From 55660ce3c7be442cbe83e98fd33edbf40210669b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Louie Dinh Date: Sat, 3 May 2014 17:17:43 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Add Python 3 tutorial --- python3.html.markdown | 578 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 578 insertions(+) create mode 100644 python3.html.markdown diff --git a/python3.html.markdown b/python3.html.markdown new file mode 100644 index 00000000..3a1bc1c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/python3.html.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,578 @@ +--- +language: python +contributors: + - ["Louie Dinh", "http://pythonpracticeprojects.com"] +filename: learnpython.py +--- + +Python was created by Guido Van Rossum in the early 90's. It is now one of the most popular +languages in existence. I fell in love with Python for its syntactic clarity. It's basically +executable pseudocode. + +Feedback would be highly appreciated! You can reach me at [@louiedinh](http://twitter.com/louiedinh) or louiedinh [at] [google's email service] + +Note: This article applies to Python 3 specifically. Check out the other tutorial if you want to learn the old Python 2.7 + +```python + +# Single line comments start with a number symbol. + +""" Multiline strings can be written + using three "'s, and are often used + as comments +""" + +#################################################### +## 1. Primitive Datatypes and Operators +#################################################### + +# You have numbers +3 # => 3 + +# Math is what you would expect +1 + 1 # => 2 +8 - 1 # => 7 +10 * 2 # => 20 + +# Except division which returns floats by default +35 / 5 # => 7.0 + +# When you use a float, results are floats +3 * 2.0 # => 6.0 + +# Enforce precedence with parentheses +(1 + 3) * 2 # => 8 + + +# Boolean values are primitives +True +False + +# negate with not +not True # => False +not False # => True + + +# Equality is == +1 == 1 # => True +2 == 1 # => False + +# Inequality is != +1 != 1 # => False +2 != 1 # => True + +# More comparisons +1 < 10 # => True +1 > 10 # => False +2 <= 2 # => True +2 >= 2 # => True + +# Comparisons can be chained! +1 < 2 < 3 # => True +2 < 3 < 2 # => False + + +# Strings are created with " or ' +"This is a string." +'This is also a string.' + +# Strings can be added too! But try not to do this. +"Hello " + "world!" # => "Hello world!" + +# A string can be treated like a list of characters +"This is a string"[0] # => 'T' + +# .format can be used to format strings, like this: +"{} can be {}".format("strings", "interpolated") + +# You can repeat the formatting arguments to save some typing. +"{0} be nimble, {0} be quick, {0} jump over the {1}".format("Jack", "candle stick") #=> "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candle stick" +# You can use keywords if you don't want to count. +"{name} wants to eat {food}".format(name="Bob", food="lasagna") #=> "Bob wants to eat lasagna" + + +# None is an object +None # => None + +# Don't use the equality "==" symbol to compare objects to None +# Use "is" instead. This checks for equality of object identity. +"etc" is None # => False +None is None # => True + +# None, 0, and empty strings/lists/dicts all evaluate to False. +# All other values are True +bool(0) # => False +bool("") # => False +bool([]) #=> False +bool({}) #=> False + + +#################################################### +## 2. Variables and Collections +#################################################### + +# Python has a print function +print("I'm Python. Nice to meet you!") + +# No need to declare variables before assigning to them. Convention is to use lower_case_with_underscores +some_var = 5 +some_var # => 5 + +# Accessing a previously unassigned variable is an exception. +# See Control Flow to learn more about exception handling. +some_unknown_var # Raises a NameError + +# Lists store sequences +li = [] +# You can start with a prefilled list +other_li = [4, 5, 6] + +# Add stuff to the end of a list with append +li.append(1) # li is now [1] +li.append(2) # li is now [1, 2] +li.append(4) # li is now [1, 2, 4] +li.append(3) # li is now [1, 2, 4, 3] +# Remove from the end with pop +li.pop() # => 3 and li is now [1, 2, 4] +# Let's put it back +li.append(3) # li is now [1, 2, 4, 3] again. + +# Access a list like you would any array +li[0] # => 1 +# Look at the last element +li[-1] # => 3 + +# Looking out of bounds is an IndexError +li[4] # Raises an IndexError + +# You can look at ranges with slice syntax. +# (It's a closed/open range for you mathy types.) +li[1:3] # => [2, 4] +# Omit the beginning +li[2:] # => [4, 3] +# Omit the end +li[:3] # => [1, 2, 4] +# Select every second entry +li[::2] # =>[1, 4] +# Revert the list +li[::-1] # => [3, 4, 2, 1] +# Use any combination of these to make advanced slices +# li[start:end:step] + +# Remove arbitrary elements from a list with "del" +del li[2] # li is now [1, 2, 3] + +# You can add lists +li + other_li # => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] - Note: values for li and for other_li are not modified. + +# Concatenate lists with "extend()" +li.extend(other_li) # Now li is [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] + +# Check for existence in a list with "in" +1 in li # => True + +# Examine the length with "len()" +len(li) # => 6 + + +# Tuples are like lists but are immutable. +tup = (1, 2, 3) +tup[0] # => 1 +tup[0] = 3 # Raises a TypeError + +# You can do all those list thingies on tuples too +len(tup) # => 3 +tup + (4, 5, 6) # => (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) +tup[:2] # => (1, 2) +2 in tup # => True + +# You can unpack tuples (or lists) into variables +a, b, c = (1, 2, 3) # a is now 1, b is now 2 and c is now 3 +# Tuples are created by default if you leave out the parentheses +d, e, f = 4, 5, 6 +# Now look how easy it is to swap two values +e, d = d, e # d is now 5 and e is now 4 + + +# Dictionaries store mappings +empty_dict = {} +# Here is a prefilled dictionary +filled_dict = {"one": 1, "two": 2, "three": 3} + +# Look up values with [] +filled_dict["one"] # => 1 + +# Get all keys as a list with "keys()". We need to wrap the call in list() because we are getting back an iterable. We'll talk about those later. +list(filled_dict.keys()) # => ["three", "two", "one"] +# Note - Dictionary key ordering is not guaranteed. +# Your results might not match this exactly. + +# Get all values as a list with "values()". Once again we need to wrap it in list() to get it out of the iterable. +list(filled_dict.values()) # => [3, 2, 1] +# Note - Same as above regarding key ordering. + +# Check for existence of keys in a dictionary with "in" +"one" in filled_dict # => True +1 in filled_dict # => False + +# Looking up a non-existing key is a KeyError +filled_dict["four"] # KeyError + +# Use "get()" method to avoid the KeyError +filled_dict.get("one") # => 1 +filled_dict.get("four") # => None +# The get method supports a default argument when the value is missing +filled_dict.get("one", 4) # => 1 +filled_dict.get("four", 4) # => 4 + +# "setdefault()" inserts into a dictionary only if the given key isn't present +filled_dict.setdefault("five", 5) # filled_dict["five"] is set to 5 +filled_dict.setdefault("five", 6) # filled_dict["five"] is still 5 + +# Remove keys from a dictionary with del +del filled_dict["one"] # Removes the key "one" from filled dict + + +# Sets store ... well sets +empty_set = set() +# Initialize a set with a bunch of values. Yeah, it looks a bit like a dict. Sorry. +some_set = {1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4} # some_set is now {1, 2, 3, 4} + +# Add more items to a set +filled_set.add(5) # filled_set is now {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} + +# Do set intersection with & +other_set = {3, 4, 5, 6} +filled_set & other_set # => {3, 4, 5} + +# Do set union with | +filled_set | other_set # => {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} + +# Do set difference with - +{1, 2, 3, 4} - {2, 3, 5} # => {1, 4} + +# Check for existence in a set with in +2 in filled_set # => True +10 in filled_set # => False + + +#################################################### +## 3. Control Flow and Iterables +#################################################### + +# Let's just make a variable +some_var = 5 + +# Here is an if statement. Indentation is significant in python! +# prints "some_var is smaller than 10" +if some_var > 10: + print("some_var is totally bigger than 10.") +elif some_var < 10: # This elif clause is optional. + print("some_var is smaller than 10.") +else: # This is optional too. + print("some_var is indeed 10.") + + +""" +For loops iterate over lists +prints: + dog is a mammal + cat is a mammal + mouse is a mammal +""" +for animal in ["dog", "cat", "mouse"]: + # You can use % to interpolate formatted strings + print("{} is a mammal".format(animal)) + +""" +"range(number)" returns a list of numbers +from zero to the given number +prints: + 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 +""" +for i in range(4): + print(i) + +""" +While loops go until a condition is no longer met. +prints: + 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 +""" +x = 0 +while x < 4: + print(x) + x += 1 # Shorthand for x = x + 1 + +# Handle exceptions with a try/except block +try: + # Use "raise" to raise an error + raise IndexError("This is an index error") +except IndexError as e: + pass # Pass is just a no-op. Usually you would do recovery here. + + +# Python's offers a fundamental abstraction called the Iterable. +# An iterable is an object that can be treated as a sequence. +# The object returned the range function, is an iterable. + +filled_dict = {"one": 1, "two": 2, "three": 3} +our_iterable = filled_dict.keys() +print(our_iterable) #=> range(1,10). This is an object that implements our Iterable interface + +i We can loop over it. +for i in our_iterable: + print(i) # Prints one, two, three + +# However we cannot address elements by index. +our_iterable[1] # Raises a TypeError + +# An iterable is an object that knows how to create an iterator. +our_iterator = iter(our_iterable) + +# Our iterator is an object that can remember the state as we traverse through it. +# We get the next object by calling the __next__ function. +our_iterator.__next__() #=> "one" + +# It maintains state as we call __next__. +our_iterator.__next__() #=> "two" +our_iterator.__next__() #=> "three" + +# After the iterator has returned all of its data, it gives you a StopIterator Exception +our_iterator.__next__() # Raises StopIteration + +# You can grab all the elements of an iterator by calling list() on it. +list(filled_dict.keys()) #=> Returns ["one", "two", "three"] + + + +#################################################### +## 4. Functions +#################################################### + +# Use "def" to create new functions +def add(x, y): + print("x is %s and y is %s" % (x, y)) + return x + y # Return values with a return statement + +# Calling functions with parameters +add(5, 6) # => prints out "x is 5 and y is 6" and returns 11 + +# Another way to call functions is with keyword arguments +add(y=6, x=5) # Keyword arguments can arrive in any order. + + +# You can define functions that take a variable number of +# positional arguments +def varargs(*args): + return args + +varargs(1, 2, 3) # => (1, 2, 3) + + +# You can define functions that take a variable number of +# keyword arguments, as well +def keyword_args(**kwargs): + return kwargs + +# Let's call it to see what happens +keyword_args(big="foot", loch="ness") # => {"big": "foot", "loch": "ness"} + + +# You can do both at once, if you like +def all_the_args(*args, **kwargs): + print(args) + print(kwargs) +""" +all_the_args(1, 2, a=3, b=4) prints: + (1, 2) + {"a": 3, "b": 4} +""" + +# When calling functions, you can do the opposite of args/kwargs! +# Use * to expand tuples and use ** to expand kwargs. +args = (1, 2, 3, 4) +kwargs = {"a": 3, "b": 4} +all_the_args(*args) # equivalent to foo(1, 2, 3, 4) +all_the_args(**kwargs) # equivalent to foo(a=3, b=4) +all_the_args(*args, **kwargs) # equivalent to foo(1, 2, 3, 4, a=3, b=4) + + +# Python has first class functions +def create_adder(x): + def adder(y): + return x + y + return adder + +add_10 = create_adder(10) +add_10(3) # => 13 + +# There are also anonymous functions +(lambda x: x > 2)(3) # => True + +# TODO - Fix for iterables +# There are built-in higher order functions +map(add_10, [1, 2, 3]) # => [11, 12, 13] +filter(lambda x: x > 5, [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]) # => [6, 7] + +# We can use list comprehensions for nice maps and filters +[add_10(i) for i in [1, 2, 3]] # => [11, 12, 13] +[x for x in [3, 4, 5, 6, 7] if x > 5] # => [6, 7] + +#################################################### +## 5. Classes +#################################################### + + +# We subclass from object to get a class. +class Human(object): + + # A class attribute. It is shared by all instances of this class + species = "H. sapiens" + + # Basic initializer + def __init__(self, name): + # Assign the argument to the instance's name attribute + self.name = name + + # An instance method. All methods take "self" as the first argument + def say(self, msg): + return "{name}: {message}" % (name=self.name, message=msg) + + # A class method is shared among all instances + # They are called with the calling class as the first argument + @classmethod + def get_species(cls): + return cls.species + + # A static method is called without a class or instance reference + @staticmethod + def grunt(): + return "*grunt*" + + +# Instantiate a class +i = Human(name="Ian") +print(i.say("hi")) # prints out "Ian: hi" + +j = Human("Joel") +print(j.say("hello")) # prints out "Joel: hello" + +# Call our class method +i.get_species() # => "H. sapiens" + +# Change the shared attribute +Human.species = "H. neanderthalensis" +i.get_species() # => "H. neanderthalensis" +j.get_species() # => "H. neanderthalensis" + +# Call the static method +Human.grunt() # => "*grunt*" + + +#################################################### +## 6. Modules +#################################################### + +# You can import modules +import math +print(math.sqrt(16)) # => 4 + +# You can get specific functions from a module +from math import ceil, floor +print(ceil(3.7)) # => 4.0 +print(floor(3.7)) # => 3.0 + +# You can import all functions from a module. +# Warning: this is not recommended +from math import * + +# You can shorten module names +import math as m +math.sqrt(16) == m.sqrt(16) # => True + +# Python modules are just ordinary python files. You +# can write your own, and import them. The name of the +# module is the same as the name of the file. + +# You can find out which functions and attributes +# defines a module. +import math +dir(math) + + +#################################################### +## 7. Advanced +#################################################### + +# Generators help you make lazy code +def double_numbers(iterable): + for i in iterable: + yield i + i + +# A generator creates values on the fly. +# Instead of generating and returning all values at once it creates one in each +# iteration. This means values bigger than 15 wont be processed in +# double_numbers. +# Note range is a generator too. Creating a list 1-900000000 would take lot of +# time to be made +_range = range(1, 900000000) +# will double all numbers until a result >=30 found +for i in double_numbers(_range): + print(i) + if i >= 30: + break + + +# Decorators +# in this example beg wraps say +# Beg will call say. If say_please is True then it will change the returned +# message +from functools import wraps + + +def beg(_say): + @wraps(_say) + def wrapper(*args, **kwargs): + msg, say_please = _say(*args, **kwargs) + if say_please: + return "{} {}".format(msg, "Please! I am poor :(") + return msg + + return wrapper + + +@beg +def say(say_please=False): + msg = "Can you buy me a beer?" + return msg, say_please + + +print(say()) # Can you buy me a beer? +print(say(say_please=True)) # Can you buy me a beer? Please! I am poor :( +``` + +## Ready For More? + +### Free Online + +* [Learn Python The Hard Way](http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/) +* [Dive Into Python](http://www.diveintopython.net/) +* [Ideas for Python Projects](http://pythonpracticeprojects.com) + +* [The Official Docs](http://docs.python.org/2.6/) +* [Hitchhiker's Guide to Python](http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/) +* [Python Module of the Week](http://pymotw.com/2/) +* [A Crash Course in Python for Scientists](http://nbviewer.ipython.org/5920182) + +### Dead Tree + +* [Programming Python](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596158106/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0596158106&linkCode=as2&tag=homebits04-20) +* [Dive Into Python](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1441413022/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1441413022&linkCode=as2&tag=homebits04-20) +* [Python Essential Reference](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0672329786/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0672329786&linkCode=as2&tag=homebits04-20) +