Otherwise, it's 0. Bitwise OR of the numbers: if both bits are 0 , the result is 0. Otherwise, it's 1. Bitwise XOR of the numbers: if both bits 1 or 0 are the same, the result is 0. Returns whether x is less than y. All comparison operators return True or False.
Note the capitalization of these names. If both operands are numbers, they are first converted to a common type. Otherwise, it always returns. If x is True , it returns False. If x is False , it returns True. In this case, Python will not evaluate y since it knows that. This is called short-circuit evaluation.
Short-circuit evaluation applies here as well. Shortcut for math operation and assignment It is common to run a math operation on a variable and then assign the result of the operation back to the variable, hence there is a shortcut for such expressions:.
Our high school maths tells us that the multiplication should be done first. This means that the multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator. The following table gives the precedence table for Python, from the lowest precedence least binding to the highest precedence most binding. This means that in a given expression, Python will first evaluate the operators and expressions lower in the table before the ones listed higher in the table. The following table, taken from the Python reference manual, is provided for the sake of completeness.
It is far better to use parentheses to group operators and operands appropriately in order to explicitly specify the precedence. This makes the program more readable. See Changing the Order of Evaluation below for details. Operators with the same precedence are listed in the same row in the above table. Changing the Order Of Evaluation To make the expressions more readable, we can use parentheses. As with everything else, the parentheses should be used reasonably do.
There is an additional advantage to using parentheses - it helps us to change the order of evaluation. Associativity Operators are usually associated from left to right. This means that operators with the same precedence are evaluated in a left to right manner. The length and breadth of the rectangle are stored in variables by the same name. We use these to calculate the area and perimeter of the rectangle with the help of expressions. Also, notice how Python pretty-prints the output.
Even though we have not specified a space between 'Area is' and the variable area , Python puts it for us so that we get a clean nice output and the program is much more readable this way since we don't need to.
This is an example of how Python makes life easy for the programmer. Summary We have seen how to use operators, operands and expressions - these are the basic building blocks of any program. Next, we will see how to make use of these in our programs using statements. Control Flow In the programs we have seen till now, there has always been a series of statements faithfully executed by Python in exact top-down order.
What if you wanted to change the flow of how it works? For example, you want the program to take some decisions and do different things depending on different situations, such as printing 'Good Morning' or 'Good Evening' depending on the time of the day? As you might have guessed, this is achieved using control flow statements.
There are three control flow statements in Python - if , for and while. The if statement The if statement is used to check a condition: if the condition is true, we run a block of statements called the if-block , else we process another block of statements called the else-block. The else clause is optional. In this program, we take guesses from the user and check if it is the number that we have. We set the variable number to any integer we want, say Then, we take the user's guess using the input function.
Functions are just reusable pieces of programs. We'll read more about them in the next chapter. We supply a string to the built-in input function which prints it to the screen and waits for input from the user. Once we enter something and press kbd:[enter] key, the input function returns what we entered, as a string. We then convert this string to an integer using int and then store it in the variable guess. Actually, the int is a class but all you need to know right now is that you can use it to convert a string to an integer assuming the string contains a valid integer in the text.
Next, we compare the guess of the user with the number we have chosen. If they are equal, we print a success message. Notice that we use indentation levels to tell Python which statements belong to which block. This is why indentation is so important in Python. I hope you are sticking to the "consistent indentation" rule. Are you? Notice how the if statement contains a colon at the end - we are indicating to Python that a block of statements follows. Then, we check if the guess is less than the number, and if so, we inform the user that they must guess a little higher than that.
What we have used here is the elif clause which actually combines two related if else-if else statements into one combined if-elif- else statement. This makes the program easier and reduces the amount of indentation required. The elif and else statements must also have a colon at the end of the logical line followed by their corresponding block of statements with proper indentation, of course. You can have another if statement inside the if-block of an if statement and so on - this is called a nested if statement.
After Python has finished executing the complete if statement along with the associated elif and else clauses, it moves on to the next statement in the block containing the if statement. In this case, it is the main block where execution of the program starts , and the next statement is the print 'Done' statement. After this, Python sees the ends of the program and simply finishes up. Even though this is a very simple program, I have been pointing out a lot of things that you should notice.
You will need to become aware of all these things initially, but after some practice you will become comfortable with them, and it will all feel 'natural' to you. There is no switch statement in Python. You can use an if.. The while Statement The while statement allows you to repeatedly execute a block of statements as long as a condition is true.
A while statement is an example of what is called a looping statement. A while statement can have an optional else clause. Enter an integer : 22 No, it is a little higher than that. Enter an integer : 23 Congratulations, you guessed it. The while loop is over.
In this program, we are still playing the guessing game, but the advantage is that the user is allowed to keep guessing until he guesses correctly - there is no need to repeatedly run the program for each guess, as we have done in the previous section.
This aptly demonstrates the use of the while statement. We move the input and if statements to inside the while loop and set the variable running to True before the while loop. First, we check if the variable running is True and then proceed to execute the corresponding while-block. After this block is executed, the condition is again checked which in this case is the running variable.
If it is true, we execute the while-block again, else we continue to execute the optional else-block and then continue to the next statement. The else block is executed when the while loop condition becomes False - this may even be the first time that the condition is checked.
If there is an else clause for a while loop, it is always executed unless you break out of the loop with a break statement. The True and False are called Boolean types and you can consider them to be equivalent to the value 1 and 0 respectively. The for loop The for.. We will see more about sequences in detail in later chapters.
What you need to know right now is that a sequence is just an ordered collection of items. In this program, we are printing a sequence of numbers. We generate this sequence of numbers using the built-in range function. What we do here is supply it two numbers and range returns a sequence of numbers starting from the first number and up to the second number.
For example, range 1,5 gives the sequence [1, 2, 3, 4]. By default, range takes a step count of 1. If we supply a third number to range , then that becomes the step count. For example, range 1,5,2 gives [1,3]. Remember that the range extends up to the second number i. Note that range generates only one number at a time, if you want the full list of numbers, call list on the range , for example, list range 5 will result in [0, 1, 2, 3, 4].
Lists are explained in the data structures chapter. The for loop then iterates over this range - for i in range 1,5 is equivalent to for i in [1, 2, 3, 4] which is like assigning each number or object in the sequence to i, one at a time, and then executing the block of statements for each value of i. In this case, we just print the value in the block of statements. Remember that the else part is optional. When included, it is always executed once after the for loop is over unless a break statement is encountered.
Remember that the for.. Here, we have a list of numbers generated by the built-in range function, but in general we can use any kind of sequence of any kind of objects!
We will explore this idea in detail in later chapters. C programmers will note that the for loop in Python is similar to the foreach loop in C. Java programmers will note that the same is similar to for int i : IntArray in Java 1. As you can see, the for loop is simpler, more expressive and less error prone in Python. The break Statement The break statement is used to break out of a loop statement i. An important note is that if you break out of a for or while loop, any corresponding loop else block is not executed.
Length of the string is 11 Enter something : quit Done. In this program, we repeatedly take the user's input and print the length of each input each time.
We are providing a special condition to stop the program by checking if the user input is 'quit'. We stop the program by breaking out of the loop and reach the end of the program. Programming is fun When the work is done if you wanna make your work also fun: use Python! The continue Statement The continue statement is used to tell Python to skip the rest of the statements in the current loop block and to continue to the next iteration of the loop.
In this program, we accept input from the user, but we process the input string only if it is at least 3 characters long. So, we use the built-in len function to get the length and if the length is less than 3, we skip the rest of the statements in the block by using the continue statement. Otherwise, the rest of the statements in the loop are executed, doing any kind of processing we want to do here. Summary We have seen how to use the three control flow statements - if , while and for along with their associated break and continue statements.
These are some of the most commonly used parts of Python and hence, becoming comfortable with them is. Functions Functions are reusable pieces of programs. They allow you to give a name to a block of statements, allowing you to run that block using the specified name anywhere in your program and any number of times.
This is known as calling the function. We have already used many built-in functions such as len and range. The function concept is probably the most important building block of any non-trivial software in any programming language , so we will explore various aspects of functions in this chapter.
Functions are defined using the def keyword. After this keyword comes an identifier name for the function, followed by a pair of parentheses which may enclose some names of variables, and by the final colon that ends the line.
Next follows the block of statements that are part of this function. An example will show that this is actually very simple:. This function takes no parameters and hence there are no variables declared in the parentheses. Parameters to functions are just input to the function so that we can pass in different values to it and get back corresponding results.
Notice that we can call the same function twice which means we do not have to write the same code again. Function Parameters A function can take parameters, which are values you supply to the function so that the function can do something utilising those values. These parameters are just like variables except that the values of these variables are defined when we call the function and are already assigned values when the function runs.
Parameters are specified within the pair of parentheses in the function definition, separated by commas. When we call the function, we supply the values in the same way. Note the terminology used - the names given in the function definition are called parameters whereas the values you supply in the function call are called arguments. We find out the greater number using a simple if.. In the second case, we call the function with variables as arguments.
Local Variables When you declare variables inside a function definition, they are not related in any way to other variables with the same names used outside the function - i. This is called the scope of the variable. All variables have the scope of the block they are declared in starting from the point of definition of the name. The first time that we print the value of the name x with the first line in the function's body, Python uses the value of the parameter declared in the main block, above the function definition.
Next, we assign the value 2 to x. The name x is local to our function. So, when we change the value of x in the function, the x defined in the main block remains unaffected.
With the last print statement, we display the value of x as defined in the main block, thereby confirming that it is actually unaffected by the local assignment within the previously called function.
The global statement If you want to assign a value to a name defined at the top level of the program i. We do this using the global statement. It is impossible to assign a value to a variable defined outside a function without the global statement. You can use the values of such variables defined outside the function assuming there is no variable with the same name within the function. However, this is not encouraged and should be avoided since it becomes unclear to the reader of the program as to where that variable's definition is.
Using the global statement makes it amply clear that the variable is defined in an outermost block. The global statement is used to declare that x is a global variable - hence, when we assign a value to x inside the function, that change is reflected when we use the value of x in the main block.
You can specify more than one global variable using the same global statement e. Default Argument Values For some functions, you may want to make some parameters optional and use default values in case the user does not want to provide values for them. This is done with the help of default argument values. Note that the default argument value should be a constant. More precisely, the default argument value should be immutable - this is explained in detail in later chapters.
For now, just remember this. The function named say is used to print a string as many times as specified. If we don't supply a value, then by default, the string is printed just once. We achieve this by specifying a default argument value of 1 to the parameter times. In the first usage of say , we supply only the string and it prints the string once. In the second usage of say , we supply both the string and an argument 5 stating that we want to say the string message 5 times.
Only those parameters which are at the end of the parameter list can be given default argument values i. This is because the values are assigned to the parameters by position. Keyword Arguments If you have some functions with many parameters and you want to specify only some of them, then you can give values for such parameters by naming them - this is called keyword arguments - we use the name keyword instead of the position which we have been using all along to specify the arguments to the function.
There are two advantages - one, using the function is easier since we do not need to worry about the order of the arguments. Two, we can give values to only those parameters to which we want to, provided that the other parameters have default argument values. The function named func has one parameter without a default argument value, followed by two parameters with default argument values. In the first usage, func 3, 7 , the parameter a gets the value 3 , the parameter b gets the value 7 and c gets the default value of Then, the parameter c gets the value of 24 due to naming i.
The variable b gets the default value of 5. Notice that we are specifying the value for parameter c before that for a even though a is defined before c in the function definition. Sometimes you might want to define a function that can take any number of parameters, i. The return statement The return statement is used to return from a function i. We can optionally return a value from the function as well.
The maximum function returns the maximum of the parameters, in this case the numbers supplied to the function. It uses a simple if..
Note that a return statement without a value is equivalent to return None. None is a special type in Python that represents nothingness. For example, it is used to indicate that a variable has no value if it has a value of None. Every function implicitly contains a return None statement at the end unless you have written your own return statement.
TIP: There is a built-in function called max that already implements the 'find maximum' functionality, so use this built-in function whenever possible. DocStrings Python has a nifty feature called documentation strings, usually referred to by its shorter name docstrings. DocStrings are an important tool that you should make use of since it helps to document the program better and makes it easier to understand. Amazingly, we can even get the docstring back from, say a function, when the program is actually running!
The two values must be integers. A string on the first logical line of a function is the docstring for that function. Note that DocStrings also apply to modules and classes which we will learn about in the respective chapters.
The convention followed for a docstring is a multi-line string where the first line starts with a capital letter and ends with a dot. Then the second line is blank followed by any detailed explanation starting from the third line.
You are strongly advised to follow this convention for all your docstrings for all your non-trivial functions. Just remember that Python treats everything as an object and this includes functions. We'll learn more about objects in the chapter on classes. If you have used help in Python, then you have already seen the usage of docstrings! Remember to press the q key to exit help.
Automated tools can retrieve the documentation from your program in this manner. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you use docstrings for any non-trivial function that you write. The pydoc command that comes with your Python distribution works similarly to help using docstrings. Summary We have seen so many aspects of functions but note that we still haven't covered all aspects of them. However, we have already covered most of what you'll use regarding Python functions on an everyday basis.
Modules You have seen how you can reuse code in your program by defining functions once. What if you wanted to reuse a number of functions in other programs that you write? As you might have guessed, the answer is modules. There are various methods of writing modules, but the simplest way is to create a file with a. Another method is to write the modules in the native language in which the Python interpreter itself was written.
For example, you can write modules in the C programming language and when compiled, they can be used from your Python code when using the standard Python interpreter. A module can be imported by another program to make use of its functionality. This is how we can use the Python standard library as well. First, we will see how to use the standard library modules.
First, we import the sys module using the import statement. Basically, this translates to us telling Python that we want to use this module. The sys module contains functionality related to the Python interpreter and its environment i.
When Python executes the import sys statement, it looks for the sys module. In this case, it is one of the built-in modules, and hence Python knows where to find it.
If it was not a compiled module i. If the module is found, then the statements in the body of that module are run and the module is made available for you to use. Note that the initialization is done only the first time that we import a module. The argv variable in the sys module is accessed using the dotted notation i. It clearly indicates that this name is part of the sys module. Another advantage of this approach is that the name does not clash with any argv variable used in your program.
The sys. Specifically, the sys. If you are using an IDE to write and run these programs, look for a way to specify command line arguments to the program in the menus. Python stores the command line arguments in. Remember, the name of the script running is always the first element in the sys.
Observe that the first string in sys. This means that you can directly import modules located in the current directory. Otherwise, you will have to place your module in one of the directories listed in sys.
Note that the current directory is the directory from which the program is launched. Run import os; print os. One way is to create byte-compiled files with the extension.
Also, these byte-compiled files are platform- independent. NOTE: These. If Python does not have permission to write to files in that directory, then the. The from.. This is because your program will avoid name clashes and will be more readable. This is handy for the particular purpose of figuring out whether the module is being run standalone or being imported. As mentioned previously, when a module is imported for the first time, the code it contains gets executed.
We can use this to make the module behave in different ways depending on whether it is being used by itself or being imported from another module. Making Your Own Modules Creating your own modules is easy, you've been doing it all along!
This is because every Python program is also a module. You just have to make sure it has a. The following example should make it clear. The above was a sample module. As you can see, there is nothing particularly special about it compared to our usual Python program.
We will next see how to use this module in our other Python programs. Remember that the module should be placed either in the same directory as the program from which we import it, or in one of the directories listed in sys.
Notice that we use the same dotted notation to access members of the module. Python makes good reuse of the same notation to give the distinctive 'Pythonic' feel to it so that we don't have to keep learning new ways to do things. This is also likely because it is common practice for each module to declare it's version number using this name. Hence, it is always recommended to prefer the import statement even though it might make your program a little longer. One of Python's guiding principles is that "Explicit is better than Implicit".
Run import this in Python to learn more. The dir function The built-in dir function returns the list of names defined by an object. If the object is a module, this list includes functions, classes and variables, defined inside that module. This function can accept arguments. If the argument is the name of a module, the function returns the list of names from that specified module. If there is no argument, the function returns the list of names from the current module.
First, we see the usage of dir on the imported sys module. We can see the huge list of attributes that it contains. Next, we use the dir function without passing parameters to it. By default, it returns the list of attributes for the current module.
Notice that the list of imported modules is also part of this list. In order to observe dir in action, we define a new variable a and assign it a value and then check dir and we observe that there is an additional value in the list of the same name. Note that the dir function works on any object.
For example, run dir str for the attributes of the str string class. There is also a vars function which can potentially give you the attributes and their values, but it will not work for all cases.
Packages By now, you must have started observing the hierarchy of organizing your programs. Variables usually go inside functions.
Functions and global variables usually go inside modules. What if you wanted to organize modules? That's where packages come into the picture. Let's say you want to create a package called 'world' with subpackages 'asia', 'africa', etc.
Packages are just a convenience to organize modules hierarchically. You will see many instances of this in the standard library. Summary Just like functions are reusable parts of programs, modules are reusable programs.
Packages are another hierarchy to organize modules. The standard library that comes with Python is an example of such a set of packages and modules. Data Structures Data structures are basically just that - they are structures which can hold some data together.
In other words, they are used to store a collection of related data. There are four built-in data structures in Python - list, tuple, dictionary and set. We will see how to use each of them and how they make life easier for us. List A list is a data structure that holds an ordered collection of items i. This is easy to imagine if you can think of a shopping list where you have a list of items to buy, except that you probably have each item on a separate line in your shopping list whereas in Python you put commas in between them.
The list of items should be enclosed in square brackets so that Python understands that you are specifying a list. Once you have created a list, you can add, remove or search for items in the list. Since we can add and remove items, we say that a list is a mutable data type i. Quick Introduction To Objects And Classes Although I've been generally delaying the discussion of objects and classes till now, a little explanation is needed right now so that you can understand lists better.
We will explore this topic in detail in a later chapter. A list is an example of usage of objects and classes. When we use a variable i and assign a value to it, say integer 5 to it, you can think of it as creating an object i. In fact, you can read help int to understand this better. A class can also have methods i. You can use these pieces of functionality only when you have an object of that class. For example, Python provides an append method for the list class which allows you to add an item to the end of the list.
For example, mylist. Note the use of dotted notation for accessing methods of the objects. A class can also have fields which are nothing but variables defined for use with respect to that class only.
Fields are also accessed by the dotted notation, for example, mylist. These items are: apple mango carrot banana I also have to buy rice. My shopping list is now ['apple', 'mango', 'carrot', 'banana', 'rice'] I will sort my list now Sorted shopping list is ['apple', 'banana', 'carrot', 'mango', 'rice'] The first item I will buy is apple I bought the apple My shopping list is now ['banana', 'carrot', 'mango', 'rice'].
The variable shoplist is a shopping list for someone who is going to the market. In shoplist , we only store strings of the names of the items to buy but you can add any kind of object to a list including numbers and even other lists.
We have also used the for.. By now, you must have realised that a list is also a sequence. The speciality of sequences will be discussed in a later section.
Notice the use of the end parameter in the call to print function to indicate that we want to end the output with a space instead of the usual line break. Next, we add an item to the list using the append method of the list object, as already discussed before.
Then, we check that the item has been indeed added to the list by printing the contents of the list by simply passing the list to the print function which prints it neatly. Then, we sort the list by using the sort method of the list.
It is important to understand that this method affects the list itself and does not return a modified list - this is different from the way strings work. This is what we mean by saying that lists are mutable and that strings are immutable.
Next, when we finish buying an item in the market, we want to remove it from the list. We achieve this by using the del statement. Here, we mention which item of the list we want to remove and the del statement removes it from the list for us. We specify that we want to remove the first item from the list and hence we use del shoplist[0] remember that Python starts counting from 0.
Tuple Tuples are used to hold together multiple objects. Think of them as similar to lists, but without the extensive functionality that the list class gives you. One major feature of tuples is that they are immutable like strings i. Tuples are defined by specifying items separated by commas within an optional pair of parentheses. Tuples are usually used in cases where a statement or a user-defined function can safely assume that the collection of values i.
I would recommend always using parentheses to indicate start and end of tuple even though parentheses are optional. Explicit is better than implicit. The variable zoo refers to a tuple of items. We see that the len function can be used to get the length of the tuple. This also indicates that a tuple is a sequence as well. We are now shifting these animals to a new zoo since the old zoo is being closed.
Back to reality, note that a tuple within a tuple does not lose its identity. For example, instead of opening a file, doing something in a try block and closing the file handle manually, you should use the recommended with-resources technique:. Finally, the function name and all variable names are very poor, and don't help the readers understand their purpose and what you're trying to do.
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Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Asked 6 years, 7 months ago. Active 6 years, 7 months ago. Viewed 6k times. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Then it introduces different data types, control flows, functions, function parameters, modules, packages, data structures, object-oriented programming, classes, files, and appendices that contain more about python.
It is a good beginning book for people who want to learn python. The book is relevant. It is a very good beginning book for anyone who wants to learn python. For instructors who teach python, it is a very introduction book to use. This book is clearly written. The terms of python are well explained. The examples are easy to understand. The book is well organized with different topics.
Each topic is written and explained clearly with examples. The interface of the book is fine overall, but it is not very easy to identify between different chapters sometimes. This book is a very good book for people who begin to learn a programming language. It would be a good introductory book for anyone who wants to learn python. An excellent beginner level book on Python. I appreciate the additional references and bits of historical context that come up. I would Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less.
I would like to see an expanded talk about how programming intersects with other related topics such as computer science in general, algorithms, and maybe an expanded section on software development processes or maybe just some additional links to said related topics to keep the book approachable. This book is written using simple terms and initially direct approaches to each problem that it proposes and solves, which should make it approachable and easy to get through for most readers.
There are plenty of technical terms, but they are well explained in their given context. This book is consistent in its use of terminology and framework, approach to proposing and solving prooblems, and even in giving additional ideas and resources in many sections.
This book is well divided into sections and has the current section's title in the header of each page. I agree with another reviewer that the book could be improved with an index as well as a glossary of terms, but a majority of readers will likely already be decently capable at looking terms up on the Internet and with a little guidance searching a digital document for keywords. I appreciate the organization and structure of the book, however there are a few sections that refer to other sections that do not make obvious or complete sense Basics says that control flow should be next maybe rearranged or split and merged sections?
A good book that I will likely use as a core resource to an intro to programming and computer science course. A good beginning basic book on this programming language. This book appears relevant and should be able to easily maintain any updates.
The author gives a very good explanation of the terms used in Python and other programming languages. The author talks about the different versions of Python and different programming languages, but the book seems to be designed for the beginning programmer. Because of that the reader my not understand the differences but the examples that the author provides throughout the book seem easy to comprehend.
The writing of the text is consistent throughout the book. At the end of each chapter is a brief recap of what was done. The reader should be able to proceed from chapter to chapter and should be able to finish the entire book by the end of the semester.
The text was free from any significant interference problems although the light grey text in some of the chapters made it somewhat difficult to read. The text was not insensitive or offensive. There was a listing of this book being translated into many different languages.
This book would be a very good book to use in an intro to Python course. The author backs up his writing with examples throughout the book.
This book gives a very good fundamental plan for the beginner. When I first opened the book and clicked on the download links and when I went back to the link two weeks later it had been changed. It made it a bit more challenging; but I was still able to follow along. I plan on using this book for the first two, maybe three weeks of my Python class. I think it will give my students a basic understanding of what they will be learning throughout the rest of the semester.
This was written by a young man, and as most of my students are young adults, they will be able to follow this book easily. The flow was done in clear language and logically moved from section to section on learning the fundamentals of Python. This book is rather short and I think it was creating to give the user just a 'taste' of the Python language. As such, I'm seriously considering using this book for the first two to three weeks of class to give my students a basic understanding of what they will be learning and also give them a resource on which they can reference when we use a fuller textbook.
The book is written for new first-time programmers on a language that has a huge library, so in its nature it could not be comprehensive.
However, the basics are covered well, as was the intention of the author. Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less. This reviewer didn't see any errors in the text nor in the program examples. The content is accurate. As with any computer language book, the changes are expected as the language develops. For now, the author was making the necessary changes from one edition to another.
The basics will stay the same for at least few more years, since that part of the language will most likely not change. The language structure, the principles, and the examples are well written and easily accessible.
All the programming terms are well defined. However, the session on object oriented programming, maybe, could use a few more examples. The text is consistent from chapter to chapter and within chapters. Definitions are provided and used consistently. The chapters are well balanced. The book follows a story - from simple examples to more complicated and involved examples demonstrating various aspects of Python. Of course, experienced programmers could probably finish the book in a matter of hours, but then, this book is not written for them.
Readers are gently introduced to the language syntax, procedural programming using functions, and then object oriented programming. At the end, a number of other, more involved, books and websites were provided. The book is well presented. A small suggestion would be to have a couple diagrams showing the relationship between classes, sub-classes, objects, etc.
Since I downloaded the whole book and printed it - I could not observe any computer-related interface issues. This book is not culturally insensitive or offensive. The book examples deal with groceries, universities, etc. I liked the book and most likely I will use it as a beginning of Python learning in class. However, since I am looking at IoT and mechatronics uses with Raspberry Pi, I will have to add some more material for that purpose.
Once again, this is a well-written easy-to-read book with examples for Python 3 that I will likely adopt for my first robotics class. This book, as stated in the Preface, "It is mainly targeted at newbies". Therefore, only basics of Python programming and its environment is explained. Although I could not see an error, the statement "Just remember that Python treats everything as an object and this includes functions" on page 66 would be confusing, The objects are instances of a class that includes data fields properties and methods functions.
The content is up-to-date. It would be good to add a note about more specific version 3. The book has some references that the reader can keep track updates. In general, the language is clear. Some sections such as "Raw String", "VarArgs parameters", and "Lambda Forms" needs more clarification with some simple examples to make it easier to comprehend purpose and usage. This books is intended for "newbies" who are familiar with an OOP language. This book assumes the reader has no experience with Python and does a good job writing to that assumed audience.
There are a few places where it may benefit the reader if it was more comprehensive. For example, there is a list of operators and For example, there is a list of operators and the list includes bit-wise AND, yet there is no explanation of what that operator is or does, even though most of the operators have an explanation and example but not all.
The content was accurate and I did not notice any errors. There were a few characters that did not show up correctly, but I attribute that to download errors.
There were a few broken links, but each link has detailed information which can be easily searched on the internet. The content is very relevant and the examples will not make the text obsolete.
The author is very clear, with simple language that is to the point. At times, it is almost too simple. For example, the section on while-loops doesn't mention sentinel values.
The author absolutely does a good job of introducing the concept, explaining the control flow, and providing an example, but doesn't mention sentinel values.
This level of writing gives the very basic foundation. The book is very consistent. The author consistently presents a narrative about a concept, sample code, the output, and then breaks down the code and output. The format is laid out nicely and is consistent throughout the entire book. This book is not overly self-referential. There are several places where the author provides a link to a later chapter or mentions that more about a concept will be discussed later, but it does not disrupt the reading.
The organization is typical of a programming language book. I think the book can benefit from either subheadings in the table of contents, a glossary, or an index. Digital books are so easily searchable, that an index or glossary is almost obsolete, but that assumes you know what to search for.
Given how this was written for a beginner, I think the user would benefit from at least one of the above. There is no problem with the interface in the PDF version. I did not look at the online version. I would have appreciated page numbers in the table of contents for the PDF version, but the headings in the table of contents are links, so it's easy to navigate the interface. This book is designed for a beginner from any cultural background. The one and only example that I noticed was using the term "marks" when referring to a student's grade.
As an american, we don't use that term, but it is in no way offensive, nor does it detract from the example. The author does a great job of using neutral language to teach a topic that can be overwhelming to a beginner. This is a great book for a resource, but I'm not sure it's a good textbook, in the traditional sense. Meaning, if you are accustomed to a textbook that lays out the concepts and then gives several problems to work on, you will not receive those traditional problems.
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