Book Image

Python Fundamentals

By : Ryan Marvin, Mark Nganga, Amos Omondi
Book Image

Python Fundamentals

By: Ryan Marvin, Mark Nganga, Amos Omondi

Overview of this book

After a brief history of Python and key differences between Python 2 and Python 3, you'll understand how Python has been used in applications such as YouTube and Google App Engine. As you work with the language, you'll learn about control statements, delve into controlling program flow and gradually work on more structured programs via functions. As you settle into the Python ecosystem, you'll learn about data structures and study ways to correctly store and represent information. By working through specific examples, you'll learn how Python implements object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts of abstraction, encapsulation of data, inheritance, and polymorphism. You'll be given an overview of how imports, modules, and packages work in Python, how you can handle errors to prevent apps from crashing, as well as file manipulation. By the end of this book, you'll have built up an impressive portfolio of projects and armed yourself with the skills you need to tackle Python projects in the real world.

Related Content you might be interested in

Current Title:

Small book image
Python Fundamentals
Ryan Marvin | Mark Nganga | Amos Omondi
Oct, 2018 | 324 pages
Small book image
Learn Python in 7 Days
Bhaskar N Das | Mohit Raj
May, 2017 | 280 pages
Small book image
The Python Apprentice
Austin Bingham | Robert Smallshire
Jun, 2017 | 352 pages
Small book image
Mastering Python Scripting for System Administrators
Ganesh Naik
Jan, 2019 | 318 pages
Table of Contents (12 chapters)
Python Fundamentals
Python Fundamentals
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Introducing Python
Introducing Python
Introduction
Working with the Python Interactive Shell
Writing and Running Simple Scripts
Python Syntax
Variables
User Input, Comments, and Indentations
Summary
2
Data Types
Data Types
Introduction
Numerical Data
Strings
Lists
Booleans
Summary
3
Control Statements
Control Statements
Introduction
Control Statements
The if Statement
The while Statement
while Versus if
Loops
The for Loop
The range Function
Nesting Loops
Breaking Out of Loops
Summary
4
Functions
Functions
Introduction
Built-In Functions
User-Defined Functions
Function Arguments
Anonymous Functions
Summary
5
Lists and Tuples
Lists and Tuples
Introduction
List Syntax
List Methods
List Comprehensions
Tuple Syntax
Accessing Tuple Elements
Accessing Tuple Elements
Tuple Methods
Summary
6
Dictionaries and Sets
Dictionaries and Sets
Introduction
Working with Dictionaries
Additional Dictionary Attributes
Ordered Dictionaries
The Basics of Sets
Set Operations
Frozen Sets
Summary
7
Object-Oriented Programming
Object-Oriented Programming
Introduction
A First Look at OOP
OOP in Python
Methods in a Class
Class Versus Instance Attributes
Class Versus Instance Methods
Class Inheritance
Multiple Inheritance
Summary
8
Modules, Packages, and File Operations
Modules, Packages, and File Operations
Introduction
Defining Modules
Imports and Import Statements
Modules and Packages
File Operations
The file Object
Reading and Writing to Files
Handling Structured Data
Summary
9
Error Handling
Error Handling
Introduction
Built-In Exceptions
Handling Errors and Exceptions
Custom Exceptions
Summary
Appendix A
Appendix A
Chapter 1: Introducing Python
Chapter 2: Data Types
Chapter 3: Control Statements
Chapter 4: Functions
Chapter 5: Lists and Tuples
Chapter 6: Dictionaries and Sets
Chapter 7: Object-Oriented Programming
Chapter 8: Modules, Packages, and File Operations
Chapter 9: Error Handling

The if Statement

An if statement allows you to execute a block of code if a condition is true. Otherwise, it can run an alternative block of code in its else clause.

The else clause of an if statement is optional.

You can chain multiple if statements that check for multiple conditions one after the other and execute a different block of code when the various conditions are true.

The basic syntax of an if statement is shown here:

if condition:
  # Run this code if the condition evaluates to True
else:
  # Run this code if the condition evaluates to False

As you can see, the if statement allows you to branch the execution of code based on a condition. If the condition evaluates to true, we execute the code in the if block. If the condition evaluates to false, we execute the code in the else block.

Exercise 14: Using the if Statement

In this exercise, we will see a practical application of the if statement:

  1. First, declare a variable of type string called release_year and assign the value 1991 to it...

Previous Section
End of Section 4
Next Section