-1

Similarly in descending order, the elements are arranged in a sequence from

largest to smallest such that every element is greater than or equal to its next neighbor in the
list. The descending order can be defined by the following relation:

List[i] >= List [i+1], 0 < i <N-1

It has been estimated that in a data processing environment, 25 per cent of the
time is consumed in sorting of data. Many sorting algorithms have been developed. Some of
the most popular sorting algorithms that can be applied to arrays are in-place sort algorithm.
An in-place algorithm is generally a comparison- based algorithm that stores the sorted
elements of the list in the same array as occupied by the original one. A detailed discussion
on sorting algorithms is given in subsequent sections.

4.4.2 Selection Sort

It is a very simple and natural way of sorting a list. It finds the smallest
element in the list and exchanges it with the element present at the head of the list as shows
inFigure 4.3

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 Figure 4.3Selection sort (first pass)
It may be note from Figure 4.3that initially, whole of the list was unsorted.
After the exchange of the smallest with the element on the list, the list is divided into two
parts: sorted and unsorted.

Now the smallest is searched in the unsorted part of the list, i.e., ‗2‘ and
exchange with the element at the head of unsorted part, i.e., ‗20‘ as shown in Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.4Selection sort (second pass)

This process of selection and exchange (i.e., a pass) continues in this fashion
until all the elements in the list are sorted (see Figure 4.5.). Thus, in selection sort, two steps
are important – selection and exchange.
From Figure 4.4and Figure 4.5, it may be observed that it is a case of nested
loops. The outer loop is required for passes over the list and inner loop for searching smallest
element within the unsorted part of the list. In fact, for N number of elements, N-1 passes are
made.

An algorithm for selection sort is given below. In this algorithm, the elements
of a list stored in an array called LIST[] are sorted in ascending order. Two variables called
Small and Pos are used to locate the smallest element in the unsorted part of the list. Temp is
the variable used to interchange the selected element with the first element of the unsorted
part of the list.

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Algorithm SelectionSort()

1. For I= 1 to N-1 #Outer Loop

1.1 small = List[I]

1.2 Pos = I
1.3 For J=I+1 to N # Inner Loop
1.3.1 if (List[J] < small)
1.3.1.1 small = List[J]
1.3.1.2 Pos = J #Note the position of the smallest

1.4 Temp= List[I] #Exchange Smallest with the

Head
1.5 List[I] = List [Pos]
1.6 List [Pos] = Temp

2. Print the sorted list

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 Figure 4.5Selection sort
Program to sort a List in ascending order using Selection Sort

data = []
print('Selection Sort :')
n = int(raw_input('Enter Number of Elements in the Array: '))
for i in range(0, n):
x = raw_input('Enter the Element %d :' %(i+1))
data.append(x)
print('Original Array :')
print(data)
print('Intermediate Steps :')
for i in range(0,n-1):
small=int(data[i])
pos=i

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for j in range(i+1,n):
ifint(data[j])<small:
small=int(data[j])
pos=j
temp=data[i]
data[i]=data[pos]
data[pos]=temp
print(data)
print('Sorted Array :')
print(data)

Output
Selection Sort :
Enter Number of Elements in the Array: 5
Enter the Element 1 :4
Enter the Element 2 :3
Enter the Element 3 :6
Enter the Element 4 :8
Enter the Element 5 :1
Original Array :
['4', '3', '6', '8', '1']
Intermediate Steps :
['1', '3', '6', '8', '4']
['1', '3', '6', '8', '4']
['1', '3', '4', '8', '6']
['1', '3', '4', '6', '8']
Sorted Array :
['1', '3', '4', '6', '8']

4.4.3 Insertion Sort

This algorithm mimics the process of arranging a pack of playing cards; the
first two cards are put in correct relative order. The third is inserted at correct place relative to
the first two. The fourth card is inserted at the correct place relative to the first three, and so
on.

Given a list of numbers, it divides the list into two part – sorted part and
unsorted part. The first element becomes the sorted part and the rest of the list becomes the
unsorted part as Shown in Figure 4.6. It picks up one element from the front of the unsorted
part as shown in Figure 4.6. It picks up one element from the front of the unsorted part and
inserts it in proper position in the sorted part of the list. The insertion action is repeated till
the unsorted part is exhausted.

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 Figure 4.6 Insertion sort

It may be noted that the insertion operation requires following steps:

Step

1. Scan the sorted part to find the place where the element, from unsorted part, can
be inserted. While scanning, shift the elements towards right to create space.
2. Insert the element, from unsorted part, into the created space.

This algorithm for the insertion sort is given below. In this algorithm, the elements of
a list stored in an array called List[] are sorted in an ascending order. The algorithm uses two
loops – the outer For loop and inner while loop. The inner while loop shifts the elements of
the sorted part by one step to right so that proper place for incoming element is created. The
outer For loop inserts the element from unsorted part into the created place and moves to next
element of the unsorted part.

Algorithm insertSort()

1. For I = 2 to N #The first element becomes the sorted part

1.1 Temp = List[I] #Save the element from unsorted part into temp
1.2 J = I-1
1.3 While(Temp < = List[J] AND J >=0)

1.3.1 List[J+I] = List[J] #Shift elements towards right

1.3.2 J = J-I

1.4 List [J+I] = Temp

2. Print the list

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 3. Stop

Program to sort a List in ascending order using Selection Sort

data = []
print('Insertion Sort :')
n = int(raw_input('Enter Number of Elements in the Array: '))
for i in range(0, n):
x = raw_input('Enter the Element %d :' %(i+1))
data.append(x)
print('Original Array :')
print(data)
print('Intermediate Steps :')
for i in range(1,n):
temp=int(data[i])
j=i-1
while temp<int(data[j]) and j>=0:
data[j+1]=data[j]
j=j-1
data[j+1]=temp
print(data)
print('Sorted Array is:')
print(data)

Output

Insertion Sort :
Enter Number of Elements in the Array: 5
Enter the Element 1 :3
Enter the Element 2 :5
Enter the Element 3 :2
Enter the Element 4 :8
Enter the Element 5 :1
Original Array :
['3', '5', '2', '8', '1']
Intermediate Steps :
['3', '5', '2', '8', '1']
['2', '3', '5', '8', '1']
['2', '3', '5', '8', '1']
['1', '2', '3', '5', '8']
Sorted Array is:
['1', '2', '3', '5', '8']

4.4.4 Merge Sort

This method uses following two concepts:

 If a list is empty or it contains only one element, then the list is already sorted. A list
that contains only one element is also called singleton.

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  It uses old proven technique of ‗divide and conquer‘ to recursively divide the list into
sub-lists until it is left with either empty or singleton lists.

In fact, this algorithm divides a given list into two almost equal sub-lists. Each
sub-list, thus obtained, is recursively divided into further two sub-lists and so on till
singletons or empty lists are left as shown in Figure 4.7.

Since the singleton and empty list are inherently sorted, the only step left is to
merge the singletons into sub-lists containing two elements each (see figure 4.7) which are
further merged into sub-lists containing four elements each and so on. This merging operation
is recursively carried out till a final merged list is obtained as shown in figure 4.8.

Figure 4.7First step of merge sort (divide)

Figure 4.8Second step of merge sort (merge)

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Note: The merge operation is a time consuming and slow operation. The working of merge
operation is discussed in the next section.

Merging of lists It is an operation in which two ordered lists are merged into a single
ordered list. The merging of two lists PAR1 and PAR2 can be done by examining the
elements at the head of two lists and selecting the smaller of the two. The smaller element is
then stored into a third list called mergeList. For example, consider the lists PAR1 and PAR2
given the figure 4.9. Let Ptr1, Ptr2, and Ptr3 variables point to the first locations of lists
PAR1, PAR2 and PAR3, respectively. The comparison of PAR1[Ptr1] and PAR2[Ptr2]
shows that the element of PAER1 (i.e., ‗2‘) is smaller. Thus, this element will be placed in
the mergeList as per the following operation:

Figure 4.9Merging of lists (first step)

mergeList[Ptr3] S= PAR1[Ptr1];
Ptr1++;
Ptr3++;
Since an element from the list PAR1 has been taken to mergeList, the variable
Ptr1 is accordingly incremented to point to the next location in the list. The variable Ptr3 is
also incremented to point to next vacant location in mergeList.
This process of comparing, storing and shifting is repeated till both the lists
are merged and stored in mergeList as shown in figure 4.10.

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 Figure 4.10Merging of lists (second step)
It may be noted here that during this merging process, a situation may arise
when we run out of elements in one of the lists. We must, therefore, stop the merging process
and copy rest of the elements from unfinished list into the final list.
The algorithm for merging of lists is given below. In this algorithm, the two
sub-lists are part of the same array List[]. The first sub-list in locations List[lb] to List[mid]
and the second sub-list is stored in locations List [mid+1] to List [ub] where lb andub mean
lower and upper bounds of the array, respectively.
Algorithm merge (List, lb, mid, ub)

1. ptr1 =lb # index of first list

2. ptr2 = mid # index of second list
3. ptr3 = lb #index of merged list
4. while ((ptr1 < mid) && ptr2 <= ub) #merge the lists
4.1 if (List[ptr1 <= List[ptr2])

4.1.1 mergeList[ptr3] = List[ptr1] #element from firstlist is taken

4.1.2 ptr1++ #move to next element in the list

4.1.3 ptr3++

4.2 else
4.2.1 mergeList[ptr3] = List[ptr2] #element from second list is taken
4.2.2 ptr2++ #move to next element in the list
4.2.3 ptr3++
5. while(ptr1 < mid) #copy remaining first list
5.1 mergeList [ptr3] = List[ptr1]

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 5.2 ptr1++
5.3 ptr3++
}
6. while (ptr2 <= ub) #copy remaining second list
6.1 mergeList [ptr3] = List[ptr2]
6.2 ptr2++
6.3 ptr3++
7. for(i=lb; i<ptr3; i++) #copy merged list back into original list

7.1 List[i] = mergeList[i]

8. Stop
It may be noted that an extra temporary array called mergedList is required to
store the intermediate merged sub-lists. The contents of the mergeList are finally copied back
into the original list.
The algorithm for the merge sort is given below. In this algorithm, the
elements of a list stored in a array called List[] are sorted in an ascending order. The
algorithm has two parts- mergeSort and merge. The merge algorithm, given above, merges
two given sorted lists into a third list, which is also sorted. The mergeSort algorithm takes a
list and stores into an array called List[]. It uses two variables lb and ub to keep track of lower
and upper bounds of list or sub-lists as the case may be. It recursively divides the list into
almost equal parts till singleton or empty lists are left. The sub-lists are recursively merged
through merge algorithm to produce final sorted list.
Algorithm mergeSort (List, lb, ub)

1. if (lb<ub)

1.1mid = (lb+ub)/2 #divide the list into two sub-lists

1.2 mergeSort(List, lb, mid) #sort the left sub-list

1.3mergeSort(List, mid+1, ub) #sort the right sub-list

1.4merge(List, lb, mid+1, ub) #merge the lists

2. Stop

Program to sort a List in ascending order using Merge Sort

defmergeSort(alist):
print("Splitting ",alist)
iflen(alist)>1:
mid = len(alist)//2
lefthalf = alist[:mid]
righthalf = alist[mid:]
mergeSort(lefthalf)
mergeSort(righthalf)
i=0

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 j=0
k=0
while i <len(lefthalf) and j <len(righthalf):
ifint(lefthalf[i]) <int(righthalf[j]):
alist[k]=lefthalf[i]
i=i+1
else:
alist[k]=righthalf[j]
j=j+1
k=k+1
while i <len(lefthalf):
alist[k]=lefthalf[i]
i=i+1
k=k+1
while j <len(righthalf):
alist[k]=righthalf[j]
j=j+1
k=k+1
print("Merging ",alist)
data = []
print('Merge Sort :')
n = int(raw_input('Enter Number of Elements in the Array: '))
for i in range(0, n):
x = raw_input('Enter the Element %d :' %(i+1))
data.append(x)
print('Original Array :')
print(data)
print('Intermediate Steps :')
mergeSort(data)
print('Sorted Array is:')
print(data)

Output

Merge Sort :
Enter Number of Elements in the Array: 5
Enter the Element 1 :4
Enter the Element 2 :8
Enter the Element 3 :2
Enter the Element 4 :9
Enter the Element 5 :1
Original Array :
['4', '8', '2', '9', '1']
Intermediate Steps :
('Splitting ', ['4', '8', '2', '9', '1'])
('Splitting ', ['4', '8'])
('Splitting ', ['4'])
('Merging ', ['4'])
('Splitting ', ['8'])
('Merging ', ['8'])

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('Merging ', ['4', '8'])
('Splitting ', ['2', '9', '1'])
('Splitting ', ['2'])
('Merging ', ['2'])
('Splitting ', ['9', '1'])
('Splitting ', ['9'])
('Merging ', ['9'])
('Splitting ', ['1'])
('Merging ', ['1'])
('Merging ', ['1', '9'])
('Merging ', ['1', '2', '9'])
('Merging ', ['1', '2', '4', '8', '9'])
Sorted Array is:
['1', '2', '4', '8', '9']

4.4.5 Quick Sort

This method also uses the techniques of ‗divide and conquer‘. On the
basis of a selected element (pivot) from of the list, it partitions the rest of the list into two
parts- a sub-list that contains elements less than the pivot and other sub-list containing
elements greater than the pivot. The pivot is inserted between the two sub-lists. The algorithm
is recursively applied to the sub-lists until the size of each sub-list becomes 1, indicating that
the whole list has become sorted.
Consider the list given in figure 4.11. Let the first element (i.e., 8) be the
pivot. Now the rest of the list can be divided into two parts- a sub-list that contains elements
less ‗8‘ and the other sub-list that contains elements greater than‘8‘ as shown in figure 4.11.
Now this process can be recursively applied on the two sub-lists to completely
sort the whole list. For instance, ‗7‘ becomes the pivot for left sub-lists and ‗19‘ becomes
pivot for the right sub-lists.
Note: Two sub-lists can be safely joined when every element in the first sub-list is smaller
than every element in the second sub-list. Since ‗join‘ is a faster operation as compared to a
‗merge‘ operation, this sort is rightly named as a ‗quick sort‘.

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 Figure 4.11Quick Sort
The algorithm for the quick sort is given below:
In this algorithm, the elements of a list, stored in an array called List[], are
sorted in an ascending order. The algorithm has two parts- quicksort and partition. The
partition algorithm divides the list into two sub-lists around a pivot. The quick sort algorithm
takes a list and stores it into an array called List[]. It uses two variables lb and ub to keep
track of lower and upper bounds of list or sub-lists as the case may be. It employs partition
algorithm to sort the sub-lists.
Algorithm quickSort()

1. Lb 50 #set lower bound

2. ub = N-1 #set upper bound
3. pivot = List[lb]
4. lb++
5. partition (pivot, List, lb, ub)

Algorithm partition (pivot, List, lb, ub)

1. i = lb
2. j=ub
3. while(i<=j)

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 #travel the list from lb till an element greater than the pivot is found
3.1 while (List[i] <= pivot) i++
#travel the list from ub till an element smaller than the pivot is found
3.2 while (List[j]> pivot) j--
3.3 if (i <= j) #exchange the elements
3.3.1 temp = List[i]
3.3.2 List[i] = List[j]
3.3.3 List[j] = temp
4. temp =List[j] #place the pivot at mid of the sub-lists
5. List[j] = List[lb-1]
6. List[lb-1] = temp
7. if (j>lb) quicksort (List, lb, j-1) #sort left sub-list
8. if(j<ub) quicksort (List, j+1, ub) #sort the right sub-lists

Program to sort a List in ascending order using

defquicksort(myList, start, end):
if start < end:
pivot = partition(myList, start, end)
print(myList)
quicksort(myList, start, pivot-1)
quicksort(myList, pivot+1, end)
returnmyList
defpartition(myList, start, end):
pivot = int(myList[start])
left = start+1
right = end
done = False
while not done:
while left <= right and int(myList[left]) <= pivot:
left = left + 1
whileint(myList[right]) >= pivot and right >=left:
right = right -1
if right < left:
done= True
else:
temp=myList[left]
myList[left]=myList[right]
myList[right]=temp
temp=myList[start]
myList[start]=myList[right]
myList[right]=temp
return right

data = []
print('Quick Sort :')
n = int(raw_input('Enter Number of Elements in the Array: '))
for i in range(0, n):
x = raw_input('Enter the Element %d :' %(i+1))

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data.append(x)
print('Original Array :')
print(data)
print('Intermediate Steps :')
quicksort(data,0,n-1)
print('Sorted Array is:')
print(data)

Output

Quick Sort :
Enter Number of Elements in the Array: 8
Enter the Element 1 :8
Enter the Element 2 :5
Enter the Element 3 :6
Enter the Element 4 :9
Enter the Element 5 :4
Enter the Element 6 :19
Enter the Element 7 :7
Enter the Element 8 :2
Original Array :
['8', '5', '6', '9', '4', '19', '7', '2']
Intermediate Steps :
['7', '5', '6', '2', '4', '8', '19', '9']
['4', '5', '6', '2', '7', '8', '19', '9']
['2', '4', '6', '5', '7', '8', '19', '9']
['2', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '19', '9']
['2', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '19']
Sorted Array is:
['2', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '19']

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 UNIT V
FILES, MODULES, PACKAGES
5.1 FILES
Most of the programs we have seen so far are transient in the sense that they
run for a short time and produce some output, but when they end, their data disappears. If you
run the program again, it starts with a clean slate.

Other programs are persistent: they run for a long time (or all the time); they keep at least
some of their data in permanent storage (a hard drive, for example); and if they shut down
and restart, they pick up where they left off.

One of the simplest ways for programs to maintain their data is by reading and
writing text files. An alternative is to store the state of the program in a database.

5.1.1 Text Files

A text file is a sequence of characters stored on a permanent medium like a

hard drive, flash memory, or CD-ROM. Text file contain only text, and has no special
formatting such as bold text, italic text, images, etc. Text files are identified with the .txt file
extension.

5.1.2 Reading and Writing to Text Files

Python provides inbuilt functions for creating, writing and reading files. There
are two types of files that can be handled in python, normal text files and binary files (written
in binary language,0s and 1s).
 Text files: In this type of file, each line of text is terminated with a special character
called EOL (End of Line), which is the new line character (‗\n‘) in python by default.
 Binary files: In this type of file, there is no terminator for a line and the data is stored
after converting it into machine understandable binary language.
In order to perform some operations on files we have to follow below steps
 Opening
 Reading or writing
 Closing
Here we are going to discusses about opening, closing, reading and writing data in a text file.

5.1.2.1 File Access Modes

Access modes govern the type of operations possible in the opened file. It
refers to how the file will be used once its opened. These modes also define the location of
the File Handle in the file. File handle is like a cursor, which defines from where the data has
to be read or written in the file. There are 6 access modes in python.

 Read Only (‘r’) : Open text file for reading. The handle is positioned at the beginning
of the file. If the file does not exists, raises I/O error. This is also the default mode in
which file is opened.

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  Read and Write (‘r+’) : Open the file for reading and writing. The handle is
positioned at the beginning of the file. Raises I/O error if the file does not exists.
 Write Only (‘w’) : Open the file for writing. For existing file, the data is truncated
and over-written. The handle is positioned at the beginning of the file. Creates the file
if the file does not exists.
 Write and Read (‘w+’) : Open the file for reading and writing. For existing file, data
is truncated and over-written. The handle is positioned at the beginning of the file.
 Append Only (‘a’) : Open the file for writing. The file is created if it does not exist.
The handle is positioned at the end of the file. The data being written will be inserted
at the end, after the existing data.
 Append and Read (‘a+’) : Open the file for reading and writing. The file is created if
it does not exist. The handle is positioned at the end of the file. The data being written
will be inserted at the end, after the existing data.

5.1.3Opening a File
It is done using the open() function. No module is required to be imported for
this function.
Syntax:
File_object = open(r"File_Name","Access_Mode")
The file should exist in the same directory as the python program file else, full
address (path will be discussed in later section of this unit) of the file should be written on
place of filename. Note: The r is placed before filename to prevent the characters in filename
string to be treated as special character. For example, if there is \temp in the file address, then
\t is treated as the tab character and error is raised of invalid address. The r makes the string
raw, that is, it tells that the string is without any special characters. The r can be ignored if the
file is in same directory and address is not being placed.
Example:

>>> f1 = open("sample.txt","a")
>>> f2 = open(r"G:\class\python\sample3.txt","w+")

Here, f1 is created as object for sample.txt and f3 as object for sample3.txt

(available in G:\class\python directory)

5.1.4 Closing a File

close() function closes the file and frees the memory space acquired by that
file. It is used at the time when the file is no longer needed or if it is to be opened in a
different file mode.
Syntax:
File_object.close()
Example:
>>> f1 = open("smapl.txt","a")
>>>f1.close()
After closing a file we can‘t perform any operation on that file. If want to do
so, we have to open the file again.

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5.1.5 Reading from a File
To read the content of a file, we must open the file in reading mode.
There are three ways to read data from a text file.
1. read() : Returns the read bytes in form of a string. Reads n bytes, if no n specified,
reads the entire file.
File_object.read([n])
2. readline() : Reads a line of the file and returns in form of a string.For specified n, reads
at most n bytes. However, does not reads more than one line, even if n exceeds the
length of the line.
File_object.readline([n])
3. readlines() : Reads all the lines and return them as each line a string element in a list.
File_object.readlines()
Example:
Consider the content of file sample.txt that is present in location G:\class\python\code\ as
Read Only
Read and Write
Write OnlyWrite and Read
Append Only
Append and Read
Now execute the following file reading script.
>>> f1=open("G:\class\python\code\sample.txt","r")
>>>f1.read()
'Read Only\nRead and Write\nWrite Only\nWrite and Read\nAppend Only\nAppend and
Read'
Here \n denotes next line character. If you again run the same script, you will
get empty string. Because during the first read statement itself file handler reach the end of
the file. If you read again it will return empty string
>>>f1.read()
''
So in order to take back the file handler to the beginning of the file you have
to open the file again or use seek() function. We will discuss about seek function in
upcoming section.
>>> f1=open("G:\class\python\code\sample.txt","r")
>>>f1.read(10)
'Read Only\n'
>>> f1=open("G:\class\python\code\sample.txt","r")
>>>f1.readline()
'Read Only\n'
>>> f1=open("G:\class\python\code\sample.txt","r")
>>>f1.readlines()
['Read Only\n', 'Read and Write\n', 'Write Only\n', 'Write and Read\n', 'Append Only\n',
'Append and Read']'

5.1.6 File Positions

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 tell():The tell() method tells you the current position within the file; in other
words, the next read or write will occur at that many bytes from the beginning of the file.

seek():The seek(offset[, from]) method changes the current file position.

The offset argument indicates the number of bytes to be moved. The from argument specifies
the reference position from where the bytes are to be moved.

If from is set to 0, it means use the beginning of the file as the reference
position and 1 means use the current position as the reference position and if it is set to 2
then the end of the file would be taken as the reference position. If the second argument is
omitted, it also means use the beginning of the file as the reference position.

Example:

>>> f1=open("G:\class\python\code\sample.txt","r")
>>>f1.tell()
0L
>>>f1.readline()
'Read Only\n'
>>>f1.tell()
11L
>>>f1.seek(0)
>>>f1.tell()
0L
>>>f1.seek(5)
>>>f1.tell()
5L
>>>f1.readline()
'Only\n'

5.1.7 Writing to a File

In order to write into a file we need to open it in write 'w' or append 'a'. We
need to be careful with the 'w' mode as it will overwrite into the file if it already exists. All
previous data are erased.
There are two ways to write in a file.
1. write() : Inserts the string str1 in a single line in the text file.
File_object.write(str1)
2. writelines() : For a list of string elements, each string is inserted in the text file.Used to
insert multiple strings at a single time.
File_object.writelines(L) for L = [str1, str2, str3]
Example:

>>> f4=open("fruit.txt","w")
>>>fruit_list=['Apple\n','Orange\n','Pineapple\n']

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>>>f4.writelines(fruit_list)
>>>f4.write('Strawberry\n')
>>>f4.close()
>>> f4=open("fruit.txt","r")
>>>f4.read()
'Apple\nOrange\nPineapple\nStrawberry\n'
5.1.8 Appending to a File
Adding content at the end of a file is known as append. In order to do
appending operation, we have to open the file with append mode.
Example:
>>> f4=open('fruit.txt','a')
>>>f4.write('Banana')
>>>f4.close()
>>> f4=open('fruit.txt','r')
>>>f4.read()
'Apple\nOrange\nPineapple\nStrawberry\nBanana\n'

5.1.9 The File Object Attributes

Once a file is opened and you have one file object, you can get various
information related to that file.Here is a list of all attributes related to file object:
Attribute Description

File_object.closed Returns true if file is closed, false otherwise.

File_object.mode Returns access mode with which file was opened.

File_object.name Returns name of the file.

File_object.softspace Returns false if space explicitly required with print, true otherwise.

5.1.10 Format Operator

The argument of write has to be a string, so if we want to put other values in a
file, we have to convert them to strings. The easiest way to do that is with str:
>>> f5=open('stringsample.txt','w')
>>>f5.write(5)
TypeError: expected a string or other character buffer object
>>>f5.write(str(5))
An alternative is to use the format operator, %. When applied to integers, %
is the modulus operator. But when the first operand is a string, % is the format operator.
The first operand is the format string, which contains one or more format sequences, which
specify how the second operand is formatted. The result is a string.
For example, the format sequence '%d' means that decimal value is converted to string.
>>> run=8
>>> '%d'%run
'8'

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 The result is the string '8', which is not to be confused with the integer value
8.Some other format strings are.
Conversion Meaning
d Signed integer decimal.
i Signed integer decimal.
o Unsigned octal.
u Unsigned decimal.
x Unsigned hexadecimal (lowercase).
X Unsigned hexadecimal (uppercase).
e Floating point exponential format (lowercase).
E Floating point exponential format (uppercase).
f Floating point decimal format.
F Floating point decimal format.
g Same as "e" if exponent is greater than -4 or less than precision, "f" otherwise.
G Same as "E" if exponent is greater than -4 or less than precision, "F" otherwise.
c Single character (accepts integer or single character string).
r String (converts any python object using repr()).
s String (converts any python object using str()).
% No argument is converted, results in a "%" character in the result.
A format sequence can appear anywhere in the string, so you can embed a
value in a sentence:
>>> 'India need %d runs'%3
'India need 3 runs'
If there is more than one format sequence in the string, the second argument
has to be a tuple. Each format sequence is matched with an element of the tuple, in order.
>>> 'India need %d runs in %d balls'%(3,5)
'India need 3 runs in 5 balls'
The following example uses '%d' to format an integer, '%g' to format a
floating-point number, and '%s' to format a string:
>>> '%d %s price is %g rupees'%(5,'apple',180.50)
'5 apple price is 180.500000 rupees'
The number of elements in the tuple has to match the number of format
sequences in the string. Also, the types of the elements have to match the format sequences:
>>> '%d %d %d' % (1, 2)
TypeError: not enough arguments for format string
>>> '%d' % 'apple'
TypeError: %d format: a number is required, not str
In the first example, there aren‘t enough elements; in the second, the element
is the wrong type.

5.1.11 Filenames and Paths

Files are organized into directories (also called ―folders‖). Every running
program has a ―current directory‖, which is the default directory for most operations. For
example, when you open a file for reading, Python looks for it in the current directory.
The os module provides functions for working with files and directories (―os‖
stands for ―operating system‖). os.getcwd returns the name of the current directory:
>>> import os

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>>>os.getcwd()
'C:\\Python27'
cwd stands for ―current working directory‖. A string like 'C:\\Python27' that
identifies a file or directory is called a path.
A simple filename, like 'stringsample.txt' is also considered a path, but it is a
relative path because it relates to the current directory.
If the current directory 'C:\\Python27', the filename 'stringsample.txt' would
refer to 'C:\\Python27\\stringsample.txt'.
A path that begins with drive letter does not depend on the current directory; it
is called an absolute path. To find the absolute path to a file, you can use os.path.abspath:
>>>os.path.abspath('stringsample.txt')
'C:\\Python27\\stringsample.txt'
os.path provides other functions for working with filenames and paths. For
example, os.path.exists checks whether a file or directory exists:
>>>os.path.exists('memo.txt')
True
If it exists, os.path.isdir checks whether it‘s a directory:
>>>os.path.isdir('memo.txt')
False
>>>os.path.isdir ('C:\\Python27')
True
Similarly, os.path.isfile checks whether it‘s a file.
os.listdir returns a list of the files (and other directories) in the given directory:
>>>cwd=os.getcwd()
>>>os.listdir(cwd)
['DLLs', 'Doc', 'include', 'infinitLoop.py', 'Lib', 'libs', 'LICENSE.txt', 'NEWS.txt',
'parameter.py', 'python.exe', 'pythonw.exe', 'README.txt', 'sample.txt', 'sample2.txt',
'Scripts', 'stringsample.txt', 'swapwith third.py', 'tcl', 'Tools', 'w9xpopen.exe', 'wc.py', 'wc.pyc']
To demonstrate these functions, the following example ―walks‖ through a
directory, prints the names of all the files, and calls itself recursively on all the directories.
>>>def walk(dirname):
for name in os.listdir(dirname):
path = os.path.join(dirname, name)
ifos.path.isfile(path):
print(path)
else:
walk(path)
>>>cwd=os.getcwd()
>>>walk(cwd)
Output:
C:\Python27\DLLs\bz2.pyd
C:\Python27\DLLs\py.ico
C:\Python27\DLLs\pyc.ico
C:\Python27\DLLs\pyexpat.pyd
C:\Python27\DLLs\select.pyd
C:\Python27\DLLs\sqlite3.dll

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C:\Python27\DLLs\tcl85.dll
C:\Python27\include\abstract.h
C:\Python27\include\asdl.h
C:\Python27\include\ast.h
os.path.join takes a directory and a file name and joins them into a complete
path.
>>>os.path.join(cwd,'stringsample.txt')
'C:\\Python27\\stringsample.txt'
5.2 COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
It is possible to pass some values from the command line to your python
programs when they are executed. These values are called command line arguments and
many times they are important for your program especially when you want to control your
program from outside instead of hard coding those values inside the code.
The command line arguments are handled using sys module. We can access
command-line arguments via the sys.argv. This serves two purposes −

 sys.argv is the list of command-line arguments.

 len(sys.argv) is the number of command-line arguments.

Here sys.argv[0] is the program nameie. script name.

Example 1
Consider the following script command_line.py

import sys
print 'There are %d arguments'%len(sys.argv)
print 'Argument are', str(sys.argv)
print 'File Name is: ', sys.argv[0]
Now run above script as follows – in Command prompt:
C:\Python27>python.exe command_line.py vinuranjith
This produce following result –
There are 3 arguments
Argument are ['command_line.py', 'vinu', 'ranjith']
File Name is: command_line.py
NOTE: As mentioned above, first argument is always script name and it is also being
counted in number of arguments. Here ‗vinu‘ and ‗ranjith‘ are extra inputs passed to
program through command line argument method while running python program
command_line.py.

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Example 2
This is a Python Program to copy the contents of one file into another. Source
and destination file names are given through command line argument while running the
program.

In order to do this we have to follow the following steps

1) Open file name with command line argument one as read mode (input file).
2) Open file name with command line argument two as write mode (output file).
3) Read each line from the input file and write it into the output file until the input file
data getsover.
4) Exit.

Program

import sys
source=open(sys.argv[1],'r')
destination=open(sys.argv[2],'w')
while(True):
new_line=source.readline()
ifnew_line=='':
break
destination.write(new_line)
source.close()
destination.close()
Now run above script as follows – in Command prompt:
C:\Python27>python.exe copy_file.py input_file.txt output_file.txt

5.3 ERRORS AND EXCEPTIONS

There are two distinguishable kinds of errors: syntax errors and exceptions.

5.3.1 Syntax Errors

Syntax errors, also known as parsing errors, are perhaps the most common kind of
complaint you get while you are still learning Python. Syntax error is an error in the syntax of a
sequence of characters or tokens that is intended to be written in python. For compiled languages,
syntax errors are detected at compile-time. A program will not compile until all syntax errors are
corrected. For interpreted languages, however, a syntax error may be detected during program
execution, and an interpreter's error messages might not differentiate syntax errors from errors of
other kinds.

5.3.2 Exceptions

Even if a statement or expression is syntactically correct, it may cause an error when an attempt is
made to execute it. Errors detected during execution are called exceptions. You will soon learn how

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to handle them in Python programs. Most exceptions are not handled by programs, however, and
result in error messages as shown here:
>>> 55+(5/0)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#12>", line 1, in <module>
55+(5/0)
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero

>>> 5+ repeat*2
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#13>", line 1, in <module>
5+ repeat*2
NameError: name 'repeat' is not defined

>>> '5'+5
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#14>", line 1, in <module>
'5'+5
TypeError: cannot concatenate 'str' and 'int' objects

The last line of the error message indicates what happened. Exceptions come
in different types, and the type is printed as part of the message: the types in the example
are ZeroDivisionError, NameError and TypeError. The string printed as the exception type
is the name of the built-in exception that occurred. This is true for all built-in exceptions, but
need not be true for user-defined exceptions (although it is a useful convention). Standard
exception names are built-in identifiers (not reserved keywords).

The rest of the line provides detail based on the type of exception and what caused it.

The preceding part of the error message shows the context where the
exception happened, in the form of a stack traceback. In general it contains a stack traceback
listing source lines; however, it will not display lines read from standard input.

Python’s built-in exceptions lists and their meanings.

EXCEPTION NAME DESCRIPTION

Exception Base class for all exceptions
StopIteration Raised when the next() method of an iterator does not point to any object.
SystemExit Raised by the sys.exit() function.
StandardError Base class for all built-in exceptions except StopIteration and SystemExit.
ArithmeticError Base class for all errors that occur for numeric calculation.
OverflowError Raised when a calculation exceeds maximum limit for a numeric type.
FloatingPointError Raised when a floating point calculation fails.
ZeroDivisionError Raised when division or modulo by zero takes place for all numeric types.
AssertionError Raised in case of failure of the Assert statement.
AttributeError Raised in case of failure of attribute reference or assignment.

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EOFError Raised when there is no input from either the raw_input() or input() function
and the end of file is reached.
ImportError Raised when an import statement fails.
KeyboardInterrupt Raised when the user interrupts program execution, usually by pressing
Ctrl+c.
LookupError Base class for all lookup errors.
IndexError Raised when an index is not found in a sequence.
KeyError Raised when the specified key is not found in the dictionary.
NameError Raised when an identifier is not found in the local or global namespace.
UnboundLocalError Raised when trying to access a local variable in a function or method but no
value has been assigned to it.
EnvironmentError Base class for all exceptions that occur outside the Python environment.
IOError Raised when an input/ output operation fails, such as the print statement or
the open() function when trying to open a file that does not exist.
OSError Raised for operating system-related errors.
SyntaxError Raised when there is an error in Python syntax.
IndentationError Raised when indentation is not specified properly.
SystemError Raised when the interpreter finds an internal problem, but when this error is
encountered the Python interpreter does not exit.
SystemExit Raised when Python interpreter is quit by using the sys.exit() function. If not
handled in the code, causes the interpreter to exit.
TypeError Raised when an operation or function is attempted that is invalid for the
specified data type.
ValueError Raised when the built-in function for a data type has the valid type of
arguments, but the arguments have invalid values specified.
RuntimeError Raised when a generated error does not fall into any category.
NotImplementedError Raised when an abstract method that needs to be implemented in an inherited
class is not actually implemented.

5.4HANDLING EXCEPTIONS

Python provides two very important features to handle any unexpected error
in your Python programs and to add debugging capabilities in them.

 Exception Handling:

 Assertions:

5.4.1Exception Handling

An exception is an event, which occurs during the execution of a program that

disrupts the normal flow of the program's instructions. In general, when a Python script
encounters a situation that it cannot cope with, it raises an exception. An exception is a
Python object that represents an error.

When a Python script raises an exception, it must either handle the exception
immediately otherwise it terminates and quits.

If you have some suspicious code that may raise an exception, you can defend
your program by placing the suspicious code in a try: block. After the try: block, include

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an except: statement, followed by a block of code which handles the problem as elegantly as
possible.

Syntax:

Here is simple syntax of try....except...else blocks −

try:
You do your operations here;
......................
exceptExceptionI:
If there is ExceptionI, then execute this block.
exceptExceptionII:
If there is ExceptionII, then execute this block.
......................
else:
If there is no exception then execute this block.
Here are few important points about the above-mentioned syntax −

 A single try statement can have multiple except statements. This is useful when the
try block contains statements that may throw different types of exceptions.

 You can also provide a generic except clause, which handles any exception.

 After the except clause(s), you can include an else-clause. The code in the else-block
executes if the code in the try: block does not raise an exception.

 The else-block is a good place for code that does not need the try: block's protection.

Example:
This example opens a file with write mode, writes content in the file and comes
out gracefully because there is no problem at all

try:
fp = open("test_exception.txt", "w")
fp.write("Exception handling")
exceptIOError:
print "Error: File don\'t have read permission"
else:
print "Written successfully"
fp.close()
This produces the following result:
Written successfully

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Example:
This example opens a file with read mode, and tries to write the file where you
do not have write permission, so it raises an exception

try:
fp = open("test_exception.txt", "r")
fp.write("Exception handling")
exceptIOError:
print "Error: File don\'t have read permission"
else:
print "Written successfully"
fp.close()
This produces the following result
Error: File don't have read permission

5.4.2The except Clause with No Exceptions

You can also use the except statement with no exceptions defined as follows −

try:
You do your operations here;
......................
except:
If there is any exception, then execute this block.
......................
else:
If there is no exception then execute this block.
This kind of a try-except statement catches all the exceptions that occur.
Using this kind of try-except statement is not considered a good programming practice
though, because it catches all exceptions but does not make the programmer identify the root
cause of the problem that may occur.

5.4.3The except Clause with Multiple Exceptions

You can also use the same except statement to handle multiple exceptions as follows −

try:
You do your operations here;
......................
except(Exception1[, Exception2[,...ExceptionN]]]):
If there is any exception from the given exception list, then execute this block.
......................
else:
If there is no exception then execute this block.

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5.4.4The try-finally Clause

You can use a finally: block along with a try: block. The finally block is a
place to put any code that must execute, whether the try-block raised an exception or not.
The syntax of the try-finally statement is this −

try:
You do your operations here;
......................
Due to any exception, this may be skipped.
finally:
This would always be executed.
......................
You cannot use else clause as well along with a finally clause.

Example
This example opens a file with write mode, writes content in the file and comes
out gracefully because there is no problem at all

try:
fp = open("test_exception.txt", "w")
fp.write("Exception handling")
exceptIOError:
print "Error: File don\'t have read permission"
else:
print "Written successfully"
finally:
print "Closing file"
fp.close()
This produces the following result
Written successfully
Closing file
Example
This example opens a file with read mode, and tries to write the file where you
do not have write permission, so it raises an exception

try:
fp = open("test_exception.txt", "r")
fp.write("Exception handling")
exceptIOError:
print "Error: File don\'t have read permission"
else:
print "Written successfully"
finally:

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 print "Closing file"
fp.close()
This produces the following result
Error: File don't have read permission
Closing file
In the above two examples, one script didn‘t raise exception and another
script raise exception. But we can see that in both cases finally block gets executed.

5.4.5Argument of an Exception

An exception can have an argument, which is a value that gives additional

information about the problem. The contents of the argument vary by exception. You
capture an exception's argument by supplying a variable in the except clause as follows −

try:
You do your operations here;
......................
exceptExceptionType, Argument:
You can print value of Argument here...
If you write the code to handle a single exception, you can have a variable
follow the name of the exception in the except statement. If you are trapping multiple
exceptions, you can have a variable follow the tuple of the exception.

This variable receives the value of the exception mostly containing the cause
of the exception. The variable can receive a single value or multiple values in the form of a
tuple. This tuple usually contains the error string, the error number, and an error location.

Example
Following is an example for a single exception

deftemp_convert(var):
try:
returnint(var)
exceptValueError, Argument:
print "The argument is not a numbers\n", Argument
temp_convert("abc")
This produces the following result
The argument is not a numbers
invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'abc'

5.4.6Hierarchical Exceptions Handle

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 Exception handlers don‘t just handle exceptions if they occur immediately in the try
clause, but also if they occur inside functions that are called (even indirectly) in the try clause. For
example:

defthis_fails():
x = 1/0
try:
this_fails()
exceptZeroDivisionError, detail:
print 'Handling run-time error:', detail
This produces the following result
Handling run-time error: integer division or modulo by zero
In this example exception is raised in this_fails() function. But, because of
this_fails() function don‘t have except block exception is thrown to the caller function. As there
is a except block, it will handle the exception.

5.4.7 Raising an Exceptions

You can raise exceptions in several ways by using the raise statement. The
general syntax for the raise statement is as follows.

Syntax
raise [Exception [, args [, traceback]]]
Here, Exception is the type of exception (for example, NameError)
and argument is a value for the exception argument. The argument is optional; if not
supplied, the exception argument is None.

The final argument, traceback, is also optional (and rarely used in practice),
and if present, is the traceback object used for the exception.

Example
An exception can be a string, a class or an object. Most of the exceptions that
the Python core raises are classes, with an argument that is an instance of the class. Defining
new exceptions is quite easy and can be done as follows −

deffunctionName( level ):
if level < 1:
raise "Invalid level!", level
# if we raise the exception,code below to this not executed
Note: In order to catch an exception, an "except" clause must refer to the same exception
thrown either class object or simple string. For example, to capture above exception, we
must write the except clause as follows

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try:
Business Logic here...
except "Invalid level!":
Exception handling here...
else:
Rest of the code here...

5.4.8 Assertions in Python

An assertion is a sanity-check that you can turn on or turn off when you are
done with your testing of the program.

The easiest way to think of an assertion is to liken it to a raise-if statement (or

to be more accurate, a raise-if-not statement). An expression is tested, and if the result
comes up false, an exception is raised.

Assertions are carried out by the assert statement, the newest keyword to
Python, introduced in version 1.5.

Programmers often place assertions at the start of a function to check for valid
input, and after a function call to check for valid output.

The assert Statement

When it encounters an assert statement, Python evaluates the accompanying
expression, which is hopefully true. If the expression is false, Python raises
an AssertionError exception.

The syntax for assert is

assert Expression[, Arguments]

If the assertion fails, Python uses ArgumentExpression as the argument for
the AssertionError. AssertionError exceptions can be caught and handled like any other
exception using the try-except statement, but if not handled, they will terminate the program
and produce a traceback.

Example

Here is a function that converts a temperature from degrees Kelvin to degrees

Fahrenheit. Since zero degrees Kelvin is as cold as it gets, the function bails out if it sees a
negative temperature

defKelvinToFahrenheit(Temperature):
assert (Temperature >= 0),"Colder than absolute zero!"

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 return ((Temperature-273)*1.8)+32
printKelvinToFahrenheit(275)
printint(KelvinToFahrenheit(509.25))
printKelvinToFahrenheit(-7)
When the above code is executed, it produces the following result
35.6
457

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "G:/class/python/code/assertion.py", line 6, in <module>
printKelvinToFahrenheit(-7)
File "G:/class/python/code/assertion.py", line 2, in KelvinToFahrenheit
assert (Temperature >= 0),"Colder than absolute zero!"
AssertionError: Colder than absolute zero!

5.5 MODULES

A module allows you to logically organize your Python code. Grouping

related code into a module makes the code easier to understand and use. A module is a file
that contains a collection of related functions. Python has lot of built-in modules; math
module is one of them. math module provides most of the familiar mathematical functions.

Before we can use the functions in a module, we have to import it with an import statement:

>>> import math

This statement creates a module object named math. If you display the
module object, youget some information about it:

>>>math
<module 'math' (built-in)>
The module object contains the functions and variables defined in the module.
To access one of the functions, you have to specify the name of the module and the name of
the function, separated by a dot (also known as a period). This format is called dot notation.
>>>math.log10(200)
2.3010299956639813
>>>math.sqrt(10)
3.1622776601683795
Math module have functions like log(), sqrt(), etc… In order to know what are
the functions available in particular module, we can use dir() function after importing
particular module. Similarly if we want to know detail description about a particular module
or function or variable means we can use help() function.
Example
>>> import math
>>>dir(math)

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['__doc__', '__name__', '__package__', 'acos', 'acosh', 'asin', 'asinh', 'atan', 'atan2', 'atanh',
'ceil', 'copysign', 'cos', 'cosh', 'degrees', 'e', 'erf', 'erfc', 'exp', 'expm1', 'fabs', 'factorial', 'floor',
'fmod', 'frexp', 'fsum', 'gamma', 'hypot', 'isinf', 'isnan', 'ldexp', 'lgamma', 'log', 'log10', 'log1p',
'modf', 'pi', 'pow', 'radians', 'sin', 'sinh', 'sqrt', 'tan', 'tanh', 'trunc']
>>>help(pow)
Help on built-in function pow in module __builtin__:

pow(...)
pow(x, y[, z]) -> number

With two arguments, equivalent to x**y. With three arguments,

equivalent to (x**y) % z, but may be more efficient (e.g. for longs).

5.5.1Writing Modules
Any file that contains Python code can be imported as a module. For example,
suppose you have a file named addModule.py with the following code:
def add(a, b):
result = a + b
print(result)
add(10,20)
If you run this program, it will add 10 and 20 and print 30. We can import it like this:
>>> import addModule
30
Now you have a module object addModule
>>>addModule
<module 'addModule' from 'G:/class/python/code\addModule.py'>
The module object provides add():
>>>addModule.add(120,150)
270
So that‘s how you write modules in Python.
The only problem with this example is that when you import the module it
runs the test code at the bottom. Normally when you import a module, it defines new
functions but it doesn‘t run them.
Programs that will be imported as modules often use the following idiom:
if __name__ == '__main__':
add(10,20)
__name__ is a built-in variable that is set when the program starts. If the
program is running as a script, __name__ has the value '__main__'; in that case, the test code
runs. Otherwise, if the module is being imported, the test code is skipped. Modify
addModule.py file as given below.
def add(a, b):
result = a + b
print(result)
if __name__ == '__main__':
add(10,20)

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Now while importing addModule test case is not running
>>> import addModule
__name__ has module name as its value when it is imported. Warning: If you
import a module that has already been imported, Python does nothing. It does not re-read the
file, even if it has changed. If you want to reload a module, you can use the built-in function
reload, but it can be tricky, so the safest thing to do is restart the interpreter and then import
the module again.

5.6 PACKAGES

Packages are namespaces which contain multiple packages and modules

themselves. They are simply directories, but with a twist.
Each package in Python is a directory which must contain a special file
called __init__.py. This file can be empty, and it indicates that the directory it contains is a
Python package, so it can be imported the same way a module can be imported.

If we create a directory called sample_package, which marks the package

name, we can then create a module inside that package called sample_module. We also must
not forget to add the __init__.py file inside the sample_package directory.

To use the module sample_module, we can import it in two ways:

>>> import sample_package.sample_module
or:
>>>fromsample_package import sample_module
In the first method, we must use the sample_package prefix whenever we access the
module sample_module. In the second method, we don't, because we import the module to our
module's namespace.

The __init__.py file can also decide which modules the package exports as the API, while keeping
other modules internal, by overriding the __all__ variable, like so:

__init__.py:
__all__ = ["sample_module"]

5.7 WORD COUNT

Example.
Following program print each word in the specified file occurs how many times.
import sys
defword_count(file_name):
try:
file=open(file_name,"r")

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 wordcount={}
entier_words=file.read().split()
for word in entier_words:
if word not in wordcount:
wordcount[word] = 1
else:
wordcount[word] += 1
file.close();
print ("%-30s %s " %('Words in the File' , 'Count'))
for key in wordcount.keys():
print ("%-30s %d " %(key , wordcount[key]))
exceptIOError:
print ("No file found with name %s" %file_name)
fname=raw_input("Enter New File Name:")
word_count(fname)

try:
word_count(sys.argv[1])
exceptIndexError:
print("No file name passed as command line Argument")
fname=raw_input("Enter File Name:")
word_count(fname)
Content of a sample file word_count_input.txt is:
word count is the program which count each word in file appears how many times.

This produces the following result

c:\Python27>python wordcount1.py
No file name passed as command line Argument
Enter File Name:word_count_input
No file found with name word_count_input
Enter New File Name:word_count_input.txt
Words in the File Count
count 2
word 2
file 1
many 1
is 1
in 1
times 1
how 1
program 1
which 1
each 1

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the 1
appears 1
Above programshows the file handling with exception handling and
command line argument.While running, if you give command line like below, it will read
the text file with the name, that is specifies by command line argument one and calculate the
count of each word and print it.
c:\Python27>python wordcount1.py word_count_input.txt
While running, if you give command line like below(ie, no command line
argument), On behalf of exception handling it will ask for file name and then do the same
operation on the newly entered file.
c:\Python27>python wordcount1.py
Program also handle file not found exception, if wrong file name is entered. It
will ask for new file name to enter and proceed.
Example.
Following program counts number of words in the given file.
import sys
defword_count(file_name):
count=0
try:
file=open(file_name,"r")
entier_words=file.read().split()
for word in entier_words:
count=count+1
file.close();
print ("%s File have %d words" %(file_name,count))
exceptIOError:
print ("No file found with name %s" %file_name)
fname=raw_input("Enter New File Name:")
word_count(fname)

try:
word_count(sys.argv[1])
exceptIndexError:
print("No file name passed as command line Argument")
fname=raw_input("Enter File Name:")
word_count(fname)
This produces the following result
c:\Python27>python wordcount2.py
No file name passed as command line Argument
Enter File Name:word_count_input
No file found with name word_count_input
Enter New File Name:word_count_input.txt

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word_count_input.txt File have 15 words
Above programalso shows the file handling with exception handling and
command line argument.While running, if you give command line like below, it will read
the text file with the name, that is specifies by command line argument one and count
number of word present in it and print it.
c:\Python27>python wordcount2.py word_count_input.txt
While running, if you give command line like below ( ie, no command line
argument), On behalf of exception handling it will ask for file name and then do the same
word counting operation on the newly entered file.
c:\Python27>python wordcount2.py
Program also handle file not found exception, if wrong file name is entered. It
will ask for new file name to enter and proceed.

5.8 COPY FILE

This is a Python Program to copy the contents of one file into another. In order to perform
the copying operation we need to follow the following steps.
1. Open source file in read mode.
2. Open destination file in write mode.
3. Read each line from the input file and write it into the output file.
4. Exit.
Also we include command line argument for passing source and destination file names to
program. Also exception handling is used to handle exception that occurs when dealing with
files.
import sys
def copy(src,dest):
try:
source=open(src,'r')
destination=open(dest,'w')
while(True):
new_line=source.readline()
ifnew_line=='':
break
destination.write(new_line)
source.close()
destination.close()
exceptIOError:
print ("Problem with Source or Destination File Name ")
source_name=raw_input("Enter New Source File Name:")
destination_name=raw_input("Enter New Destination File Name:")
copy(source_name,destination_name)
try:

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 copy(sys.argv[1],sys.argv[2])
exceptIndexError:
print("Insufficent Command line argument!")
source_name=raw_input("Enter Source File Name:")
destination_name=raw_input("Enter Destination File Name:")
copy(source_name,destination_name)
finally:
print("Copying Done.....")
This produces the following result
C:\Python27>python copy_file_exception.py input_file.txt
Insufficent Command line argument!
Enter Source File Name:input_file.tx
Enter Destination File Name:output_file.txt
Problem with Source or Destination File Name
Enter New Source File Name:input_file.txt
Enter New Destination File Name:output_file.txt
Copying Done.....

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