Overview of python 2019

Overview of Python
Programming
Samir Mohanty
samir2artificialintelligence@gmail.com
Mar, 2019

Disclaimer
 The slides presented here are obtained from
several authors of books and from various other
contributors. I hereby acknowledge all the
contributors for their material and inputs.
 I have added and modified a few slides to suit
the requirements of the training.
2Overview of Python Programming
2019

Agenda
Overview of Python Programming
2019
3
 Overview of Python basic syntax
 Modules in Python
 Overview of Data structures
 Overview of File I/O
 A few Modules

PYTHON BASICS
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Introduction to Python
 A high-level programming language
 Open source and community driven
 Standard Distribution includes many modules
 Dynamic typed; Automatic Memory management
 Basically interpreted, but source can be compiled
 Easy to learn, yet powerful
 Robust support for OO programming
 Can integrate well with other languages
 Most popular for Data Analytics
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6
Compiling and Interpreting
 Many languages require you to compile (translate) your program into
a form that the machine understands.
 Python is instead directly interpreted into machine instructions.
compile execute
outputsource code
Hello.java
byte code
Hello.class
interpret
outputsource code
Hello.py It generates a machine
independent bytecode
which is handled by the run
time
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Installing
 Python is pre-installed on most Unix systems,
including Linux and MAC OS X
 Set the path (/usr/bin/python) and ensure you have
execute permissions
 The pre-installed version may not be the most
recent one (2.7.15 and 3.7.2 as of Jan 19)
 Download the windows version from
http://python.org/download/
 Install as a standard windows application
 Python comes with a large library of standard
modules
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Setup Python PATH
 Installing Python
 Setting up PATH
For Python:
 C:UsersMR GOKHLEAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython37
For IDLE
 C:UsersMR GOKHLEAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython37Libidlelib
 Python as a command processor
 Launch python at DOS shell prompt
 Execute python commands
 exit()
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Launch from command prompt
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IDEs
 There are several options for an IDE
 IDLE – works well with Windows
 Emacs with python-mode or your favorite text
editor
 Eclipse with Pydev
(http://pydev.sourceforge.net/) for Windows &
Linux
 PyCharm Community Edition (open source).
Professional Edition is Closed source. Available
for Windows & Linux
 Spyder ( MIT license). Windows & Linux
2019

IDLE Development Environment
 IDLE is an Integrated DeveLopment Environment
for Python, typically used on Windows
 Multi-window text editor with syntax highlighting,
auto-completion, smart indent and other.
 Python shell with syntax highlighting.
 Integrated debugger
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IDLE – Development
Environment
 IDLE helps you
program in Python
by:
 color-coding your
program code
 debugging
 auto-indent
 interactive shell
Comments are red
Strings are green
Definitions are blue
Keywords are orange
Output is blue
Shell prompt
 IDLE Shell:
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Python Scripts
 When you call a python program from the
command line, the interpreter evaluates each
expression in the file
 Familiar mechanisms are used to provide
command line arguments and/or redirect input
and output
 Python also has mechanisms to allow a python
program to act both as a script and as a module
to be imported and used by another python
program
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Python Scripts
 Code is interpreted
 You see the result immediately on the shell
window.
 If a statement is in error, execution stops and
error message is displayed.
 The interpretation does not guarantee display
of all errors. Errors are reported only when
encountered, it stops on the first error
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A Code Sample (in IDLE)
x = 34 - 23 # A comment.
y = "Hello" # Another one.
z = 3.45
if z == 3.45 or y == "Hello":
x = x + 1
y = y + " World “ # String concat
print (x)
print (y)
Variables are used as needed.
No specific type of variable. It can hold
any type of data. The most recent
assignment determines the type
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Data in Python
 Everything in Python is an object.
 All objects in Python can be either
mutable or immutable.
 A mutable object can be changed after it
is created, and an immutable object
can’t.
 Objects of built-in types like (int, float,
bool, str, tuple, unicode) are immutable.
Objects of built-in types like (list, set, dict)
are mutable
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Basic Datatypes
 Numbers
 Strings
 List
 Tuple
 Set
 Dictionary
Data structures
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Mutable / Immutable
 Mutable: meaning you can change their
content without changing their identity
 Immutable: are objects that can not be
changed
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Modules & Packages
 Similar to libraries, called Modules
 It can be used (referenced) in standard python
code. Include the modules in the code.
 Usually a File containing python code
 Can define functions, classes, variables
 Multiple modules make up a Package, usually a
directory of python files.
 Official packages are listed in a directory (PyPI)
from where one can download / install
 pip is the tool to download and install packages
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Basic Datatypes
 Integers (default for numbers)
z = 5 / 2 # Answer 2.5, real division
 Floats
x = 3.456
 Strings
 Can use " " or ' ' to specify with "abc" ==
'abc'
 Unmatched can occur within the string:
"matt's"
 Use triple quotes for multi-line strings or strings
than contain both ‘ and “ inside of them:
"""a'b"c""" 26Overview of Python Programming
2019

Data Structures
 List : An unordered collection of data items
 [35,23.15,"Hello", [2,3,'a','b']]
 Can be used as a stack, queue
 mutable
 Tuple : An unordered collection of data
items used to capture an entity’s data
 (25, 5.5, "My Data", ['a','b'], (1,2,3))
 immutable
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Data Structures
 Set : An unordered set of values ( no
duplicates allowed)
 {2,3,"hello"}
 Dictionary : unordered collection of data
items, each data item is a <key, value>
pair
 {'name': 'John', 1: [2, 4, 3]}
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Standard Operators
 Arithmetic
 Relational
 Logical
2019
29
Operator Description
** Exponentiation (raise to the power)
~ + -
Complement, unary plus and minus (method names for the last
two are +@ and -@)
* / % // Multiply, divide, modulo and floor division
+ - Addition and subtraction
>> << Right and left bitwise shift
& Bitwise 'AND'td>
^ | Bitwise exclusive `OR' and regular `OR'
<= < > >= Comparison operators
<> == != Equality operators
= %= /= //= -= +=
*= **=
Assignment operators
is is not Identity operators
in not in Membership operators
not or and Logical operators

Control Structures
 if ..
 if ..else
 if .. elif
 while
 while .. else
 for
 break
 continue
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30

Functions & Classes
 def fname (abc) :
…
…
return(rval)
 class cname(pclass):
…
2019
31

Example function: fact.py
def fact(x):
"""Returns the factorial of its argument, assumed to be a posint"""
if x == 0:
return 1
return x * fact(x - 1)
print
print ("N fact(N)")
print ("---------")
for n in range(10):
print (n, " factorial is : ", fact(n))
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Class definitions
Class ClassName:
<statement-1>
...
<statement-N>
 must be executed
 can be executed conditionally
 creates new namespace
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Class objects
 obj.name references (plus module!):
class MyClass:
"A simple example class"
i = 123
def f(self):
return 'hello world'
>>> MyClass.i
123
 MyClass.f is method object
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Files
 Files are manipulated by creating a file
object
 f = open("points.txt", "r")
 The file object then has new methods
 print f.readline() # prints line from file
 Files can be accessed to read or write
 f = open("output.txt", "w")
 f.write("Important Output!")
 Files are iterable objects, like lists
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Error Capture
 Check for type assignment errors, items
not in a list, etc.
 Try & Except
try:
a block of code that might have an error
except:
code to execute if an error occurs in "try"
 Allows for graceful failure
– important for applications which use system resources
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Popular Modules
 Cryptograpgy
 M2Crypto, OpenSSL
 GUI
 PyGTK, TKInter, PyQt
 Networking
 RPyC, HTTPLib2
 Plotting
 Matplotlib, plotly, SciPy
 Scientific
 Numpy, SciPy,
 Threading
 Threadpool
 Web development
 Django, web2py
2019
37

Comments
 Start comments with #, rest of line is ignored
 Can include a “documentation string” as the
first line of a new function or class you define
 Development environments, debugger, and
other tools use it: it’s good style to include one
def fact(n):
“““fact(n) assumes n is a positive
integer and returns factorial of n.”””
assert(n>0)
return 1 if n==1 else n*fact(n-1)
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LETS GO HANDS ON..
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Assignment
 Binding a variable in Python means setting a name to
hold a reference to some object
 Assignment creates references, not copies
 Names in Python do not have an intrinsic type, objects
have types
 Python determines the type of the reference automatically based
on what data is assigned to it
 You create a name the first time it appears on the left
side of an assignment expression:
x = 3
 A reference is deleted via garbage collection after any
names bound to it have passed out of scope
 Python uses reference semantics (more later)
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Naming Rules
 Names are case sensitive and cannot start with a
number. They can contain letters, numbers, and
underscores.
bob Bob _bob _2_bob_ bob_2 BoB
 There are some reserved words:
and, assert, break, class, continue,
def, del, elif, else, except, exec,
finally, for, from, global, if, import,
in, is, lambda, not, or, pass, print,
raise, return, try, while
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Naming Conventions
The Python community has these recommend-ed
naming conventions
joined_lower for functions, methods and,
attributes
joined_lower or ALL_CAPS for constants
StudlyCaps for classes
camelCase only to conform to pre-existing
conventions
Attributes: interface, _internal, __private
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Assignment
You can assign to multiple names at the
same time
>>> x, y = 2, 3
>>> x
2
>>> y
3
This makes it easy to swap values
>>> x, y = y, x
Assignments can be chained
>>> a = b = x = 2
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Accessing Non-Existent Name
Accessing a name before it’s been properly
created (by placing it on the left side of an
assignment), raises an error
>>> y
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#16>", line 1, in -toplevel-
y
NameError: name ‘y' is not defined
>>> y = 3
>>> y
3
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Python Program Structure
 modules: Python source files or C extensions
 import, top-level via from, reload
 statements
 control flow
 create objects
 indentation matters – instead of { }
 case sensitive
 objects
 everything is an object
 automatically reclaimed when no longer needed (gc)
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Basic operations
 Assignment:
 size = 40
 a = b = c = 3
 Numbers
 integer, float
 complex numbers: 1j+3, abs(z)
 Strings
 'hello world', 'it's hot'
 "bye world"
 continuation via or use """ long text """"
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String operations
 concatenate with + or neighbors
 word = 'Help' + x
 word = 'Help' 'a'
 subscripting of strings
 'Hello'[2]  'l'
 slice: 'Hello'[1:2]  'el'
 word[-1]  last character
 len(word)  5
 immutable: cannot assign to subscript
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Lists
 lists can be heterogeneous
 a = ['spam', 'eggs', 100, 1234, 2*2]
 Lists can be indexed and sliced:
 a[0]  spam
 a[:2]  ['spam', 'eggs']
 Lists can be manipulated
 a[2] = a[2] + 23
 a[0:2] = [1,12]
 a[0:0] = []
 len(a)  5
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Basic programming
a,b = 0, 1
# non-zero = true
while b < 10:
# formatted output, without n
print b,
# multiple assignment
a,b = b, a+b
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Control flow: if
x = int(raw_input("Please enter #:"))
if x < 0:
x = 0
print 'Negative changed to zero'
elif x == 0:
print 'Zero'
elif x == 1:
print 'Single'
else:
print 'More'
 no case statement
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Control flow: for
a = ['cat', 'window', 'defenestrate']
for x in a:
print x, len(x)
 no arithmetic progression, but
 range(10)  [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
 for i in range(len(a)):
print i, a[i]
 do not modify the sequence being iterated over
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Loops: break, continue, else
 break and continue like C
 else after loop exhaustion
for n in range(2,10):
for x in range(2,n):
if n % x == 0:
print n, 'equals', x, '*', n/x
break
else:
# loop fell through without finding a factor
print n, 'is prime'
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Do nothing
 pass does nothing
 syntactic filler
while 1:
pass
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List methods
 append(x)
 extend(L)
 append all items in list (like Tcl lappend)
 insert(i,x)
 remove(x)
 pop([i]), pop()
 create stack (FIFO), or queue (LIFO)  pop(0)
 index(x)
 return the index for value x
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List methods
 count(x)
 how many times x appears in list
 sort()
 sort items in place
 reverse()
 reverse list
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Functional programming tools
 filter(function, sequence)
def f(x): return x%2 != 0 and x%3 0
filter(f, range(2,25))
 map(function, sequence)
 call function for each item
 return list of return values
 reduce(function, sequence)
 return a single value
 call binary function on the first two items
 then on the result and next item
 iterate
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List comprehensions (2.0)
 Create lists without map(), filter(),
lambda
 = expression followed by for clause + zero
or more for or of clauses
>>> vec = [2,4,6]
>>> [3*x for x in vec]
[6, 12, 18]
>>> [{x: x**2} for x in vec}
[{2: 4}, {4: 16}, {6: 36}]
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List comprehensions
 cross products:
>>> vec1 = [2,4,6]
>>> vec2 = [4,3,-9]
>>> [x*y for x in vec1 for y in vec2]
[8,6,-18, 16,12,-36, 24,18,-54]
>>> [x+y for x in vec1 and y in vec2]
[6,5,-7,8,7,-5,10,9,-3]
>>> [vec1[i]*vec2[i] for i in
range(len(vec1))]
[8,12,-54]
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List comprehensions
 can also use if:
>>> [3*x for x in vec if x > 3]
[12, 18]
>>> [3*x for x in vec if x < 2]
[]
2019

del – removing list items
 remove by index, not value
 remove slices from list (rather than by assigning
an empty list)
>>> a = [-1,1,66.6,333,333,1234.5]
>>> del a[0]
>>> a
[1,66.6,333,333,1234.5]
>>> del a[2:4]
>>> a
[1,66.6,1234.5]
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Tuples and sequences
 lists, strings, tuples: examples of
sequence type
 tuple = values separated by commas
>>> t = 123, 543, 'bar'
>>> t[0]
123
>>> t
(123, 543, 'bar')
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Tuples
 Tuples may be nested
>>> u = t, (1,2)
>>> u
((123, 542, 'bar'), (1,2))
 kind of like structs, but no element names:
 (x,y) coordinates
 database records
 like strings, immutable  can't assign to
individual items
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Tuples
 Empty tuples: ()
>>> empty = ()
>>> len(empty)
0
 one item  trailing comma
>>> singleton = 'foo',
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Tuples
 sequence unpacking  distribute elements
across variables
>>> t = 123, 543, 'bar'
>>> x, y, z = t
>>> x
123
 packing always creates tuple
 unpacking works for any sequence
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Dictionaries
 like Tcl or awk associative arrays
 indexed by keys
 keys are any immutable type: e.g., tuples
 but not lists (mutable!)
 uses 'key: value' notation
>>> tel = {'hgs' : 7042, 'lennox': 7018}
>>> tel['cs'] = 7000
>>> tel
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Dictionaries
 no particular order
 delete elements with del
>>> del tel['foo']
 keys() method  unsorted list of keys
>>> tel.keys()
['cs', 'lennox', 'hgs']
 use has_key() to check for existence
>>> tel.has_key('foo')
0
2019

Conditions
 can check for sequence membership with is and
is not:
>>> if (4 in vec):
... print '4 is'
 chained comparisons: a less than b AND b equals
c:
a < b == c
 and and or are short-circuit operators:
 evaluated from left to right
 stop evaluation as soon as outcome clear
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Conditions
 Can assign comparison to variable:
>>> s1,s2,s3='', 'foo', 'bar'
>>> non_null = s1 or s2 or s3
>>> non_null
foo
 Unlike C, no assignment within expression
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Comparing sequences
 unlike C, can compare sequences (lists,
tuples, ...)
 lexicographical comparison:
 compare first; if different  outcome
 continue recursively
 subsequences are smaller
 strings use ASCII comparison
 can compare objects of different type, but by
type name (list < string < tuple)
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Comparing sequences
(1,2,3) < (1,2,4)
[1,2,3] < [1,2,4]
'ABC' < 'C' < 'Pascal' < 'Python'
(1,2,3) == (1.0,2.0,3.0)
(1,2) < (1,2,-1)
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Modules
 collection of functions and variables,
typically in scripts
 definitions can be imported
 file name is module name + .py
 e.g., create module fibo.py
def fib(n): # write Fib. series up to n
...
def fib2(n): # return Fib. series up to n
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Modules
 import module:
import fibo
 Use modules via "name space":
>>> fibo.fib(1000)
>>> fibo.__name__
'fibo'
 can give it a local name:
>>> fib = fibo.fib
>>> fib(500)
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Modules
 function definition + executable statements
 executed only when module is imported
 modules have private symbol tables
 avoids name clash for global variables
 accessible as module.globalname
 can import into name space:
>>> from fibo import fib, fib2
>>> fib(500)
 can import all names defined by module:
>>> from fibo import *
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Module search path
 current directory
 list of directories specified in PYTHONPATH
environment variable
 uses installation-default if not defined, e.g.,
.:/usr/local/lib/python
 uses sys.path
>>> import sys
>>> sys.path
['', 'C:PROGRA~1Python2.2', 'C:Program
FilesPython2.2DLLs', 'C:Program
FilesPython2.2lib', 'C:Program
FilesPython2.2liblib-tk', 'C:Program
FilesPython2.2', 'C:Program FilesPython2.2libsite-
packages']
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Compiled Python files
 include byte-compiled version of module if there
exists fibo.pyc in same directory as fibo.py
 only if creation time of fibo.pyc matches fibo.py
 automatically write compiled file, if possible
 platform independent
 doesn't run any faster, but loads faster
 can have only .pyc file  hide source
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Standard modules
 system-dependent list
 always sys module
>>> import sys
>>> sys.p1
'>>> '
>>> sys.p2
'... '
>>> sys.path.append('/some/directory')
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Module listing
 use dir() for each module
>>> dir(fibo)
['___name___', 'fib', 'fib2']
>>> dir(sys)
['__displayhook__', '__doc__', '__excepthook__', '__name__', '__stderr__', '__st
din__', '__stdout__', '_getframe', 'argv', 'builtin_module_names', 'byteorder',
'copyright', 'displayhook', 'dllhandle', 'exc_info', 'exc_type', 'excepthook', '
exec_prefix', 'executable', 'exit', 'getdefaultencoding', 'getrecursionlimit', '
getrefcount', 'hexversion', 'last_type', 'last_value', 'maxint', 'maxunicode', '
modules', 'path', 'platform', 'prefix', 'ps1', 'ps2', 'setcheckinterval', 'setpr
ofile', 'setrecursionlimit', 'settrace', 'stderr', 'stdin', 'stdout', 'version',
'version_info', 'warnoptions', 'winver']
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Classes
 mixture of C++ and Modula-3
 multiple base classes
 derived class can override any methods of its
base class(es)
 method can call the method of a base class with
the same name
 objects have private data
 C++ terms:
 all class members are public
 all member functions are virtual
 no constructors or destructors (not needed)
2019

Classes
 classes (and data types) are objects
 built-in types cannot be used as base
classes by user
 arithmetic operators, subscripting can be
redefined for class instances (like C++,
unlike Java)
2019

Class definitions
Class ClassName:
<statement-1>
...
<statement-N>
 must be executed
 can be executed conditionally (see Tcl)
 creates new namespace
2019

Namespaces
 mapping from name to object:
 built-in names (abs())
 global names in module
 local names in function invocation
 attributes = any following a dot
 z.real, z.imag
 attributes read-only or writable
 module attributes are writeable
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Namespaces
 scope = textual region of Python program where
a namespace is directly accessible (without dot)
 innermost scope (first) = local names
 middle scope = current module's global names
 outermost scope (last) = built-in names
 assignments always affect innermost scope
 don't copy, just create name bindings to objects
 global indicates name is in global scope
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Class objects
 obj.name references (plus module!):
class MyClass:
"A simple example class"
i = 123
def f(self):
return 'hello world'
>>> MyClass.i
123
 MyClass.f is method object
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Class objects
 class instantiation:
>>> x = MyClass()
>>> x.f()
'hello world'
 creates new instance of class
 note x = MyClass vs. x = MyClass()
 ___init__() special method for initialization of
object
def __init__(self,realpart,imagpart):
self.r = realpart
self.i = imagpart
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Instance objects
 attribute references
 data attributes (C++/Java data members)
 created dynamically
x.counter = 1
while x.counter < 10:
x.counter = x.counter * 2
print x.counter
del x.counter
2019

Method objects
 Called immediately:
x.f()
 can be referenced:
xf = x.f
while 1:
print xf()
 object is passed as first argument of
function  'self'
 x.f() is equivalent to MyClass.f(x)
2019

Notes on classes
 Data attributes override method attributes
with the same name
 no real hiding  not usable to implement
pure abstract data types
 clients (users) of an object can add data
attributes
 first argument of method usually called
self
 'self' has no special meaning (cf. Java)
2019

Another example
 bag.py
class Bag:
def __init__(self):
self.data = []
def add(self, x):
self.data.append(x)
def addtwice(self,x):
self.add(x)
self.add(x)
2019

Another example, cont'd.
 invoke:
>>> from bag import *
>>> l = Bag()
>>> l.add('first')
>>> l.add('second')
>>> l.data
['first', 'second']
2019

Inheritance
class DerivedClassName(BaseClassName)
<statement-1>
...
<statement-N>
 search class attribute, descending chain of
base classes
 may override methods in the base class
 call directly via BaseClassName.method
2019

Multiple inheritance
class DerivedClass(Base1,Base2,Base3):
<statement>
 depth-first, left-to-right
 problem: class derived from two classes
with a common base class
2019

Private variables
 No real support, but textual replacement
(name mangling)
 __var is replaced by _classname_var
 prevents only accidental modification, not
true protection
2019

~ C structs
 Empty class definition:
class Employee:
pass
john = Employee()
john.name = 'John Doe'
john.dept = 'CS'
john.salary = 1000
2019

Exceptions
 syntax (parsing) errors
while 1 print 'Hello World'
File "<stdin>", line 1
while 1 print 'Hello World'
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
 exceptions
 run-time errors
 e.g., ZeroDivisionError, NameError,
TypeError
2019

Handling exceptions
while 1:
try:
x = int(raw_input("Please enter a number: "))
break
except ValueError:
print "Not a valid number"
 First, execute try clause
 if no exception, skip except clause
 if exception, skip rest of try clause and use except
clause
 if no matching exception, attempt outer try statement
2019

Handling exceptions
 try.py
import sys
for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
try:
f = open(arg, 'r')
except IOError:
print 'cannot open', arg
else:
print arg, 'lines:', len(f.readlines())
f.close
 e.g., as python try.py *.py
2019

Language comparison
Tcl Perl Python JavaScript Visual
Basic
Speed development     
regexp   
breadth extensible   
embeddable  
easy GUI   (Tk) 
net/web     
enterprise cross-platform    
I18N    
thread-safe   
database access     
2019

2019

Sequence types:
Tuples, Lists, and
Strings

Sequence Types
1. Tuple: (‘john’, 32, [CMSC])
 A simple immutable ordered sequence of
items
 Items can be of mixed types, including
collection types
2. Strings: “John Smith”
 Immutable
 Conceptually very much like a tuple
3. List: [1, 2, ‘john’, (‘up’, ‘down’)]
 Mutable ordered sequence of items of
mixed types
2019

Similar Syntax
 All three sequence types (tuples, strings,
and lists) share much of the same syntax
and functionality.
 Key difference:
 Tuples and strings are immutable
 Lists are mutable
 The operations shown in this section can
be applied to all sequence types
 most examples will just show the
operation performed on one
2019

Sequence Types 1
 Define tuples using parentheses and commas
>>> tu = (23, ‘abc’, 4.56, (2,3),
‘def’)
 Define lists are using square brackets and
commas
>>> li = [“abc”, 34, 4.34, 23]
 Define strings using quotes (“, ‘, or “““).
>>> st = “Hello World”
>>> st = ‘Hello World’
>>> st = “““This is a multi-line
2019

Sequence Types 2
 Access individual members of a tuple, list, or
string using square bracket “array” notation
 Note that all are 0 based…
>>> tu = (23, ‘abc’, 4.56, (2,3), ‘def’)
>>> tu[1] # Second item in the tuple.
‘abc’
>>> li = [“abc”, 34, 4.34, 23]
>>> li[1] # Second item in the list.
34
>>> st = “Hello World”
>>> st[1] # Second character in string.
‘e’
2019

Positive and negative indices
>>> t = (23, ‘abc’, 4.56, (2,3),
‘def’)
Positive index: count from the left, starting with 0
>>> t[1]
‘abc’
Negative index: count from right, starting with –1
>>> t[-3]
4.56
2019

Slicing: return copy of a subset
>>> t = (23, ‘abc’, 4.56,
(2,3), ‘def’)
Return a copy of the container with a subset of
the original members. Start copying at the first
index, and stop copying before second.
>>> t[1:4]
(‘abc’, 4.56, (2,3))
Negative indices count from end
>>> t[1:-1]
(‘abc’, 4.56, (2,3))
2019

Slicing: return copy of a =subset
>>> t = (23, ‘abc’, 4.56,
(2,3), ‘def’)
Omit first index to make copy starting from
beginning of the container
>>> t[:2]
(23, ‘abc’)
Omit second index to make copy starting at first
index and going to end
>>> t[2:]
(4.56, (2,3), ‘def’)
2019

Copying the Whole Sequence
 [ : ] makes a copy of an entire sequence
>>> t[:]
(23, ‘abc’, 4.56, (2,3), ‘def’)
 Note the difference between these two lines
for mutable sequences
>>> l2 = l1 # Both refer to 1
ref,
# changing one
affects both
>>> l2 = l1[:] # Independent 113Overview of Python Programming
2019

The ‘in’ Operator
 Boolean test whether a value is inside a
container:
>>> t = [1, 2, 4, 5]
>>> 3 in t
False
>>> 4 in t
True
>>> 4 not in t
False
 For strings, tests for substrings
>>> a = 'abcde'
>>> 'c' in a
True
>>> 'cd' in a
True
>>> 'ac' in a
False
 Be careful: the in keyword is also used in 114Overview of Python Programming
2019

The + Operator
The + operator produces a new tuple, list, or
string whose value is the concatenation of its
arguments.
>>> (1, 2, 3) + (4, 5, 6)
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
>>> [1, 2, 3] + [4, 5, 6]
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
>>> “Hello” + “ ” + “World” 115Overview of Python Programming
2019

The * Operator
 The * operator produces a new tuple, list, or
string that “repeats” the original content.
>>> (1, 2, 3) * 3
(1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3)
>>> [1, 2, 3] * 3
[1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]
>>> “Hello” * 3
‘HelloHelloHello’
2019

Lists are mutable
>>> li = [‘abc’, 23, 4.34, 23]
>>> li[1] = 45
>>> li
[‘abc’, 45, 4.34, 23]
 We can change lists in place.
 Name li still points to the same memory
reference when we’re done.
2019

Tuples are immutable
>>> t = (23, ‘abc’, 4.56, (2,3), ‘def’)
>>> t[2] = 3.14
File "<pyshell#75>", line 1, in -toplevel-
tu[2] = 3.14
TypeError: object doesn't support item assignment
You can’t change a tuple.
You can make a fresh tuple and assign its
reference to a previously used name.
>>> t = (23, ‘abc’, 3.14, (2,3), ‘def’)
The immutability of tuples means they’re faster
than lists.
2019

Operations on Lists Only
>>> li = [1, 11, 3, 4, 5]
>>> li.append(‘a’) # Note the
method syntax
>>> li
[1, 11, 3, 4, 5, ‘a’]
>>> li.insert(2, ‘i’)
>>>li 120Overview of Python Programming
2019

The extend method vs +
 + creates a fresh list with a new memory ref
 extend operates on list li in place.
>>> li.extend([9, 8, 7])
>>> li
[1, 2, ‘i’, 3, 4, 5, ‘a’, 9, 8, 7]
 Potentially confusing:
 extend takes a list as an argument.
 append takes a singleton as an argument.
>>> li.append([10, 11, 12])
>>> li
[1, 2, ‘i’, 3, 4, 5, ‘a’, 9, 8, 7, [10,
11, 12]] 121Overview of Python Programming
2019

Lists have many methods, including index, count,
remove, reverse, sort
>>> li = [‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘b’]
>>> li.index(‘b’) # index of 1st
occurrence
1
>>> li.count(‘b’) # number of
occurrences
2
>>> li.remove(‘b’) # remove 1st
2019

>>> li = [5, 2, 6, 8]
>>> li.reverse() # reverse the list *in place*
>>> li
[8, 6, 2, 5]
>>> li.sort() # sort the list *in place*
>>> li
[2, 5, 6, 8]
>>> li.sort(some_function)
# sort in place using user-defined comparison
2019

Tuple details
The comma is the tuple creation operator,
not parens
>>> 1,
(1,)
Python shows parens for clarity (best
practice)
>>> (1,)
(1,)
Don't forget the comma!
>>> (1)
1
Trailing comma only required for
singletons others 124Overview of Python Programming
2019

Summary: Tuples vs. Lists
 Lists slower but more powerful than tuples
 Lists can be modified, and they have lots of
handy operations and mehtods
 Tuples are immutable and have fewer features
 To convert between tuples and lists use the list()
and tuple() functions:
li = list(tu)
tu = tuple(li)
2019

2019

More than just printing
 Python is an object oriented language
 Practically everything can be treated as an
object
 “hello world” is a string
 Strings, as objects, have methods that
return the result of a function on the string
2019

String Methods
 Assign a string to a
variable
 In this case “hw”
 hw.title()
 hw.upper()
 hw.isdigit()
 hw.islower()
2019

String Methods
 The string held in your variable remains
the same
 The method returns an altered string
 Changing the variable requires
reassignment
 hw = hw.upper()
 hw now equals “HELLO WORLD”
2019

Other Python Objects
 Lists (mutable sets of strings)
 var = [] # create list
 var = [‘one’, 2, ‘three’, ‘banana’]
 Tuples (immutable sets)
 var = (‘one’, 2, ‘three’, ‘banana’)
 Dictionaries (associative arrays or ‘hashes’)
 var = {} # create dictionary
 var = {‘lat’: 40.20547, ‘lon’: -74.76322}
 var[‘lat’] = 40.2054
 Each has its own set of methods
2019

Lists
 Think of a list as a stack of cards, on
which your information is written
 The information stays in the order you
place it in until you modify that order
 Methods return a string or subset of the
list or modify the list to add or remove
components
 Written as var[index], index refers to
order within set (think card number,
starting at 0) 132Overview of Python Programming
2019

List Methods
 Adding to the List
 var[n] = object
 replaces n with object
 var.append(object)
 adds object to the end of the list
 Removing from the List
 var[n] = []
 empties contents of card, but preserves order
 var.remove(n)
 removes card at n
 var.pop(n)
 removes n and returns its value
2019

Lists in ArcToolbox
You will create lists:
 Layers as inputs
 Attributes to match
 Arrays of objects
You will work with
lists:
 List of field names
 List of selected
features
2019

Tuples
 Like a list, tuples are iterable arrays of
objects
 Tuples are immutable –
once created, unchangeable
 To add or remove items, you must
redeclare
 Example uses of tuples
 County Names
 Land Use Codes
 Ordered set of functions 135Overview of Python Programming
2019

Dictionaries
 Dictionaries are sets of key & value pairs
 Allows you to identify values by a
descriptive name instead of order in a list
 Keys are unordered unless explicitly sorted
 Keys are unique:
 var[‘item’] = “apple”
 var[‘item’] = “banana”
 print var[‘item’] prints just banana
2019

Indentation and Blocks
 Python uses whitespace and indents to
denote blocks of code
 Lines of code that begin a block end in a
colon:
 Lines within the code block are indented at
the same level
 To end a code block, remove the
indentation
 You'll want blocks of code that run only
when certain conditions are met 137Overview of Python Programming
2019

Conditional Branching
 if and else
if variable == condition:
#do something based on v == c
else:
#do something based on v != c
 elif allows for additional branching
if condition:
elif another condition:
…
else: #none of the above
2019

Looping with For
 For allows you to loop over a block of code a
set number of times
 For is great for manipulating lists:
a = ['cat', 'window', 'defenestrate']
for x in a:
print x, len(x)
Results:
cat 3
window 6
defenestrate 12
2019

Looping with For
 We could use a for loop to perform
geoprocessing tasks on each layer in a list
 We could get a list of features in a feature
class and loop over each, checking
attributes
 Anything in a sequence or list can be used
in a For loop
 Just be sure not to modify the list while
looping
2019

Modules
 Modules are additional pieces of code that
further extend Python’s functionality
 A module typically has a specific function
 additional math functions, databases,
network…
 Python comes with many useful modules
 arcgisscripting is the module we will use to
load ArcGIS toolbox functions into Python
2019

Modules
 Modules are accessed using import
 import sys, os # imports two modules
 Modules can have subsets of functions
 os.path is a subset within os
 Modules are then addressed by
modulename.function()
 sys.argv # list of arguments
 filename = os.path.splitext("points.txt")
 filename[1] # equals ".txt"
2019

Files
 Files are manipulated by creating a file
object
 f = open("points.txt", "r")
 The file object then has new methods
 print f.readline() # prints line from file
 Files can be accessed to read or write
 f = open("output.txt", "w")
 f.write("Important Output!")
 Files are iterable objects, like lists
2019

Error Capture
 Check for type assignment errors, items
not in a list, etc.
 Try & Except
try:
a block of code that might have an error
except:
code to execute if an error occurs in "try"
 Allows for graceful failure
– important in ArcGIS
2019

2019

List
A compound data type:
[0]
[2.3, 4.5]
[5, "Hello", "there", 9.8]
[]
Use len() to get the length of a list
>>> names = [“Ben", “Chen", “Yaqin"]
>>> len(names)
3
2019

Use [ ] to index items in the
list
>>> names[0]
‘Ben'
>>> names[1]
‘Chen'
>>> names[2]
‘Yaqin'
>>> names[3]
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
IndexError: list index out of range
>>> names[-1]
‘Yaqin'
>>> names[-2]
‘Chen'
>>> names[-3]
‘Ben'
[0] is the first item.
[1] is the second item
...
Out of range values
raise an exception
Negative values
go backwards from
the last element.
2019

Strings share many features with
lists
>>> smiles = "C(=N)(N)N.C(=O)(O)O"
>>> smiles[0]
'C'
>>> smiles[1]
'('
>>> smiles[-1]
'O'
>>> smiles[1:5]
'(=N)'
>>> smiles[10:-4]
'C(=O)'
Use “slice” notation to
get a substring
2019

String Methods: find, split
smiles = "C(=N)(N)N.C(=O)(O)O"
>>> smiles.find("(O)")
15
>>> smiles.find(".")
9
>>> smiles.find(".", 10)
-1
>>> smiles.split(".")
['C(=N)(N)N', 'C(=O)(O)O']
>>>
Use “find” to find the
start of a substring.
Start looking at position 10.
Find returns -1 if it couldn’t
find a match.
Split the string into parts
with “.” as the delimiter
2019

String operators: in, not in
if "Br" in “Brother”:
print "contains brother“
email_address = “clin”
if "@" not in email_address:
email_address += "@brandeis.edu“
2019

String Method: “strip”, “rstrip”, “lstrip” are
ways to
remove whitespace or selected characters
>>> line = " # This is a comment line n"
>>> line.strip()
'# This is a comment line'
>>> line.rstrip()
' # This is a comment line'
>>> line.rstrip("n")
' # This is a comment line '
>>>
2019

More String methods
email.startswith(“c") endswith(“u”)
True/False
>>> "%s@brandeis.edu" % "clin"
'clin@brandeis.edu'
>>> ", ".join(names)
‘Ben, Chen, Yaqin‘
>>> “chen".upper()
‘CHEN'
2019

Unexpected things about
strings
>>> s = "andrew"
>>> s[0] = "A"
TypeError: 'str' object does not support item
assignment
>>> s = "A" + s[1:]
>>> s
'Andrew‘
Strings are read only
2019

“” is for special characters
n -> newline
t -> tab
-> backslash
...
But Windows uses backslash for directories!
filename = "M:nickel_projectreactive.smi" # DANGER!
filename = "M:nickel_projectreactive.smi" # Better!
filename = "M:/nickel_project/reactive.smi" # Usually works
2019

Lists are mutable - some useful
methods
>>> ids = ["9pti", "2plv", "1crn"]
>>> ids.append("1alm")
>>> ids
['9pti', '2plv', '1crn', '1alm']
>>>ids.extend(L)
Extend the list by appending all the items in the given list; equivalent to a[len(a):] = L.
>>> del ids[0]
>>> ids
['2plv', '1crn', '1alm']
>>> ids.sort()
>>> ids
['1alm', '1crn', '2plv']
>>> ids.reverse()
>>> ids
['2plv', '1crn', '1alm']
>>> ids.insert(0, "9pti")
>>> ids
['9pti', '2plv', '1crn', '1alm']
append an element
remove an element
sort by default order
reverse the elements in a list
insert an element at some
specified position.
(Slower than .append())
2019

Tuples: sort of an immutable
list
>>> yellow = (255, 255, 0) # r, g, b
>>> one = (1,)
>>> yellow[0]
>>> yellow[1:]
(255, 0)
>>> yellow[0] = 0
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment
Very common in string interpolation:
>>> "%s lives in %s at latitude %.1f" % ("Andrew", "Sweden",
57.7056)
'Andrew lives in Sweden at latitude 57.7'
2019

zipping lists together
>>> names
['ben', 'chen', 'yaqin']
>>> gender = [0, 0, 1]
>>> zip(names, gender)
[('ben', 0), ('chen', 0), ('yaqin', 1)]
2019

Dictionaries
 Dictionaries are lookup tables.
 They map from a “key” to a “value”.
symbol_to_name = {
"H": "hydrogen",
"He": "helium",
"Li": "lithium",
"C": "carbon",
"O": "oxygen",
"N": "nitrogen"
}
 Duplicate keys are not allowed
 Duplicate values are just fine
2019

Keys can be any immutable value
numbers, strings, tuples, frozenset,
not list, dictionary, set, ...
atomic_number_to_name = {
1: "hydrogen"
6: "carbon",
7: "nitrogen"
8: "oxygen",
}
nobel_prize_winners = {
(1979, "physics"): ["Glashow", "Salam", "Weinberg"],
(1962, "chemistry"): ["Hodgkin"],
(1984, "biology"): ["McClintock"],
}
A set is an unordered collection
with no duplicate elements.
2019

Dictionary
>>> symbol_to_name["C"]
'carbon'
>>> "O" in symbol_to_name, "U" in symbol_to_name
(True, False)
>>> "oxygen" in symbol_to_name
False
>>> symbol_to_name["P"]
KeyError: 'P'
>>> symbol_to_name.get("P", "unknown")
'unknown'
>>> symbol_to_name.get("C", "unknown")
'carbon'
Get the value for a given key
Test if the key exists
(“in” only checks the keys,
not the values.)
[] lookup failures raise an exception.
Use “.get()” if you want
to return a default value. 161Overview of Python Programming
2019

Some useful dictionary
methods
>>> symbol_to_name.keys()
['C', 'H', 'O', 'N', 'Li', 'He']
>>> symbol_to_name.values()
['carbon', 'hydrogen', 'oxygen', 'nitrogen', 'lithium', 'helium']
>>> symbol_to_name.update( {"P": "phosphorous", "S": "sulfur"} )
>>> symbol_to_name.items()
[('C', 'carbon'), ('H', 'hydrogen'), ('O', 'oxygen'), ('N', 'nitrogen'), ('P',
'phosphorous'), ('S', 'sulfur'), ('Li', 'lithium'), ('He', 'helium')]
>>> del symbol_to_name['C']
>>> symbol_to_name
{'H': 'hydrogen', 'O': 'oxygen', 'N': 'nitrogen', 'Li': 'lithium', 'He': 'helium'}
2019

 Background
 Data Types/Structure
list, string, tuple, dictionary
 Control flow
 File I/O
 Modules
 Class
 NLTK
2019

Control Flow
Things that are False
 The boolean value False
 The numbers 0 (integer), 0.0 (float) and 0j (complex).
 The empty string "".
 The empty list [], empty dictionary {} and empty set
set().
Things that are True
 The boolean value True
 All non-zero numbers.
 Any string containing at least one character.
 A non-empty data structure.
2019

If
>>> smiles = "BrC1=CC=C(C=C1)NN.Cl"
>>> bool(smiles)
True
>>> not bool(smiles)
False
>>> if not smiles:
... print "The SMILES string is empty"
...
 The “else” case is always optional
2019

Use “elif” to chain subsequent
tests
>>> mode = "absolute"
>>> if mode == "canonical":
... smiles = "canonical"
... elif mode == "isomeric":
... smiles = "isomeric”
... elif mode == "absolute":
... smiles = "absolute"
... else:
... raise TypeError("unknown mode")
...
>>> smiles
' absolute '
>>>
“raise” is the Python way to raise exceptions
2019

Boolean logic
Python expressions can have “and”s and
“or”s:
if (ben <= 5 and chen >= 10 or
chen == 500 and ben != 5):
print “Ben and Chen“
2019

Range Test
if (3 <= Time <= 5):
print “Office Hour"
2019

For
>>> for name in names:
... print smiles
...
Ben
Chen
Yaqin
2019

Tuple assignment in for loops
data = [ ("C20H20O3", 308.371),
("C22H20O2", 316.393),
("C24H40N4O2", 416.6),
("C14H25N5O3", 311.38),
("C15H20O2", 232.3181)]
for (formula, mw) in data:
print "The molecular weight of %s is %s" % (formula, mw)
The molecular weight of C20H20O3 is 308.371
The molecular weight of C24H40N4O2 is 416.6
The molecular weight of C14H25N5O3 is 311.38
2019

Break, continue
>>> for value in [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2]:
... print "Checking", value
... if value > 8:
... print "Exiting for loop"
... break
... elif value < 3:
... print "Ignoring"
... continue
... print "The square is", value**2
...
Use “break” to stop
the for loop
Use “continue” to stop
processing the current
item
Checking 3
The square is 9
Checking 1
Ignoring
Checking 4
The square is 16
Checking 1
Ignoring
Checking 5
The square is 25
Checking 9
Exiting for loop
>>>
2019

Range()
 “range” creates a list of numbers in a specified range
 range([start,] stop[, step]) -> list of integers
 When step is given, it specifies the increment (or decrement).
>>> range(5)
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> range(5, 10)
[5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
>>> range(0, 10, 2)
[0, 2, 4, 6, 8]
How to get every second element in a list?
for i in range(0, len(data), 2):
print data[i]
2019

 Background
 Control flow
 File I/O
 Modules
 Class
 NLTK
2019

Reading files
>>> f = open(“names.txt")
>>> f.readline()
'Yaqinn'
2019

Quick Way
>>> lst= [ x for x in open("text.txt","r").readlines() ]
>>> lst
['Chen Linn', 'clin@brandeis.edun', 'Volen 110n', 'Office
Hour: Thurs. 3-5n', 'n', 'Yaqin Yangn',
'yaqin@brandeis.edun', 'Volen 110n', 'Offiche Hour:
Tues. 3-5n']
Ignore the header?
for (i,line) in enumerate(open(‘text.txt’,"r").readlines()):
if i == 0: continue
print line
2019

Using dictionaries to count
occurrences
>>> for line in open('names.txt'):
... name = line.strip()
... name_count[name] = name_count.get(name,0)+ 1
...
>>> for (name, count) in name_count.items():
... print name, count
...
Chen 3
Ben 3
Yaqin 3
2019

File Output
input_file = open(“in.txt")
output_file = open(“out.txt", "w")
for line in input_file:
output_file.write(line)
“w” = “write mode”
“a” = “append mode”
“wb” = “write in binary”
“r” = “read mode” (default)
“rb” = “read in binary”
“U” = “read files with Unix
or Windows line endings”
2019

 Background
 Control flow
 File I/O
 Modules
 Class
 NLTK
2019

Modules
 When a Python program starts it only has
access to a basic functions and classes.
(“int”, “dict”, “len”, “sum”, “range”, ...)
 “Modules” contain additional functionality.
 Use “import” to tell Python to load a
module.
>>> import math
>>> import nltk
2019

import the math module
>>> import math
>>> math.pi
3.1415926535897931
>>> math.cos(0)
1.0
>>> math.cos(math.pi)
-1.0
>>> dir(math)
['__doc__', '__file__', '__name__', '__package__', 'acos', 'acosh',
'asin', 'asinh', 'atan', 'atan2', 'atanh', 'ceil', 'copysign', 'cos',
'cosh', 'degrees', 'e', 'exp', 'fabs', 'factorial', 'floor', 'fmod',
'frexp', 'fsum', 'hypot', 'isinf', 'isnan', 'ldexp', 'log', 'log10',
'log1p', 'modf', 'pi', 'pow', 'radians', 'sin', 'sinh', 'sqrt', 'tan',
'tanh', 'trunc']
>>> help(math)
>>> help(math.cos)
2019

“import” and “from ... import ...”
>>> import math
math.cos
>>> from math import cos, pi
cos
>>> from math import *
2019

 Background
 Control flow
 File I/O
 Modules
 Class
 NLTK
2019

Classes
class ClassName(object):
<statement-1>
. . .
<statement-N>
class MyClass(object):
"""A simple example class"""
i = 12345
def f(self):
return self.i
class DerivedClassName(BaseClassName):
<statement-1>
. . .
<statement-N>
2019

 Background
 Control flow
 File I/O
 Modules
 Class
 NLTK
2019

2019

186
Expressions
 expression: A data value or set of
operations to compute a value.
Examples: 1 + 4 * 3
42
 Arithmetic operators we will use:
 + - * / addition,
subtraction/negation, multiplication, division
 % modulus, a.k.a. remainder
 ** exponentiation
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187
Integer division
 When we divide integers with / , the
quotient is also an integer.
3 52
4 ) 14 27 ) 1425
12 135
2 75
54
21
 More examples:
 35 / 5 is 7
 84 / 10 is 8
 156 / 100 is 1
 The % operator computes the remainderOverview of Python Programming
2019

188
Real numbers
 Python can also manipulate real numbers.
 Examples: 6.022 -15.9997 42.0
2.143e17
 The operators + - * / % ** ( ) all work
for real numbers.
 The / produces an exact answer: 15.0 /
2.0 is 7.5
 The same rules of precedence also apply to
real numbers:
Evaluate ( ) before * / % before + -Overview of Python Programming
2019

189
Math commands
 Python has useful commands for performing
calculations.
Command name Description
abs(value) absolute value
ceil(value) rounds up
cos(value) cosine, in radians
floor(value) rounds down
log(value) logarithm, base e
log10(value) logarithm, base 10
max(value1, value2) larger of two values
min(value1, value2) smaller of two values
round(value) nearest whole number
sin(value) sine, in radians
sqrt(value) square root
Constant Description
e 2.7182818...
pi 3.1415926...
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190
Variables
 variable: A named piece of memory that
can store a value.
 Usage:
 Compute an expression's result,
 store that result into a variable,
 and use that variable later in the program.
 assignment statement: Stores a value
into a variable.
 Syntax:
name = value
 Examples: x = 5Overview of Python Programming
2019

191
 print : Produces text output on the console.
 Syntax:
print "Message"
print Expression
 Prints the given text message or expression value
on the console, and moves the cursor down to the
next line.
print Item1, Item2, ..., ItemN
 Prints several messages and/or expressions on the
same line.
print
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192
 input : Reads a number from user input.
 You can assign (store) the result of input into a
variable.
 Example:
age = input("How old are you? ")
print "Your age is", age
print "You have", 65 - age, "years
until retirement"
Output:
How old are you? 53
Your age is 53
You have 12 years until retirement
input
2019

193
Repetition (loops)
and Selection (if/else)

194
The for loop
 for loop: Repeats a set of statements over a group of values.
 Syntax:
for variableName in groupOfValues:
statements
 We indent the statements to be repeated with tabs or spaces.
 variableName gives a name to each value, so you can refer to it in the statements.
 groupOfValues can be a range of integers, specified with the range function.
 Example:
for x in range(1, 6):
print x, "squared is", x * x
Output:
1 squared is 1
2 squared is 4
3 squared is 9
4 squared is 16
5 squared is 25
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195
range
 The range function specifies a range of
integers:
 range(start, stop) - the integers between
start (inclusive)
and stop (exclusive)
 It can also accept a third value specifying the
change between values.
 range(start, stop, step) - the integers
between start (inclusive)
and stop (exclusive) by step
 Example:
for x in range(5, 0, -1):
print x
2019

196
Cumulative loops
 Some loops incrementally compute a value
that is initialized outside the loop. This is
sometimes called a cumulative sum.
sum = 0
for i in range(1, 11):
sum = sum + (i * i)
print "sum of first 10 squares is", sum
Output:
sum of first 10 squares is 385
 Exercise: Write a Python program that
computes the factorial of an integer.
2019

197
if
 if statement: Executes a group of
statements only if a certain condition is
true. Otherwise, the statements are
skipped.
 Syntax:
if condition:
statements
 Example:
gpa = 3.4
if gpa > 2.0:
print "Your application is accepted."
2019

198
if/else
 if/else statement: Executes one block of statements if a certain
condition is True, and a second block of statements if it is False.
 Syntax:
if condition:
statements
else:
statements
 Example:
gpa = 1.4
if gpa > 2.0:
print "Welcome to Mars University!"
else:
print "Your application is denied."
 Multiple conditions can be chained with elif ("else if"):
if condition:
statements
elif condition:
statements
else:
statements
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199
while
 while loop: Executes a group of statements as long as a condition is True.
 good for indefinite loops (repeat an unknown number of times)
 Syntax:
while condition:
statements
 Example:
number = 1
while number < 200:
print number,
number = number * 2
 Output:
1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128
2019

200
Logic
 Many logical expressions use relational operators:
 Logical expressions can be combined with logical operators:
 Exercise: Write code to display and count the factors of a number.
Operator Example Result
and 9 != 6 and 2 < 3 True
or 2 == 3 or -1 < 5 True
not not 7 > 0 False
Operator Meaning Example Result
== equals 1 + 1 == 2 True
!= does not equal 3.2 != 2.5 True
< less than 10 < 5 False
> greater than 10 > 5 True
<= less than or equal to 126 <= 100 False
>= greater than or equal to 5.0 >= 5.0 True
2019

202
 string: A sequence of text characters in a program.
 Strings start and end with quotation mark " or apostrophe ' characters.
 Examples:
"hello"
"This is a string"
"This, too, is a string. It can be very long!"
 A string may not span across multiple lines or contain a " character.
"This is not
a legal String."
"This is not a "legal" String either."
 A string can represent characters by preceding them with a backslash.
 t tab character
 n new line character
 " quotation mark character
 backslash character
 Example: "HellottherenHow are you?"
Strings
2019

203
Indexes
 Characters in a string are numbered with indexes starting at 0:
 Example:
name = "P. Diddy"
 Accessing an individual character of a string:
variableName [ index ]
 Example:
print name, "starts with", name[0]
Output:
P. Diddy starts with P
index 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
character P . D i d d y
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204
String properties
 len(string) - number of characters in a string
(including spaces)
 str.lower(string) - lowercase version of a string
 str.upper(string) - uppercase version of a string
 Example:
name = "Martin Douglas Stepp"
length = len(name)
big_name = str.upper(name)
print big_name, "has", length, "characters"
Output:
MARTIN DOUGLAS STEPP has 20 characters
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205
 raw_input : Reads a string of text from user
input.
 Example:
name = raw_input("Howdy, pardner.
What's yer name? ")
print name, "... what a silly name!"
Output:
Howdy, pardner. What's yer name? Paris
Hilton
Paris Hilton ... what a silly name!
raw_input
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206
Text processing
 text processing: Examining, editing, formatting text.
 often uses loops that examine the characters of a string one by
one
 A for loop can examine each character in a string in sequence.
 Example:
for c in "booyah":
print c
Output:
b
o
o
y
a
h
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207
Strings and numbers
 ord(text) - converts a string into a number.
 Example: ord("a") is 97, ord("b") is 98, ...
 Characters map to numbers using standardized mappings such as
ASCII and Unicode.
 chr(number) - converts a number into a string.
 Example: chr(99) is "c"
 Exercise: Write a program that performs a rotation
cypher.
 e.g. "Attack" when rotated by 1 becomes
"buubdl"
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208
File processing
 Many programs handle data, which often
comes from files.
 Reading the entire contents of a file:
variableName =
open("filename").read()
Example:
file_text =
open("bankaccount.txt").read()
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209
Line-by-line processing
 Reading a file line-by-line:
for line in open("filename").readlines():
statements
Example:
count = 0
for line in open("bankaccount.txt").readlines():
count = count + 1
print "The file contains", count, "lines."
 Exercise: Write a program to process a file of DNA text, such as:
ATGCAATTGCTCGATTAG
 Count the percent of C+G present in the DNA.
2019

2019

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