Chapter 1, Python Objects, Types, and Expressions, introduces you to the basic types and objects of Python. We will give an overview of the language features, execution environment, and programming styles. We will also review the common programming techniques and language functionality.

Chapter 2, Python Data Types and Structures, explains each of the five numeric and five sequence data types, as well as one mapping and two set data types, and examine the operations and expressions applicable to each type. We will also give examples of typical use cases.

Chapter 3, Principles of Algorithm Design, covers how we can build additional structures with specific capabilities using the existing Python data structures. In general, the data structures we create need to conform to a number of principles. These principles include robustness, adaptability, reusability, and separating the structure from a function. We look at the role iteration plays and introduce recursive data structures.

Chapter 4, Lists and Pointer Structures, covers linked lists, which are one of the most common data structures and are often used to implement other structures, such as stacks and queues. In this chapter, we describe their operation and implementation. We compare their behavior to arrays and discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of each.

Chapter 5, Stacks and Queues, discusses the behavior and demonstrates some implementations of these linear data structures. We give examples of typical applications.

Chapter 6, Trees, will look at how to implement a binary tree. Trees form the basis of many of the most important advanced data structures. We will examine how to traverse trees and retrieve and insert values. We will also look at how to create structures such as heaps.

Chapter 7, Hashing and Symbol Tables, describes symbol tables, gives some typical implementations, and discusses various applications. We will look at the process of hashing, give an implementation of a hash table, and discuss the various design considerations.

Chapter 8, Graphs and Other Algorithms, looks at some of the more specialized structures, including graphs and spatial structures. Representing data as a set of nodes and vertices is convenient in a number of applications, and from this, we can create structures such as directed and undirected graphs. We will also introduce some other structures and concepts such as priority queues, heaps, and selection algorithms.

Chapter 9, Searching, discusses the most common searching algorithms and gives examples of their use for various data structures. Searching a data structure is a fundamental task and there are a number of approaches.

Chapter 10, Sorting, looks at the most common approaches to sorting. This will include bubble sort, insertion sort, and selection sort.

Chapter 11, Selection Algorithms, covers algorithms that involve finding statistics, such as the minimum, maximum, or median elements in a list. There are a number of approaches and one of the most common approaches is to first apply a sort operation. Other approaches include partition and linear selection.

Chapter 12, Design Techniques and Strategies, relates to how we look for solutions for similar problems when we are trying to solve a new problem. Understanding how we can classify algorithms and the types of problem that they most naturally solve is a key aspect of algorithm design. There are many ways in which we can classify algorithms, but the most useful classifications tend to revolve around either the implementation method or the design method.

Chapter 13, Implementations, Applications, and Tools, discusses a variety of real-world applications. These include data analysis, machine learning, prediction, and visualization. In addition, there are libraries and tools that make our work with algorithms more productive and enjoyable.

The code in this book will require you to run Python 2.7.x or higher. Python's default interactive environment can also be used to run the snippets of code. In order to use other third-party libraries, pip should be installed on your system.

This book would appeal to Python developers. Basic knowledge of Python is preferred but is not a requirement. No previous knowledge of computer concepts is assumed. Most of the concepts are explained with everyday scenarios to make it very easy to understand.

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "This repetitive construct could be a simple while loop or any other kind of loop."

A block of code is set as follows:

    def dequeue(self):
        if not self.outbound_stack:
            while self.inbound_stack:
                self.outbound_stack.append(self.inbound_stack.pop())
        return self.outbound_stack.pop()

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

    def dequeue(self):
        if not self.outbound_stack:
            while self.inbound_stack:
self.outbound_stack.append(self.inbound_stack.pop())
        return self.outbound_stack.pop()

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

% python bubble.py

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Clicking the Next button moves you to the next screen."

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To send us general feedback, simply e-mail [email protected], and mention the book's title in the subject of your message.

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