Introduction to Python

Tutorial Outline
 interactive "shell"
 basic types: numbers, strings
 container types: lists, dictionaries, tuples
 variables
 control structures
 functions & procedures
 classes & instances
 modules & packages
 exceptions
 files & standard library
 what's new in Python 2.0 and beyond
Interactive “Shell”
 Great for learning the language
 Great for experimenting with the library
 Great for testing your own modules
 Two variations: IDLE (GUI),
python (command line)
 Type statements or expressions at prompt:
>>> print "Hello, world"
Hello, world
>>> x = 12**2
>>> x/2
72
>>> # this is a comment
Numbers
 The usual suspects
 12, 3.14, 0xFF, 0377, (-1+2)*3/4**5, abs(x), 0<x<=5
 Integer division truncates :-(
 1/2 -> 0 # 1./2. -> 0.5, float(1)/2 -> 0.5
 Will be fixed in the future
 Long (arbitrary precision), complex
 2L**100 -> 1267650600228229401496703205376L
 In Python 2.2 and beyond, 2**100 does the same thing
 1j**2 -> (-1+0j)
Strings"hello"+"world" "helloworld"
 # concatenation
 "hello"*3 "hellohellohello" # repetition
 "hello"[0] "h" # indexing
 "hello"[-1] "o" # (from end)
 "hello"[1:4] "ell" # slicing
 len("hello") 5 # size
 "hello" < "jello" 1 # comparison
 "e" in "hello" 1 # search
 "escapes: \n etc, \033 etc, \if etc"
 'single quotes' """triple quotes""" r"raw strings"
Lists
 Flexible arrays, not Lisp-like linked lists
 a = [99, "bottles of beer", ["on", "the", "wall"]]
 Same operators as for strings
 a+b, a*3, a[0], a[-1], a[1:], len(a)
 Item and slice assignment
 a[0] = 98
 a[1:2] = ["bottles", "of", "beer"]
-> [98, "bottles", "of", "beer", ["on", "the", "wall"]]
 del a[-1]# -> [98, "bottles", "of", "beer"]
More List Operations
>>> a = range(5) # [0,1,2,3,4]
>>> a.append(5) # [0,1,2,3,4,5]
>>> a.pop() # [0,1,2,3,4]
5
>>> a.insert(0, 42) # [42,0,1,2,3,4]
>>> a.pop(0) # [0,1,2,3,4]
5.5
>>> a.reverse() # [4,3,2,1,0]
>>> a.sort() # [0,1,2,3,4]
Dictionaries
 Hash tables, "associative arrays"
 d = {"duck": "eend", "water": "water"}
 Lookup:
 d["duck"] -> "eend"
 d["back"] # raises KeyError exception
 Delete, insert, overwrite:
 del d["water"] # {"duck": "eend", "back": "rug"}
 d["back"] = "rug" # {"duck": "eend", "back": "rug"}
 d["duck"] = "duik" # {"duck": "duik", "back": "rug"}
More Dictionary Ops
 Keys, values, items:
 d.keys() -> ["duck", "back"]
 d.values() -> ["duik", "rug"]
 d.items() -> [("duck","duik"), ("back","rug")]
 Presence check:
 d.has_key("duck") -> 1; d.has_key("spam") -> 0
 Values of any type; keys almost any
 {"name":"Guido", "age":43, ("hello","world"):1,
42:"yes", "flag": ["red","white","blue"]}
Dictionary Details
 Keys must be immutable:
 numbers, strings, tuples of immutables
 these cannot be changed after creation
 reason is hashing (fast lookup technique)
 not lists or other dictionaries
 these types of objects can be changed "in place"
 no restrictions on values
 Keys will be listed in arbitrary order
 again, because of hashing
Tuples
 key = (lastname, firstname)
 point = x, y, z # parentheses optional
 x, y, z = point # unpack
 lastname = key[0]
 singleton = (1,) # trailing comma!!!
 empty = () # parentheses!
 tuples vs. lists; tuples immutable
Variables
 No need to declare
 Need to assign (initialize)
 use of uninitialized variable raises exception
 Not typed
if friendly: greeting = "hello world"
else: greeting = 12**2
print greeting
 Everything is a "variable":
 Even functions, classes, modules
Reference Semantics
 Assignment manipulates references
 x = y does not make a copy of y
 x = y makes x reference the object y references
 Very useful; but beware!
 Example:
>>> a = [1, 2, 3]
>>> b = a
>>> a.append(4)
>>> print b
[1, 2, 3, 4]
Changing a Shared List
a = [1, 2, 3] a 1 2 3

a
b=a 1 2 3
b

a
a.append(4) 1 2 3 4
b
Changing an aInteger
a=1 1

a
b=a 1
b new int object created
by add operator (1+1)

a 2
a = a+1 old reference deleted
by assignment (a=...)
b 1
Control Structures
if condition: while condition:
statements statements

[elif condition: for var in sequence:

statements] ... statements

else: break
statements continue
Grouping Indentation 0
Bingo!
---
---
---
In Python: In C:
3
---
---
---
6
for i in range(20): for (i = 0; i < 20; i++) ---
---
if i%3 == 0: { ---
9
print i if (i%3 == 0) { ---
---
if i%5 == 0: printf("%d\n", i); ---
12
print "Bingo!" if (i%5 == 0) { ---
---
printf("Bingo!\n"); } ---
print "---" 15
} Bingo!
---
printf("---\n"); ---
---
} 18
---
---
Functions, Procedures
def name(arg1, arg2, ...):
"""documentation""" # optional doc string
statements

return # from procedure

return expression # from function
Example Function
def gcd(a, b):
"greatest common divisor"
while a != 0:
a, b = b%a, a # parallel assignment
return b

>>> gcd.__doc__
'greatest common divisor'
>>> gcd(12, 20)
4
Classes
class name:
"documentation"
statements
-or-
class name(base1, base2, ...):
...
Most, statements are method definitions:
def name(self, arg1, arg2, ...):
...
May also be class variable assignments
Example Class
class Stack:
"A well-known data structure…"
def __init__(self): # constructor
self.items = []
def push(self, x):
self.items.append(x) # the sky is the limit
def pop(self):
x = self.items[-1] # what happens if it’s empty?
del self.items[-1]
return x
def empty(self):
return len(self.items) == 0 # Boolean result
Using Classes
 To create an instance, simply call the class object:
x = Stack() # no 'new' operator!

 To use methods of the instance, call using dot notation:

x.empty() # -> 1
x.push(1) # [1]
x.empty() # -> 0
x.push("hello") # [1, "hello"]
x.pop() # -> "hello" # [1]

 To inspect instance variables, use dot notation:

x.items # -> [1]
Subclassing
class FancyStack(Stack):
"stack with added ability to inspect inferior stack items"

def peek(self, n):

"peek(0) returns top; peek(-1) returns item below that; etc."
size = len(self.items)
assert 0 <= n < size # test precondition
return self.items[size-1-n]
Subclassing (2)
class LimitedStack(FancyStack):
"fancy stack with limit on stack size"

def __init__(self, limit):

self.limit = limit
FancyStack.__init__(self) # base class constructor

def push(self, x):

assert len(self.items) < self.limit
FancyStack.push(self, x) # "super" method call
Class / Instance Variables
class Connection:
verbose = 0 # class variable
def __init__(self, host):
self.host = host # instance variable
def debug(self, v):
self.verbose = v # make instance variable!
def connect(self):
if self.verbose: # class or instance variable?
print "connecting to", self.host
Instance Variable Rules
 On use via instance (self.x), search order:
 (1) instance, (2) class, (3) base classes
 this also works for method lookup
 On assignment via instance (self.x = ...):
 always makes an instance variable
 Class variables "default" for instance variables
 But...!
 mutable class variable: one copy shared by all
 mutable instance variable: each instance its own
Modules
 Collection of stuff in foo.py file
 functions, classes, variables
 Importing modules:
 import re; print re.match("[a-z]+", s)
 from re import match; print match("[a-z]+", s)
 Import with rename:
 import re as regex
 from re import match as m
 Before Python 2.0:
 import re; regex = re; del re
Packages
 Collection of modules in directory
 Must have __init__.py file
 May contain subpackages
 Import syntax:
 from P.Q.M import foo; print foo()
 from P.Q import M; print M.foo()
 import P.Q.M; print P.Q.M.foo()
 import P.Q.M as M; print M.foo() # new
Catching Exceptions
def foo(x):
return 1/x

def bar(x):
try:
print foo(x)
except ZeroDivisionError, message:
print "Can’t divide by zero:", message

bar(0)
Try-finally: Cleanup
f = open(file)
try:
process_file(f)
finally:
f.close() # always executed
print "OK" # executed on success only
Raising Exceptions
 raise IndexError
 raise IndexError("k out of range")
 raise IndexError, "k out of range"
 try:
something
except: # catch everything
print "Oops"
raise # reraise
More on Exceptions
 User-defined exceptions
 subclass Exception or any other standard exception
 Old Python: exceptions can be strings
 WATCH OUT: compared by object identity, not ==
 Last caught exception info:
 sys.exc_info() == (exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback)

 Last uncaught exception (traceback printed):

 sys.last_type, sys.last_value, sys.last_traceback

 Printing exceptions: traceback module

File Objects
 f = open(filename[, mode[, buffersize])
 mode can be "r", "w", "a" (like C stdio); default "r"
 append "b" for text translation mode
 append "+" for read/write open
 buffersize: 0=unbuffered; 1=line-buffered; buffered
 methods:
 read([nbytes]), readline(), readlines()
 write(string), writelines(list)
 seek(pos[, how]), tell()
 flush(), close()
 fileno()
Standard Library
 Core:
 os, sys, string, getopt, StringIO, struct, pickle, ...
 Regular expressions:
 re module; Perl-5 style patterns and matching rules
 Internet:
 socket, rfc822, httplib, htmllib, ftplib, smtplib, ...
 Miscellaneous:
 pdb (debugger), profile+pstats
 Tkinter (Tcl/Tk interface), audio, *dbm, ...
Python 2.0: What's New
 Augmented assignment: x += y
 List comprehensions:
[s.strip() for s in f.readlines()]
 Extended print: print >>sys.stderr, "Hello!"
 Extended import: import foo as bar
 Unicode strings: u"\u1234"
 New re implementation (faster, Unicode)
 Collection of cyclic garbage
 XML, distutils
Python 2.1: What's New
 From __future__ import nested_scopes
 def make_adder(n):
def adder(x): return x+n
return adder
 add2 = make_adder(2)
 add2(10) == 12
 Rich comparisons
 Overload <, <=, ==, !=, >=, > separately
 Warnings framework
 Prepare for the future
Python 2.2: What's New
 Iterators and Generators
 from __future__ import generators
def inorder(tree):
if tree:
for x in inorder(tree.left): yield x
yield tree.label
for x in inorder(tree.right): yield x
 Type/class unification
 class mydict(dict): …
 Fix division operator so 1/2 == 0.5; 1//2 == 0
 Requires __future__ statement in Python 2.x
 Change will be permanent in Python 3.0
URLs
 http://www.python.org
 official site
 http://starship.python.net
 Community
 http://www.python.org/psa/bookstore/
 (alias for http://www.amk.ca/bookstore/)
 Python Bookstore
Further Reading
 Learning Python: Lutz, Ascher (O'Reilly '98)
 Python Essential Reference: Beazley (New Riders '99)
 Programming Python, 2nd Ed.: Lutz (O'Reilly '01)
 Core Python Programming: Chun (Prentice-Hall '00)
 The Quick Python Book: Harms, McDonald (Manning '99)
 The Standard Python Library: Lundh (O'Reilly '01)
 Python and Tkinter Programming: Grayson (Manning '00)
 Python Programming on Win32:
Hammond, Robinson (O'Reilly '00)
 Learn to Program Using Python: Gauld (Addison-W. '00)
 And many more titles...
TIME FOR QUESTIONS