09/05/2023 09:47 01-Python_01-Programming-Basics

Python for Data Science ¶

Python
Multi-platform
Interpreted / Dynamic Typing
Garbage Collected
Object-Oriented & Procedural
Large Standard Library

Created by Guido van Rossum (https://www.linkedin.com/in/guido-van-rossum-4a0756/), first released in

1991

REPL
Read, Eval, Print, Loop.

Open your terminal and launch:

ipython

Documentation
👉 The Python 3.8 Standard Library (https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/index.html)

Built-in Types
Let's look at the important sections of the documentation (https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/stdtypes.html)
and explore the simple built-in types.

Numeric Types (https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/stdtypes.html#numeric-

types-int-float-complex)

In [ ]:

type(42)

Out[ ]:

int

In [ ]:

type(3.14)

Out[ ]:

float

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In [ ]:

4 + 9.5

Out[ ]:

13.5

In [ ]:

abs(-5)

Out[ ]:

Booleans (https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/stdtypes.html#truth-value-
testing)

In [ ]:

type(True) # or type(False)

Out[ ]:

bool

In [ ]:

True and False

Out[ ]:

False

In [ ]:

True or False

Out[ ]:

True

In [ ]:

not True

Out[ ]:

False

What are falsy values in Python?

Constants defined to be false: None and False .
Zero of any numeric type: 0 , 0.0 , etc.
Empty sequences and collections: '' , () , [] , {} , set() , range(0)

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Comparisons

In [ ]:

5 < 3 # Strictly less than

Out[ ]:

False

In [ ]:

4 <= 4 # Less than or equal

Out[ ]:

True

In [ ]:

"boris" == "seb" # equal, note the `double` =

Out[ ]:

False

In [ ]:

"boris" != "seb" # not equal

Out[ ]:

True

Text Sequence Type (Strings, str )

In [ ]:

"boris"

Out[ ]:

'boris'

In [ ]:

"boris".capitalize()

Out[ ]:

'Boris'

In [ ]:

" boris ".strip()

Out[ ]:

'boris'

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In [ ]:

type(int("42"))

Out[ ]:

int

Check out the documentation (https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/stdtypes.html#string-methods) for more

str methods.

Advanced built-in types

Sequence Types
list (https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/stdtypes.html#list)
tuple (https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/stdtypes.html#tuple)
range (https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/stdtypes.html#range)

An example of list

In [ ]:

["apple", "cherries", "banana"]

Out[ ]:

['apple', 'cherries', 'banana']

In [ ]:

len(["apple", "cherries", "banana"])

Out[ ]:

In [ ]:

"banana" in ["apple", "cherries", "banana"]

Out[ ]:

True

Mapping Type
There is just one in Python, dict (read dictionary)

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In [ ]:

{'city': 'Paris', 'population': 2_141_000}

Out[ ]:

{'city': 'Paris', 'population': 2141000}

In [ ]:

len({'city': 'Paris', 'population': 2_141_000})

Out[ ]:

In [ ]:

'city' in {'city': 'Paris', 'population': 2_141_000}

Out[ ]:

True

Variables
In [ ]:

name = 'John' # Assignment

print(name)

John

In [ ]:

name = 'Paul' # Re-assignment

print(name)

Paul

In [ ]:

first_name = 'John'
last_name = 'Lennon'

In [ ]:

full_name = first_name + last_name

print(full_name)

JohnLennon

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String Formatting - Interpolation

In [ ]:

sentence = f'Hi, my name is {first_name} {last_name}'

print(sentence)

Hi, my name is John Lennon

list operations
In [ ]:

# Indexes: 0 1 2
beatles = ['john', 'paul', 'ringo']

In [ ]:

beatles[0] # Read

Out[ ]:

'john'

In [ ]:

beatles.append('george') # Create (in place)

print(beatles)

['john', 'paul', 'ringo', 'george']

In [ ]:

beatles[1] = 'Paul' # Update (in place)

print(beatles)

['john', 'Paul', 'ringo', 'george']

Other list operations

In [ ]:

beatles

Out[ ]:

['john', 'Paul', 'ringo', 'george']

In [ ]:

beatles[1:3] # Slice of 1 to 3 (excluded)

Out[ ]:

['Paul', 'ringo']

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In [ ]:

del beatles[1] # Delete (in place)

print(beatles)

['john', 'ringo', 'george']

dict operations
In [ ]:

instruments = {'john':'guitar', 'paul':'bass'} # Keys are `str`, Values too

In [ ]:

instruments['john'] # Read

Out[ ]:

'guitar'

In [ ]:

instruments['ringo'] = 'drums' # Create / Update

print(instruments)

{'john': 'guitar', 'paul': 'bass', 'ringo': 'drums'}

In [ ]:

del instruments['john']
instruments

Out[ ]:

{'paul': 'bass', 'ringo': 'drums'}

Other dict operation

In [ ]:

instruments

Out[ ]:

{'paul': 'bass', 'ringo': 'drums'}

What will happen if we run instruments['john'] ?

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In [ ]:

instruments['john']

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
KeyError Traceback (most recent call las
t)
<ipython-input-40-4f6ae9ee253b> in <module>
----> 1 instruments['john']

KeyError: 'john'

In [ ]:

instruments.get('john', 'Default instrument')

Out[ ]:

'Default instrument'

Control Flow
Once again, the documentation is very thorough (https://docs.python.org/3.8/tutorial/controlflow.html)

if statement

In [ ]:

age = int(input("How old are you?"))

if age >= 21:

print("You can become president")
elif age >= 18:
print("You can vote")
else:
print("Be patient!")

for statement (on a list )

In [ ]:

words = ['cat', 'wolf', 'beetle']

for word in words:
print(word.upper())

CAT
WOLF
BEETLE

List comprehension
You can achieve the same result in just one line:

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In [ ]:

[print(word.upper()) for word in words]

...or store it in a new variable:

In [ ]:

uppercase_words = [word.upper() for word in words]

print(uppercase_words)

['CAT', 'WOLF', 'BEETLE']

What if you need the index inside the for loop?

In [ ]:

for index, word in enumerate(words):

print(index, word)

0 cat
1 wolf
2 beetle

for statement (on a dict )

In [ ]:

instruments

Out[ ]:

{'paul': 'bass', 'ringo': 'drums'}

In [ ]:

for beatle, instrument in instruments.items():

print(f'{beatle.capitalize()} plays the {instrument}')

Paul plays the bass

Ringo plays the drums

while loop

In [ ]:

i = 1
while i <= 4:
print(i)
i = i + 1

1
2
3
4

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Functions
Let's see how we can define and use our own functions
(https://docs.python.org/3.8/tutorial/controlflow.html#defining-functions).

In [ ]:

def is_even(number):
return number % 2 == 0

The function is named is_even

The function takes 1 parameter: number ( int )
The function returns a bool

In [ ]:

result = is_even(42)
print(result)

True

We called the function with the argument 42 . The returned value is stored in a result variable.

Keyword Arguments
Let's have a look at pandas.DataFrame.from_dict (https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-
docs/stable/reference/api/pandas.DataFrame.from_dict.html) (Source (https://github.com/pandas-
dev/pandas/blob/v1.0.3/pandas/core/frame.py#L1168-L1247)). Some arguments are passed with the syntax
parameter=value .

In [ ]:

def is_odd(number=0):
return number % 2 == 1

In [ ]:

result = is_odd(number=1)
print(result)

True

Mixing positional and keyword arguments

In [ ]:

def full_name(first_name, last_name, capitalize=False):

if capitalize:
return f"{first_name.capitalize()} {last_name.capitalize()}"
else:
return f"{first_name} {last_name}"

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In [ ]:

print(full_name("john", "lennon"))
print(full_name("ringo", "starr", capitalize=True))

john lennon
Ringo Starr

Modules (https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/modules.html)
As our programs will grow longer, we will want to split the code into many files & folders.

Here is a very simple example to illustrate this technique:

mkdir project && cd project

touch app.py
mkdir helpers && touch helpers/__init__.py

In [ ]:

# helpers/__init__.py
import random
import string

def generate_password(size):
"""Generate a random lowercase ASCII password of given size"""
letters = string.ascii_lowercase
return ''.join(random.choice(letters) for i in range(size))

In [ ]:

# app.py
from helpers import generate_password # Module import here

print(generate_password(16))

python app.py

Before you go, one more thing!

Debugging 🐛

print(your_variable)
ipython
python <file_name>

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When running your code with python <file_name> you can use the IPython debugger (ipdb)
(https://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) thanks to the built-in breakpoint()
(https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#breakpoint) function.

It will let you investigate the current state of your code.

Let's try with our generate_password function!

Add the debugger in the function definition and run the app.py file from the Terminal.

In [ ]:

# helpers/__init__.py
import random
import string

def generate_password(size, upper=False):

"""Generate a random lowercase ASCII password of given size"""
letters = string.ascii_uppercase if upper else string.ascii_lowercase
breakpoint()
return ''.join(random.choice(letters) for i in range(size))

You can access the args , variables defined within the function ( letters ) and much more.

To continue the execution try:

next - until the next line in the current function is reached or it returns
continue - only stop when a breakpoint is encountered ( breakpoint )

If you want to see available commands type help .

Advanced Language Topics

To master Python, here are some additional topics to dive into during the Bootcamp:

List Comprehensions (https://treyhunner.com/2015/12/python-list-comprehensions-now-in-color/)

Memory Management / Garbage Collection (https://docs.python.org/3/faq/design.html?
highlight=garbage%20collector#how-does-python-manage-memory)
Object Oriented Programming (https://anandology.com/python-practice-
book/object_oriented_programming.html)
*args & **kwargs (https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-args-and-kwargs-
in-python-3)
Iterators & Generators (https://anandology.com/python-practice-book/iterators.html)

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Your turn!
Head onto Kitt, find your buddy and start your first challenge!

Remember:

Read the assignment carefully

Run your code with python <file.py> before running make
Talk with your buddy
Raise a ticket 🙋‍♀️

Have fun! 🚀

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