Python for Absolute Beginners

This book eases you into the foundational aspects of Python 3.x with an extensive range of code samples that illustrate its diverse features. Start with Python tools and installations, and progressively learn intricacies like strings, loops, conditional logic, and much more. The appendices on NumPy and Pandas provide insights into efficient numerical operations, making it a holistic resource for novice programmers. Companion files with codesamples are available for downloading from the publisher. FEATURES Starts with the basics and advancing to complex topics, helping you grasp the essence of Python step-by-step Incorporates a multitude of practical tasks, aiding in reinforcing concepts and honing skills Includes appendices on NumPy and Pandas which furnish a concise introduction to numerical operations in Python, rounding off your beginner's learning curve Companion files with code samples are available for downloading from the publisher Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Preface Chapter 1: Introduction to Python Tools for Python easy_install and pip virtualenv Python Installation Setting the PATH Environment Variable (Windows Only) Launching Python on Your Machine The Python Interactive Interpreter Python Identifiers Lines, Indentations, and Multi-Lines Quotation Marks and Comments Saving Your Code in a Module Some Standard Modules The help() and dir() Functions Compile Time and Runtime Code Checking Formatting Techniques Working with f-strings Working with Strings Comparing Strings Formatting Strings Summary Chapter 2: String Operations Working with Strings Formatting Strings Slicing and Splicing Strings Testing for Digits and Alphabetic Characters Search For and Replace a String in Other Strings Remove Leading and Trailing Characters Printing Text without NewLine Characters Working with Dates Converting Strings to Dates Exception Handling Handling User Input Command-Line Arguments (optional) Summary Chapter 3: Working with Loops Precedence of Operators Reserved Words Working with Lists Lists and Basic Operations Reversing and Sorting a List Working with Loops Python for Loops A for Loop with try/except Flatten a List of Lists Numeric Exponents in Python Nested Loops while Loops Count the Number of Digits in Numbers Count the Number of Digits in a Positive Integer Using a while Loop to Find the Divisors of a Number Using a while Loop to Find Prime Numbers Assigning Values to Multiple Variables The break/continue/pass Statements Basic List Comprehensions Working with List Comprehensions Lists and Filter-related Operations Summary Chapter 4: Conditional Logic Conditional Logic Checking for Leap Years Comparison and Boolean Operators The in/not in/is/is not Comparison Operators The and, or, and not Boolean Operators Local and Global Variables Uninitialized Variables and the Value None Scope of Variables Passing by Reference versus by Value Arguments and Parameters Summary Chapter 5: Built-in Functions Functions and Methods Built-in Functions The split(), join(), and range() Functions The join() Function The range() Function The char Class User-defined Functions The return Statement in Python Functions Specifying Default Values in a Function Returning Multiple Values from a Function Functions with a Variable Number of Arguments Importing Custom Modules Summary Chapter 6: Tasks with Strings and Arrays Task: Count Word Frequencies Task: Check If a String Contains Unique Characters Task: Insert Characters in a String Task: String Permutations Task: Check for Palindromes Working with 1D Arrays Rotate an Array Task: Sort Array In-place Without a Sort Function Task: Invert Adjacent Array Elements Working with 2D Arrays The Transpose of a Matrix Summary Chapter 7: Tasks with Numbers Time and Space Complexity Task: FizzBuzz Task: Sum of Even and Odd Numbers in a List Task: Maximum and Minimum Powers of an Integer Task: Calculate the Number of Digits Task: Determine If a Positive Integer is Prime Task: Find the Prime Factorization of a Positive Integer Task: Goldbach’s Conjecture Task: Sum of Prime and Composite Numbers Summary Chapter 8: Working with Bit Values Working with Bit Values Task: Binary Substrings of a Number Task: Common 1 Values of Two Binary Numbers Task: Invert Bits in Even and Odd Positions Task: Invert Pairs of Adjacent Bits Task: Find Common Bits in Two Binary Numbers Task: Check for Adjacent Set Bits in a Binary Number Task: Count Bits in a Range of Numbers Task: Find the Right-most Set Bit in a Number Task: The Number of Operations to Make All Characters Equal Task: Compute XOR without XOR for Two Binary Numbers Summary Chapter 9: Python Data Structures Queues Tuples (Immutable Lists) Sets Dictionaries Creating a Dictionary Displaying the Contents of a Dictionary Checking for Keys in a Dictionary Deleting Keys from a Dictionary Iterating Through a Dictionary Interpolating Data from a Dictionary Dictionary Functions and Methods Dictionary Formatting Ordered Dictionaries Sorting Dictionaries Python Multi-Dictionaries List Comprehensions Lists and Filter-related Operations Expressions in Lists Sorting Lists of Numbers and Strings Lists and Arithmetic Operations Concatenating a List of Words Arrays and the append() Function Working with Lists and the split() Function Counting Words in a List Iterating Through Pairs of Lists Other List-Related Functions Summary Chapter 10: Introduction to Recursion What is Recursion? Arithmetic Series Calculating Arithmetic Series (Iterative) Calculating Arithmetic Series (Recursive) Geometric Series Calculating a Geometric Series (Iterative) Calculating Geometric Series (Recursive) Factorial Values Calculating Factorial Values (Iterative) Calculating Factorial Values (Recursive) Calculating Factorial Values (Tail Recursion) Fibonacci Numbers Calculating Fibonacci Numbers (Recursive) Calculating Fibonacci Numbers (Iterative) Task: Reverse a String via Recursion Task: Check for Balanced Parentheses Task: Determine if a Positive Integer is Prime Summary Chapter 11: Miscellaneous Topics Functionally-Oriented Programming The filter() Function The map() Function The reduce() Function The Lambda Operator and Lambda Expressions Lambda Expressions Dunders and Magic Methods The Iterator Protocol The iter() Function and the __iter__() Method Dictionaries and Iterators Examples of Iterators Range Versus a List What is a Pipe? Working with Generators The yield Keyword Generators and Comprehensions A Generator Without a Loop Miscellaneous Examples of Generators Generate Squares of Numbers Generate an Infinite List of Integers Find Prime Numbers Summary Appendix A: Introduction to NumPy What is NumPy? Useful NumPy Features What are NumPy Arrays? Working with Loops Appending Elements to Arrays (1) Appending Elements to Arrays (2) Multiplying Lists and Arrays Doubling the Elements in a List Lists and Exponents Arrays and Exponents Math Operations and Arrays Working with “−1” Sub-ranges with Vectors Working with “−1” Sub-ranges with Arrays Other Useful NumPy Methods Arrays and Vector Operations NumPy and Dot Products (1) NumPy and Dot Products (2) NumPy and the Length of Vectors NumPy and Other Operations NumPy and the reshape() Method Calculating the Mean and Standard Deviation Code Sample with Mean and Standard Deviation Trimmed Mean and Weighted Mean Summary Appendix B: Introduction to Pandas What is Pandas? Options and Settings Data Frames Data Frames and Data Cleaning Tasks Alternatives to Pandas A Data Frame with a NumPy Example Describing a Data Frame Boolean Data Frames Transposing a Data Frame Data Frames and Random Numbers Reading CSV Files Specifying a Separator and Column Sets in Text Files Specifying an Index in Text Files The loc() and iloc() Methods Converting Categorical Data to Numeric Data Matching and Splitting Strings Converting Strings to Dates Working with Date Ranges Detecting Missing Dates Interpolating Missing Dates Other Operations with Dates Merging and Splitting Columns Reading HTML Web Pages Saving a Data Frame as an HTML Web Page Summary Index