9/15/2020 Python Glossary | Codecademy

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Python Glossary
Programming reference for Python

Class
Python is an Language that supports the Object Oriented Programming
paradigm. Like other OOP languages, Python has classes which are de ned
wireframes of objects. Python supports class inheritance. A class may have
many subclasses but may only inherit directly from one superclass.

Syntax

class ClassName(object):
"""This is a class"""
class_variable
def __init__(self,*args):

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self.args = args
def __repr__(self):
return "Something to represent the object as a string"
def other_method(self,*args):
# do something else

Example

class Horse(object):
"""Horse represents a Horse"""
species = "Equus ferus caballus"
def __init__(self,color,weight,wild=False):
self.color = color
self.weight = weight
self.wild = wild
def __repr__(self):
return "%s horse weighing %f and wild status is %b" %
(self.color,self.weight,self.wild)
def make_sound(self):
print "neighhhh"
def movement(self):
return "walk"

Syntax

class ClassName(SuperClass):
# same as above
# use 'super' keyword to get from above

Example
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class RaceHorse(Horse):
"""A faster horse that inherits from Horse"""
def movement(self):
return "run"
def movement_slow(self):
return super(Horse,self).movement()
def __repr__(self):
return "%s race horse weighing %f and wild status is %b"
(self.color,self.weight,self.wild)

>> horse3 = RaceHorse("white",200)

>> print horse3.movement_slow()
"walk"
>> print horse3.movement()
"run"

Comments
SINGLE-LINE COMMENTS

Augmenting code with human readable descriptions can help document

design decisions.

Example

# this is a single line comment.

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MULTI-LINE COMMENTS

Some comments need to span several lines, use this if you have more than
4 single line comments in a row.

Example

'''
this is
a multi-line
comment, i am handy for commenting out whole
chunks of code very fast
'''

Dictionaries
Dictionaries are Python’s built-in associative data type. A dictionary is
made of key-value pairs where each key corresponds to a value. Like sets,
dictionaries are unordered. A few notes about keys and values: * The key
must be immutable and hashable while the value can be of any type.
Common examples of keys are tuples, strings and numbers. * A single
dictionary can contain keys of varying types and values of varying types.

Syntax

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dict() #creates new empty dictionary

{} #creates new empty dictionary

Example

>> my_dict = {}
>> content_of_value1 = "abcd"
>> content_of_value2 = "wxyz"
>> my_dict.update({"key_name1":content_of_value1})
>> my_dict.update({"key_name2":content_of_value2})
>> my_dict
{'key_name1':"abcd", 'key_name2':"wxyz"}
>> my_dict.get("key_name2")
"wxyz"

Syntax

{key1:value1,key2:value2}

Example

>> my_dict = {"key1":[1,2,3],"key2":"I am a string",123:456}

>> my_dict["key1"] #[1,2,3]
>> my_dict[123] #456
>> my_dict["new key"] = "New value"
>> print my_dict
{"key2":"I am a string", "new key":"New value", "key1":
[1,2,3],123:456}

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Functions
Python functions can be used to abstract pieces of code to use elsewhere.

Syntax

def function_name(parameters):
# Some code here

Example

def add_two(a, b):

c = a + b
return c

# or without the interim assignment to c

def add_two(a, b):
return a + b

Syntax

def function_name(parameters, named_default_parameter=value):

# Some code here

Example

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def shout(exclamation="Hey!"):
print exclamation

shout() # Displays "Hey!"

shout("Watch Out!") # Displays "Watch Out!"

FUNCTION OBJECTS

Python functions are rst-class objects, which means that they can be
stored in variables and lists and can even be returned by other functions.

Example

# Storing function objects in variables:

def say_hello(name):
return "Hello, " + name

foo = say_hello("Alice")
# Now the value of 'foo' is "Hello, Alice"

fun = say_hello
# Now the value of 'fun' is a function object we can use like the
original function:
bar = fun("Bob")
# Now the value of 'bar' is "Hello, Bob"

Example

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# Returning functions from functions

# A simple function
def say_hello(greeter, greeted):
return "Hello, " + greeted + ", I'm " + greeter + "."

# We can use it like this:

print say_hello("Alice", "Bob") # Displays "Hello, Bob, I'm Alice."

# We can also use it in a function:

def produce_greeting_from_alice(greeted):
return say_hello("Alice", greeted)

print produce_greeting_from_alice("Bob") # Displays "Hello, Bob, I'm

Alice."

# We can also return a function from a function by nesting them:

def produce_greeting_from(greeter):
def greet(greeted):
return say_hello(greeter, greeted)
return greet

# Here we create a greeting function for Eve:

produce_greeting_from_eve = produce_greeting_from("Eve")
# 'produce_greeting_from_eve' is now a function:
print produce_greeting_from_eve("Alice") # Displays "Hello, Alice, I'm
Eve."

# You can also invoke the function directly if you want:

print produce_greeting_from("Bob")("Eve") # Displays "Hello, Eve, I'm
Bob."

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Example

# Using functions in a dictionary instead of long if statements:

# Let's say we have a variable called 'current_action' and we want

stuff to happen based on its value:

if current_action == 'PAUSE':
pause()
elif current_action == 'RESTART':
restart()
elif current_action == 'RESUME':
resume()

# This can get long and complicated if there are many values.
# Instead, we can use a dictionary:

response_dict = {
'PAUSE': pause,
'RESTART': restart,
'RESUME': resume
}

response_dict[current_action]() # Gets the correct function from

response_dict and calls it

len()
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Using len(some_object) returns the number of top-level items contained

in the object being queried.

Syntax

len(iterable)

Example

>> my_list = [0,4,5,2,3,4,5]

>> len(my_list)
7

>> my_string = 'abcdef'

>> len(my_string)
6

List
Comprehensions
Convenient ways to generate or extract information from lists.

Syntax

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[variable for variable in iterable condition]

[variable for variable in iterable]

Example

>> x_list = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]

>> even_list = [num for num in x_list if (num % 2 == 0)]
>> even_list
[2,4,6]

>> m_list = ['AB', 'AC', 'DA', 'FG', 'LB']

>> A_list = [duo for duo in m_list if ('A' in duo)]
>> A_list
['AB', 'AC', 'DA']

Lists
A Python data type that holds an ordered collection of values, which can
be of any type. Lists are Python’s ordered mutable data type. Unlike tuples,
lists can be modi ed in-place.

Example

>> x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>> y = ['spam', 'eggs']
>> x

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[1, 2, 3, 4]
>> y
['spam','eggs']

>> y.append('mash')
>> y
['spam', 'eggs', 'mash']

>> y += ['beans']
>> y
['spam', 'eggs', 'mash', 'beans']

Loops
FOR LOOPS

Python provides a clean iteration syntax. Note the colon and indentation.

Example

>> for i in range(0, 3):

>> print(i*2)
0
2
4

>> m_list = ["Sir", "Lancelot", "Coconuts"]

>> for item in m_list:
>> print(item)

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Sir
Lancelot
Coconuts

>> w_string = "Swift"

>> for letter in w_string:
>> print(letter)
S
w
i
f
t

WHILE LOOPS

A While loop permits code to execute repeatedly until a certain condition

is met. This is useful if the number of iterations required to complete a
task is unknown prior to ow entering the loop.

Syntax

while condition:
//do something

Example

>> looping_needed = True

>>
>> while looping_needed:

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>> # some operation on data

>> if condition:
>> looping_needed = False

print()
A function to display the output of a program. Using the parenthesized
version is arguably more consistent.

Example

>> # this will work in all modern versions of Python

>> print("some text here")
"some text here"

>> # but this only works in Python versions lower than 3.x
>> print "some text here too"
"some text here too"

range()
The range() function returns a list of integers, the sequence of which is
de ned by the arguments passed to it.

Syntax
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argument variations:
range(terminal)
range(start, terminal)
range(start, terminal, step_size)

Example

>> range(4)
[0, 1, 2, 3]

>> range(2, 8)
[2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

>> range(2, 13, 3)

[2, 5, 8, 11]

Sets
Sets are collections of unique but unordered items. It is possible to
convert certain iterables to a set.

Example

>> new_set = {1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4,'A', 'B', 'B', 'C'}

>> new_set
{'A', 1, 'C', 3, 4, 2, 'B'}

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>> dup_list = [1,1,2,2,2,3,4,55,5,5,6,7,8,8]

>> set_from_list = set(dup_list)
>> set_from_list
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 55}

Slice
A Pythonic way of extracting “slices” of a list using a special bracket
notation that speci es the start and end of the section of the list you wish
to extract. Leaving the beginning value blank indicates you wish to start at
the beginning of the list, leaving the ending value blank indicates you wish
to go to the end of the list. Using a negative value references the end of
the list (so that in a list of 4 elements, -1 means the 4th element). Slicing
always yields another list, even when extracting a single value.

Example

>> # Specifying a beginning and end:

>> x = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>> x[2:3]
[3]

>> # Specifying start at the beginning and end at the second element
>> x[:2]
[1, 2]

>> # Specifying start at the next to last element and go to the end

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>> x[-2:]
[3, 4]

>> # Specifying start at the beginning and go to the next to last

element
>> x[:-1]
[1, 2, 3]

>> # Specifying a step argument returns every n-th item

>> y = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
>> y[::2]
[1, 3, 5, 7]

>> # Return a reversed version of the list ( or string )

>> x[::-1]
[4, 3, 2, 1]

>> # String reverse

>> my_string = "Aloha"
>> my_string[::-1]
"aholA"

str()
Using the str() function allows you to represent the content of a variable
as a string, provided that the data type of the variable provides a neat way
to do so. str() does not change the variable in place, it returns a
‘stringi ed’ version of it. On a more technical note, str() calls the special
__str__ method of the object passed to it.
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Syntax

str(object)

Example

>> # such features can be useful for concatenating strings

>> my_var = 123
>> my_var
123

>> str(my_var)
'123'

>> my_booking = "DB Airlines Flight " + str(my_var)

>> my_booking
'DB Airlines Flight 123'

Strings
Strings store characters and have many built-in convenience methods that
let you modify their content. Strings are immutable, meaning they cannot
be changed in place.

Example

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>> my_string1 = "this is a valid string"

>> my_string2 = 'this is also a valid string'
>> my_string3 = 'this is' + ' ' + 'also' + ' ' + 'a string'
>> my_string3
"this is also a string"

Tuples
A Python data type that holds an ordered collection of values, which can
be of any type. Python tuples are “immutable,” meaning that they cannot
be changed once created.

Example

>> x = (1, 2, 3, 4)
>> y = ('spam', 'eggs')

>> my_list = [1,2,3,4]

>> my_tuple = tuple(my_list)
>> my_tuple
(1, 2, 3, 4)

TUPLE ASSIGNMENT

Tuples can be expanded into variables easily.

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Example

name, age = ("Alice", 19)

# Now name has the value "Alice" and age has the value 19

# You can also omit the parentheses:

name, age = "Alice", 19

Variables
Variables are assigned values using the = operator, which is not to be
confused with the == sign used for testing equality. A variable can hold
almost any type of value such as lists, dictionaries, functions.

Example

>> x = 12
>> x
12

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