Book Image

The Python Workshop

By : Olivier Pons, Andrew Bird, Dr. Lau Cher Han, Mario Corchero Jiménez, Graham Lee, Corey Wade
Book Image

The Python Workshop

By: Olivier Pons, Andrew Bird, Dr. Lau Cher Han, Mario Corchero Jiménez, Graham Lee, Corey Wade

Overview of this book

Have you always wanted to learn Python, but never quite known how to start? More applications than we realize are being developed using Python because it is easy to learn, read, and write. You can now start learning the language quickly and effectively with the help of this interactive tutorial. The Python Workshop starts by showing you how to correctly apply Python syntax to write simple programs, and how to use appropriate Python structures to store and retrieve data. You'll see how to handle files, deal with errors, and use classes and methods to write concise, reusable, and efficient code. As you advance, you'll understand how to use the standard library, debug code to troubleshoot problems, and write unit tests to validate application behavior. You'll gain insights into using the pandas and NumPy libraries for analyzing data, and the graphical libraries of Matplotlib and Seaborn to create impactful data visualizations. By focusing on entry-level data science, you'll build your practical Python skills in a way that mirrors real-world development. Finally, you'll discover the key steps in building and using simple machine learning algorithms. By the end of this Python book, you'll have the knowledge, skills and confidence to creatively tackle your own ambitious projects with Python.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Inheritance

Class inheritance allows attributes and methods to be passed from one class to another. For example, suppose there is already a class available in a Python package that does almost everything you want. However, you just wish it had one extra method or attribute that would make it right for your purpose. Instead of rewriting the entire class, you could inherit the class and add additional properties, or change existing properties.

The DRY Principle Revisited

Recall the DRY principle: "Every piece of knowledge or logic must have a single, unambiguous representation within a system." So far in this chapter, we have seen how classes allow us to more elegantly encapsulate logic about what objects represent. This has already moved us further along the path to writing clean, modularized code. Inheritance is the next step in this journey. Suppose we wanted to create two classes, one representing cats and the other, dogs.

Our Cat class may look like this:

class...