Book Image

Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming - Third Edition

By : Dusty Phillips
Book Image

Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming - Third Edition

By: Dusty Phillips

Overview of this book

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a popular design paradigm in which data and behaviors are encapsulated in such a way that they can be manipulated together. This third edition of Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming fully explains classes, data encapsulation, and exceptions with an emphasis on when you can use each principle to develop well-designed software. Starting with a detailed analysis of object-oriented programming, you will use the Python programming language to clearly grasp key concepts from the object-oriented paradigm. You will learn how to create maintainable applications by studying higher level design patterns. The book will show you the complexities of string and file manipulation, and how Python distinguishes between binary and textual data. Not one, but two very powerful automated testing systems, unittest and pytest, will be introduced in this book. You'll get a comprehensive introduction to Python's concurrent programming ecosystem. By the end of the book, you will have thoroughly learned object-oriented principles using Python syntax and be able to create robust and reliable programs confidently.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

Dictionaries

Dictionaries are incredibly useful containers that allow us to map objects directly to other objects. An empty object with attributes to it is a sort of dictionary; the names of the properties map to the property values. This is actually closer to the truth than it sounds; internally, objects normally represent attributes as a dictionary, where the values are properties or methods on the objects (see the __dict__ attribute if you don't believe me). Even the attributes on a module are stored, internally, in a dictionary.

Dictionaries are extremely efficient at looking up a value, given a specific key object that maps to that value. They should always be used when you want to find one object based on some other object. The object that is being stored is called the value; the object that is being used as an index is called the key. We've already seen dictionary...