Python

An Overview of Python

• What is Python?
• An overview of Python
• What is python?
• Python Timeline
• Advantages/Disadvantages of Python
• Getting help with Pydoc

The Python Environment

• Starting Python
• Using the interpreter
• Running a Python script
• Python scripts on Unix/Windows
• Editors and IDEs

Getting Started

• Using variables
• Built-in functions
• Strings
• Numbers
• Converting among Types
• Writing to the Screen
• Command Line Parameters

Flow Control

• About flow control
• White Space
• Conditional Expressions
• The Is and Is Not Operators
• Python’s Ternary Operator
• Relational and Boolean operators
• While Loops
• Alternate Loop Exits
• The Enumerate Function
• List Comprehensions

Sequences

• About Sequences
• Lists and List Methods
• Tuples
• Indexing and Slicing
• Iterating through a Sequence
• Sequence Functions, Keywords, and Operators
• List Comprehensions
• Generator Expressions
• Nested sequences

Working with Files

• File Overview
• Opening a Text File
• Reading a Text File
• Writing to a Text File
• Reading and Writing Raw (binary) Data
• Converting Binary Data with Struct

Iterables, Dictionaries and Sets

• About dictionaries
• About sequences
• Creating dictionaries
• Iterating through a Dictionary
• About Sets
• Creating Sets
• Working with Sets

Functions & Modules

• Defining functions
• Variable Scope
• Global Variables
• Function Parameters
• Global and Local Scope
• Nested Functions
• Returning Values
• Importing Values

Math

• Arithmetic Operators
• Modulus and Floor Division
• Assignment Operators
• Built-in Math Functions
• The Math Module
• The Random Module
• Seeding

Python Strings

• Quotation Marks and Special Characters
• String Indexing
• Slicing Strings
• Concatenation and Repetition
• Common String Methods
• String Formatting
• Built-in String Function

Sorting

• The Sorted Function
• Alternate Keys
• Lambda Functions
• Sorting Collections
• Using Operator
• Reverse sorting

Errors and Exception Handling

• Syntax errors
• Exceptions
• Using try/catch/else/finally
• Handling Multiple Exceptions
• Ignoring Exceptions

Modules and Packages

• The Import Statement
• Module Search Path
• Creating Modules
• Using packages
• Function and Module aliases

Classes

• About o-o Programming
• Defining classes
• Constructors
• Methods
• Instance data
• Properties
• Class Methods and Data

Regular Expressions

• RE Syntax Overview
• RE Objects
• Searching and Matching
• Compilation Flags
• Groups and Special Groups
• Replacing Text
• Splitting Strings

The Standard Library

• The sys Module
• Launching External Programs
• Math Functions
• Random Numbers
• The String Module
• Reading CSV Data

Dates and Times

• Working with Dates and Times
• Translating Timestamps
• Parsing Dates from Text
• Formatting Dates
• Calendar Data

Working with The File System

• Paths, Directories, and Filenames
• Checking for Existence
• Permissions and other File Attributes
• Walking Directory Trees
• Creating Filters with File Input
• Using Shutil for File Operations

Advanced Data Handling

• Defaultdict and Counter
• Prettyprinting data structures
• Compressed Archives (zip, gzip, tar, etc.)
• Persistent Data

Network Services

• Grabbing Web Content
• Sending email
• Using SSH for Remote Access
• Using FTP

Writing Real-Life Applications

• Parsing Command-Line Options
• Detecting the Current Platform
• Trapping Signals
• Implementing Logging
• Python Timeline
• Advantages/Disadvantages of Python
• Getting help with pydoc

Running Python Scripts from the Command Line

• The sys Module
• sys.argv