GE3151 PROBLEM SOLVING AND PYTHON PROGRAMMING

QUESTION BANK

UNIT I COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

PART- A (2 Marks)
1. What is an algorithm?
Algorithm is an ordered sequence of finite, well defined, unambiguous instructions
for completing a task. It is an English-like representation of the logic which is used to solve
the problem. It is a step- by-step procedure for solving a task or a problem. The steps must
be ordered, unambiguous and finite in number.
2. Write an algorithm to find minimum of 3 numbers in a list.
ALGORITHM : Find Minimum of 3 numbers in a list
Step 1: Start
Step 2: Read the three numbers A, B, C
Step 3: Compare A and B.
If A is minimum, go to step 4 else go to step 5.
Step 4: Compare A and C.
If A is minimum, output “A is minimum” else output “C is minimum”. Go to step 6.
Step 5: Compare B and C.
If B is minimum, output “B is minimum” else output “C is minimum”.
Step 6: Stop
3. List the building blocks of an algorithm.

 Statements
 Sequence
 Selection or Conditional
 Repetition or Control flow
 Functions
4. Define statement. List its types.
Statements are instructions in Python designed as components for algorithmic problem
solving, rather than as one-to-one translations of the underlying machine language instruction
set of the computer.
There are three types of high-level programming language statements Input/output
statements make up one type of statement. An input statement collects a specific value from
the user for a variable within the program. An output statement writes a message or the value
of a program variable to the user’s screen.
5. Write the pseudo code to calculate the sum and product of two numbers and display
it.
INITIALIZE variables sum, product, number1, number2 of type real
PRINT “Input two numbers”
READ number1, number2
sum = number1 + number2
PRINT “The sum is “, sum
COMPUTE product = number1 * number2
PRINT “The Product is “, product
END program
 6. How does flow of control work?
Control flow (or flow of control) is the order in which individual statements, instructions or
function calls of an imperative program are executed or evaluated. A control flow statement is
a statement in which execution results in a choice being made as to which of two or more
paths to follow.
7. What is a function?
Functions are "self-contained" modules of code that accomplish a specific task. Functions
usually "take in" data, process it, and "return" a result. Once a function is written, it can be used
over and over and over again. Functions can be "called" from the inside of other functions.
8. Write the pseudo code to calculate the sum and product displaying the answer on the
monitor screen.
INITIALIZE variables sum, product, number1, number2 of type real
PRINT “Input two numbers”
READ number1, number2
sum = number1 + number2
PRINT “The sum is “, sum
COMPUTE product = number1 * number2
PRINT “The Product is “, product
END program
9. Give the rules for writing Pseudo codes.
 Write one statement per line.
 Capitalize initial keywords.
 Indent to show hierarchy.
 End multiline structure.
 Keep statements to be language independent.
10. Give the difference between flowchart and pseudo code.
Flowchart and Pseudo code are used to document and represent the algorithm. In other words,
an algorithm can be represented using a flowchart or a pseudo code. Flowchart is a graphical
representation of the algorithm. Pseudo code is a readable, formally styled English like language
representation of the algorithm.
11. Define a flowchart.
A flowchart is a diagrammatic representation of the logic for solving a task. A flowchart is
drawn using boxes of different shapes with lines connecting them to show the flow of control. The
purpose of drawing a flowchart is to make the logic of the program clearer in a visual form.
12. Give an example of
iteration. a = 0
for i from 1 to 3 // loop three times
{
a=a+i // add the current value of i to a
}
print a // the number 6 is printed (0 + 1; 1 + 2; 3 + 3)
13. Write down the rules for preparing a flowchart.
While drawing a flowchart, some rules need to be followed—
(1) A flowchart should have a start and end,
(2) The direction of flow in a flowchart must be from top to bottom and left to right
(3) The relevant symbols must be used while drawing a flowchart.
14. List the categories of Programming languages.
Programming languages are divided into the following categories:
Interpreted, Functional, Compiled, Procedural, Scripting, Markup, Logic-Based, Concurrent
and Object-Oriented Programming Languages
15. Mention the characteristics of an algorithm.
 Algorithm should be precise and unambiguous.
 Instruction in an algorithm should not be repeated infinitely.
 Ensure that the algorithm will ultimately terminate.
 Algorithm should be written in sequence.
 Algorithm should be written in normal English.
 Desired result should be obtained only after the algorithm terminates.
16. Compare machine language, assembly language and high-level language.
Machine language is a collection of binary digits or bits that the computer reads and
interprets. This language is not easily understandable by the human.
An assembly language directly controls the physical hardware. A program written in assembly
language consists of a series of instructions mnemonics that correspond to a stream of executable
instructions, when translated by an assembler can be loaded into memory and executed. The
programs written in this language are not portable and the debugging process is also not very
easy.
A high level language is much more abstract, that must be translated or compiled in to
machine language. It is easily understandable and the programs are portable. Debugging the code is
easyand the program written is not machine dependent.
17. What is the difference between algorithm and pseudo code?
An algorithm is a systematic logical approach used to solve problems in a computer
while pseudo code is the statement in plain English that may be translated later to a
programming language. Pseudo code is the intermediary between algorithm and program.
18. List out the simple steps to develop an algorithm.
Algorithm development process consists of five major steps.
Step 1: Obtain a description of the problem.
Step 2: Analyze the problem.
Step 3: Develop a high-level algorithm.
Step 4: Refine the algorithm by adding more detail.
Step 5: Review the algorithm.
19.Give the differences between recursion and iteration.

Recursion Iteration
Function calls itself until the base condition is Repetition of process until the condition fails.
reached.
Only base condition (terminating condition) is It involves four steps: initialization, condition,
specified. execution and updation.
It keeps our code short and simple. Iterative approach makes our code longer.
It is slower than iteration due to overhead of Iteration is faster.
maintaining stack.
It takes more memory than iteration due to Iteration takes less memory.
overhead of maintaining stack.
 20. What are advantages and disadvantages of recursion?
Advantages Disadvantages
Recursive functions make the code look clean Sometimes the logic behind recursion is hard to
and elegant. follow through.

A complex task can be broken down into Recursive calls are expensive (inefficient) as
simpler sub-problems using recursion. they take up a lot of memory and time.

Sequence generation is easier with recursion Recursive functions are hard to debug.
than using some nested iteration.

PART B (16 MARKS)

1. What are the building blocks of an algorithm? Explain in detail.

2. Briefly describe iteration and recursion. Illustrate with an example.
3. Explain in detail Algorithmic problem solving.
4
4. Write an algorithm and draw a flowchart to calculate 2 .
5. a) Describe pseudo code with its guidelines.
b) Give an example for pseudo code.
c) Write the pseudo code for Towers of Hanoi.
6. a) What is flowchart?
b) List down symbols and rules for writing flowchart.
c) Draw a flowchart to count and print from1 to 10.
7. a) Write an algorithm and give the flowchart to find the net salary of an employee.
b) Write an algorithm and give the pseudo code to guess an integer number in a range.
8. a) Write an algorithm to insert a card in a list of sorted cards.
b) Write an algorithm to find the minimum number in a list.
 UNIT II
DATA TYPES, EXPRESSIONS, STATEMENTS
PART- A (2 Marks)
1. What is meant by interpreter?
An interpreter is a computer program that executes instructions written in a
programming language. It can either execute the source code directly or translate the source
code in a first step into a more efficient representation and executes this code.
2. How will you invoke the python interpreter?
The Python interpreter can be invoked by typing the command "python" without any
parameter followed by the "return" key at the shell prompt.
3. What is meant by interactive mode of the interpreter?
Interactive mode is a command line shell which gives immediate feedback for each
statement, while running previously fed statements in active memory. As new lines are fed into
the interpreter, the fed program is evaluated both in part and in whole.
4. Write a snippet to display “Hello World” in python interpreter.
In script mode:
>>> print "Hello World"
> "Hello
World" 'Hello
World'

5. What is a value? What are the different types of values?

A value is one of the fundamental things – like a letter or a number – that a program
manipulates. Its types are: integer, float, boolean, strings and lists.
6. Define a variable and write down the rules for naming a variable.
A name that refers to a value is a variable. Variable names can be arbitrarily long. They
can contain both letters and numbers, but they have to begin with a letter. It is legal to use
uppercase letters, but it is good to begin variable names with a lowercase letter.
7. Define keyword and enumerate some of the keywords in Python.
A keyword is a reserved word that is used by the compiler to parse a program.
Keywords cannot be used as variable names. Some of the keywords used in python are: and,
del, from, not, while, is, continue.
8. Define statement and what are its types?
A statement is an instruction that the Python interpreter can execute. There are two types
of statements: print and assignment statement.
9. What do you meant by an assignment statement?
An assignment statement creates new variables and gives them values:
Eg 1: Message = 'And now for something completely different'
Eg 2: n = 17
10. What is tuple?
A tuple is a sequence of immutable Python objects. Tuples are sequences, like lists. The
differences between tuples and lists are, the tuples cannot be changed unlike lists and tuples use
parentheses, whereas lists use square brackets. Creating a tuple is as simple as putting different
comma-separated values. Comma-separated values between parentheses can also be used.
Example: tup1 = ('physics', 'chemistry', 1997,
2000);
 11.What is an expression?
An expression is a combination of values, variables, and operators. An expression is
evaluated
using assignment operator.
Examples: Y=x + 17
12. What do you mean by an operand and an operator? Illustrate your answer with
relevant example.
An operator is a symbol that specifies an operation to be performed on the operands.
The data items that an operator acts upon are called operands. The operators +, -, *, / and **
perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and exponentiation. Example: 20+32

In this example, 20 and 32 are operands and + is an operator.

13. What is the order in which operations are evaluated? Give the order of precedence.
The set of rules that govern the order in which expressions involving multiple operators
and operands are evaluated is known as rule of precedence. Parentheses have the highest
precedence followed by exponentiation. Multiplication and division have the next highest
precedence followed by addition and subtraction.
14. Illustrate the use of * and + operators in string with example.
The * operator performs repetition on strings and the + operator performs concatenation on
strings.
Example:
>>> ‘Hello*3’
Output: HelloHelloHello
>>>’Hello+World’
Output: HelloWorld
15. What is the symbol for comment? Give an example.
# is the symbol for comments in
Python. Example:
# compute the percentage of the hour that has elapsed
16. What is function call?
A function is a named sequence of statements that performs a computation. When we
define a function, we specify the name and the sequence of statements. Later, we can “call” the
function by its name called as function call.
17. Identify the parts of a function in the given example.
> betty = type("32")
> print betty
The name of the function is type, and it displays the type of a value or variable. The value or
variable, which is called the argument of the function, is enclosed in parentheses. The argument
is 32. The function returns the result called return value. The return value is stored in betty.
18. What is a local variable?
A variable defined inside a function. A local variable can only be used inside its
function.
19. What is the output of the following?
a. float(32)
b. float("3.14159")
Output:
a. 32.0 The float function converts integers to floating-point numbers.
b. 3.14159 The float function converts strings to floating-point numbers.
 20. What do you mean by flow of execution?
In order to ensure that a function is defined before its first use, we have to know the
order in which statements are executed, which is called the flow of execution. Execution always
begins at the first statement of the program. Statements are executed one at a time, in order from
top to bottom.
21. Write down the output for the following
program. first = 'throat'
second =
'warbler' print
first + second
Output:
throatwarbler
22. Give the syntax of function definition.
def NAME( LIST OF PARAMETERS ):
STATEMENTS
23. Explain the concept of floor division.
The operation that divides two numbers and chops off the fraction part is known as floor
division.
24. What is type coercion? Give example.
Automatic method to convert between data types is called type coercion. For
mathematical operators, if any one operand is a float, the other is automatically converted to
float.
Eg:
> minute = 59
> minute / 60.0
0.983333333333
25. Write a math function to perform √2 / 2.
> math.sqrt(2) / 2.0
0.707106781187
26. What is meant by traceback?
A list of the functions that tells us what program file the error occurred in, and what
line, and what functions were executing at the time. It also shows the line of code that caused
the error.

PART B (16 MARKS)

1. What is the role of an interpreter? Give a detailed note on python interpreter
and interactive mode of operation.
2. List down the different types of operators with suitable examples.
3. What do you mean by rule of precedence? List out the order of precedence and
demonstrate in detail with example.
4. Explain the role of function call and function definition with example.
5. How do you make use of math functions in Python?
6. Write a Python program to swap two variables. x = 5 y=10
7. Write a Python program to check whether a given year is a leap year or not.
8. Write a Python program to convert celsius to fahrenheit.
 UNIT III
CONTROL FLOW, FUNCTIONS,STRINGS
PART- A (2 Marks)

1. Define Boolean expression with example.

A boolean expression is an expression that is either true or false. The values true and false
are
called Boolean values.
Eg :
> 5
== 6
False
True and False are special values that belongs to the type bool; they are not strings:
2. What are the different types of operators?
 Arithmetic Operator (+, -, *, /, %, **, // )
 Relational operator ( == , !=, <>, < , > , <=, >=)
 Assignment Operator ( =, += , *= , - =, /=, %= ,**= )
 Logical Operator (AND, OR, NOT)
 Membership Operator (in, not in)
 Bitwise Operator (& (and), | (or) , ^ (binary Xor), ~(binary 1’s complement , << (binary
left shift), >> (binary right shift))
 Identity(is, is not)
3. Explain modulus operator with example.
The modulus operator works on integers and yields the remainder when the first
operand is divided by the second. In Python, the modulus operator is a percent sign (%). The
syntax is the same as for other operators:
Eg:
> remainder = 7 % 3
> print remainder
1
So 7 divided by 3 is 2 with 1 left over.
4. Explain relational operators.
The == operator is one of the relational operators; the others are:
X! = y # x is not equal to y
x > y # x is greater than y
x < y # x is less than y
x >= y # x is greater than or equal to y
x <= y # x is less than or equal to y
5. Explain Logical operators
There are three logical operators: and, or, and not. For example, x > 0 and x < 10 is true
only if x is greater than 0 and less than 10. n%2 == 0 or n%3 == 0 is true if either of the
conditions is true, that is, if the number is divisible by 2 or 3. Finally, the not operator negates a
Boolean expression, so not(x > y) is true if x > y is false, that is, if x is less than or equal to y.
Non-zero number is said to be true in Boolean expressions.
6. What is conditional execution?
The ability to check the condition and change the behavior of the program accordingly is called
conditional execution. Example:
If statement:
The simplest form of if statement is:
Syntax:
if
statement:
Eg:
if x > 0:
print 'x is positive'
The boolean expression after ‘if’ is called the condition. If it is true, then the indented
statement gets executed. If not, nothing happens.

7. What is alternative execution?

A second form of if statement is alternative execution, that is, if …else, where there are two
possibilities and the condition determines which one to execute.
Eg:
if x%2 == 0:
print 'x is even'
else:
print 'x is odd'
8. What are chained conditionals?
Sometimes there are more than two possibilities and we need more than two branches.
One way to express a computation like that is a chained conditional:
Eg:
if x < y:
print 'x is less than y'
elif x > y:
print 'x is greater than y'
else:
print 'x and y are equal'

elif is an abbreviation of “else if.” Again, exactly one branch will be executed. There is no limit
on the number of elif statements. If there is an else clause, it has to be at the end, but there
doesn’t have to be one.
9. Explain while loop and for
loop with example. Eg:
def countdown(n):
while n > 0:
print n
n = n-1
print 'Blastoff!'
More formally, here is the flow of execution for a while statement:
1. Evaluate the condition, yielding True or False.
2. If the condition is false, exit the while statement and continue execution at the next statement.
3. If the condition is true, execute the body and then go back to step 1
For loop:
The general form of a for statement is
Syntax:
for variable in sequence:
code block
Eg:
x=4
for i in range(0, x):
print i
10. What is a break statement?
When a break statement is encountered inside a loop, the loop is immediately terminated
and the program control resumes at the next statement following the loop.
Eg:
while True:
line = raw_input('>')
if line == 'done':
break
print line
print'Done!'
11. What is a continue statement?
The continue statement works somewhat like a break statement. Instead of forcing
termination, it forces the next iteration of the loop to take place, skipping any code in between.
Eg:
for num in range(2,10):
if num%2==0;
print “Found an even number”, num
continue
print “Found a number”, num

12. Compare return value and

composition. Return Value:
Return gives back or replies to the caller of the function. The return statement causes our
function to exit and hand over back a value to its caller.
Eg:
def area(radius):
temp = math.pi *
radius**2 return temp
Composition:
Calling one function from another is called composition.
Eg:
def circle_area(xc, yc, xp, yp):
radius = distance(xc, yc,
xp, yp) result =
area(radius)
return result
13. What is recursion?
The process in which a function calls itself directly or indirectly is called recursion and
the corresponding function is called as recursive function.
 Eg:
def factorial(n):
if n == 1:
return 1
else:
return n * factorial(n-1)
14. Explain global and local scope.
The scope of a variable refers to the places that we can see or access a variable. If we
define a variable on the top of the script or module, the variable is called global variable. The
variables that are defined inside a class or function is called local variable.
Eg:
def my_local():
a=10
print(“This is local variable”)
Eg:
a=10
def my_global():
print(“This is global variable”)
15. Compare string and string slices.
A string is a sequence of character.
Eg: fruit = ‘banana’
String Slices :
A segment of a string is called string slice, selecting a slice is similar to selecting a
character. Eg: >>> s ='Monty Python'
> print
s[0:5]
Monty
> print
s[6:12]
Python
16. Define string immutability.
Python strings are immutable. ‘a’ is not a string. It is a variable with string value. We
can’t mutate the string but can change what value of the variable to a new string.
Program: Output:
a = “foo” #foofoo
# a now points to foo #foo
b=a It is observed that ‘b’ hasn’t changed even
# b now points to the same foo that a points to though ‘a’ has changed.
a=a+a
# a now points to the same foofoo but t b points to
the same old foo
print a
print b
17.Mention a few string functions.
s.captilize() – Capitalizes first character of string
s.count(sub) – Count number of occurrences of sub in
string
s.lower() – converts a string to lower case
s.split() – returns a list of words in string
18. What are string methods?
A method is similar to a function—it takes arguments and returns a value—but the
syntax is different. For example, the method upper takes a string and returns a new string
with all uppercase letters:
Instead of the function syntax upper(word), it uses the method syntax
word.upper() .>>> word = 'banana'
> new_word = word.upper()
> print new_word
BANANA
19. Explain about string module.
The string module contains number of useful constants and classes, as well as some
deprecated legacy functions that are also available as methods on strings.
Eg:

Program: Output:
import string upper => MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING
text = "Monty Python's Flying Circus" CIRCUS
print "upper", "=>", string.upper(text) lower => monty python's flying circus
print "lower", "=>", string.lower(text) split => ['Monty', "Python's", 'Flying', 'Circus']
print "split", "=>", string.split(text) join => Monty+Python's+Flying+Circus
print "join", "=>", string.join(string.split(text), replace => Monty Java's Flying Circus
"+") find => 6 -1
print "replace", "=>",string.replace(text, count => 3
"Python", "Java")
print "find", "=>", string.find(text, "Python"),
string.find(text, "Java")
print "count", "=>", string.count(text, "n")

20. What is the purpose of pass statement?

Using a pass statement is an explicit way of telling the interpreter to do nothing.
Eg:
def bar():
pass
If the function bar() is called, it does absolutely nothing.

PART B (16 MARKS)

1. Explain types of operators.
2. Explain conditional alternative and chained conditional.
3. Explain in detail about Fruitful Functions.
4. Write a Python program to find the square root of a number.
5. Explain RECURSION.
6. Explain string slices and string immutability.
7. Explain string functions and methods.
8. Explain string module.
9. Write a Python program to find GCD of two numbers.
10. Write a Python program to find the exponentiation of a number.
11. Write a Python program to sum an array of numbers.
12.Write a Python program to perform linear search.
13. Write a Python program to perform binary search.
 UNIT IV
LISTS, TUPLES AND DICTIONARIES
PART- A (2 Marks)
1. What is a list?
A list is an ordered set of values, where each value is identified by an index. The values that
make up a list are called its elements. Lists are similar to strings, which are ordered sets of
characters, except that the elements of a list can have any type.
2. Solve a)[0] * 4 and b) [1, 2, 3] * 3.
>>> [0] * 4 [0, 0, 0, 0]
> [1, 2, 3] * 3 [1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]
3.Let list = [’a’, ’b’, ’c’, ’d’, ’e’, ’f’]. Find a) list[1:3] b) t[:4] c) t[3:] .
> list = [’a’, ’b’, ’c’, ’d’, ’e’, ’f’]
> list[1:3] [’b’, ’c’]
> list[:4] [’a’, ’b’, ’c’, ’d’]
> list[3:] [’d’, ’e’, ’f’]
4. Mention any 5 list methods.
append() ,extend () ,sort(), pop(),index(),insert and remove()
5. State the difference between lists and dictionary.
List is a mutable type meaning that it can be modified whereas dictionary is immutable and is
a key value store. Dictionary is not ordered and it requires that the keys are hashable whereas
list can store a sequence of objects in a certain order.
6. What is List mutability in Python? Give an example.
Python represents all its data as objects. Some of these objects like lists and dictionaries are
mutable, i.e., their content can be changed without changing their identity. Other objects like
integers, floats, strings and tuples are objects that cannot be changed. Example:
> numbers = [17, 123]
> numbers[1] = 5
> print numbers [17, 5]

7. What is aliasing in list? Give an example.

An object with more than one reference has more than one name, then the object is said
to be aliased. Example: If a refers to an object and we assign b = a, then both variables refer
to the same object:
> a = [1, 2, 3]
> b=a
> b is a True
8. Define cloning in list.
In order to modify a list and also keep a copy of the original, it is required to make a
copy of the list itself, not just the reference. This process is called cloning, to avoid the
ambiguity of the word “copy”.
9. Explain List parameters with an example.
 Passing a list as an argument actually passes a reference to the list, not a copy of the
list. For example, the function head takes a list as an argument and returns the first
element:
def head(list):
return list[0]
output:
> numbers = [1, 2, 3]
> head(numbers)
10. Write a program in Python to delete first element from
a list. def deleteHead(list): del list[0]
Here’s how deleteHead is used:
> numbers = [1, 2, 3]
> deleteHead(numbers)
> print numbers [2, 3]
11. Write a program in Python returns a list that contains all but the first element of the
given list.
def
tail(list)
: return
list[1:]
Here’s how tail is used:
>>> numbers = [1, 2, 3]
>>> rest = tail(numbers)
> print rest [2, 3]
12. What is the benefit of using tuple assignment in Python?
It is often useful to swap the values of two variables. With conventional assignments a
temporary variable would be used. For example, to swap a and b:
> temp = a
> a=b
> b = temp
> a, b = b, a

12. Define key-value pairs.

The elements of a dictionary appear in a comma-separated list. Each entry contains an index
and a value separated by a colon. In a dictionary, the indices are called keys, so the elements are
called key-value pairs.

14. Define dictionary with an example.

A dictionary is an associative array (also known as hashes). Any key of the dictionary is
associated
(or mapped) to a value. The values of a dictionary can be any Python data type. So dictionaries
are
unordered key-value-pairs.
Example:
>>> eng2sp = {} # empty dictionary
> eng2sp[’one’] = ’uno’
> eng2sp[’two’] = ’dos’
15. How to return tuples as values?
A function can only return one value, but if the value is a tuple, the effect is the same as
returning multiple values. For example, if we want to divide two integers and compute the
quotient and remainder, it is inefficient to compute x/y and then x%y. It is better to compute
them both at the same time.
> t = divmod(7, 3)
> print t (2, 1)
16. List two dictionary operations.
 Del -removes key-value pairs from a dictionary
 Len - returns the number of key-value pairs
17.Define dictionary methods with an example.
A method is similar to a function—it takes arguments and returns a value— but the syntax is
different. For example, the keys method takes a dictionary and returns a list of the keys that
appear, but instead of the function syntax keys(eng2sp), method syntax eng2sp.keys() is used.
> eng2sp.keys() [’one’, ’three’, ’two’]
18.Define List Comprehension.
List comprehensions apply an arbitrary expression to items in an iterable rather than applying
function. It provides a compact way of mapping a list into another list by applying a function to
each of the elements of the list.
19.Write a Python program to swap two variables.
x=5
y = 10
temp = x
x=y
y = temp
print('The value of x after swapping: {}'.format(x))
print('The value of y after swapping: {}'.format(y))
20.Write the syntax for list comprehension.
The list comprehension starts with a '[' and ']', to help us remember that the result is going to be
a list. The basic syntax is [expression for item in list if conditional ].
PART B (16 MARKS)
1. Explain in detail about lists, list operations and list slices.
2. Explain in detail about list methods and list loops with examples.
3. Explain in detail about mutability and tuples with a Python program.
4. What is tuple assignment? Explain it with an example.
5. Is it possible to return tuple as values? Justify your answer with an example.
6. Explain in detail about dictionaries and its operations.
7. Explain in detail about dictionary methods.
8. Explain in detail about list comprehension.Give an example.
9. Write a Python program for a) selection sort b) insertion sort.
10. Write a Python program for a) merge sort b) quick sort.
11. Write a Python program to implement histogram.
 UNIT V
FILES, MODULES AND PACKAGES
PART- A (2 Marks)
1. What is a text file?
A text file is a file that contains printable characters and whitespace, organized in
to lines separated by newline characters.
2. Write a python program that writes “Hello world” into a
file. f =open("ex88.txt",'w')
f.write("hello world")
f.close()
3. Write a python program that counts the number of words in a
file. f=open("test.txt","r")
content
=f.readline(20)
words
=content.split()
print(words)
4. What are the two arguments taken by the open() function?
The open function takes two arguments : name of the file and the mode of operation.
Example: f = open("test.dat","w")
5. What is a file object?
A file object allows us to use, access and manipulate all the user accessible files. It
maintains the state about the file it has opened.
6. What information is displayed if we print a file object in the given
program? f= open("test.txt","w")
print f
The name of the file, mode and the location of the object will be displayed.
7. What is an exception?
Whenever a runtime error occurs, it creates an exception. The program stops execution
and prints an error message. For example, dividing by zero creates an exception:
print 55/0
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo
8. What are the error messages that are displayed for the following exceptions?
a. Accessing a non-existent list item
b. Accessing a key that isn’t in the dictionary
c. Trying to open a non-existent file
a. IndexError: list index out of range
b. KeyError: what
c. IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'filename'
9. What are the two parts in an error message?
The error message has two parts: the type of error before the colon, and speci_cs
about the error after the colon.
10. How do you handle the exception inside a program when you try to open a non-existent
file?
filename = raw_input('Enter a file name: ')
try:
f = open (filename, "r")
except IOError:
print 'There is no file named', filename
11. How does try and execute work?
The try statement executes the statements in the first block. If no exception occurs, then
except statement is ignored. If an exception of type IOError occurs, it executes the statements
in the exceptbranch and then continues.
12. What is the function of raise statement? What are its two arguments?
The raise statement is used to raise an exception when the program detects an error. It takes
two arguments: the exception type and specific information about the error.
13. What is a pickle?
Pickling saves an object to a file for later retrieval. The pickle module helps to translate almost
any type of object to a string suitable for storage in a database and then translate the strings
back in to objects.
14. What are the two methods used in pickling?
The two methods used in pickling are pickle.dump() and pickle.load(). To store a data structure,
dump method is used and to load the data structures that are dumped , load method is used.
15. What is the use of the format operator?
The format operator % takes a format string and a tuple of expressions and yields a string
that includes the expressions, formatted according to the format string.
16. What are modules?
A module is simply a file that defines one or more related functions grouped together. To reuse
the functions of a given module, we need to import the module. Syntax: import
<modulename>
17. What is a package?
Packages are namespaces that contain multiple packages and modules themselves. They are
simply directories.
Syntax: from <mypackage> import <modulename>
18. What is the special file that each package in Python must contain?
Each package in Python must contain a special file called __init__.py
19. How do you delete a file in Python?
The remove() method is used to delete the files by supplying the name of the file to be
deleted as argument.
Syntax: os.remove(filename)
20. How do you use command line arguments to give input to the program?
Python sys module provides access to any command-line arguments via sys.argv. sys.argv is the
list of command-line arguments. len(sys.argv) is the number of command-line arguments.
 PART B (16 MARKS)
1. Write a function that copies a file reading and writing up to 50 characters at a time.
2. (a) Write a program to perform exception handling.
(b) Write a Python program to handle multiple exceptions.
3. Write a python program to count number of lines, words
and characters in a text file. def wordCount():
4. Write a Python program to illustrate the use of command-line
5. Mention the commands and their syntax for the following: get current directory, changing
directory, list, directories and files, make a new directory, renaming and removing directory.
6. Write a Python program to implement stack operations using modules.
7. Write a program to illustrate multiple modules.
8. Write a Python program to dump objects to a file using pickle.