Python Programming

Introduction to Python 3

• Origin and Goals of Python
• Overview of Python Features
• Getting and Installing Python
• Accessing Python Documentation: Python Enhancement Proposals (PEP)
• Python's Strengths
• Using Python with Other Programming Languages

Using Python

• Executing Python Programs from the Command Line
• Creating and Executing Python Programs Using IDLE
• Python Command Line Options
• Environment Variables that Influence Python
• Creating Python GUI Applications
• Standalone vs. Web-Enabled Interfaces
• The Python Standard Library

• Python's Lexical Analyzer
• Using Whitespace to Structure Programs
• Identifiers and Keywords
• Python's Execution Model
• Naming Objects and Binding
• Python's Data Model
• Immutable and Mutable Objects
• Values
• Types

Flow Control Constructs

• if/elif/else Statements
• Creating Loops with while and for
• Understanding Iterators
• Returning Values with return Statements
• Loop Modification with break and continue
• Returning Generator Iterators with the yield Statement
• Retrieving Iterators with next()

• Unary and Binary Arithmetic Operations
• Comparison and Boolean Operations
• Conditional Expressions
• Lambda Expressions
• Order of Operations and Operator Evaluation
• Expression Lists
• Assignment Operations

Exception Handling

• Types of Python Exceptions
• Handling Exceptions with
  try/except/finally
• Triggering Exceptions with raise
• Defining New Exception Types
• Implementing Exception Handling in Functions, Methods and Classes
• Working with the Regular Expression Error Exception

Unit Testing and Debugging

• Using docstrings to Document Code
• Instrumenting Code with print Statements
• Testing Programs with PyUnit
• Creating Tests with the TestCase Object
• Organizing Tests with the TestSuite Object
• Working with pdb (Python Debugger)

Using the String Object

• Using ASCII and Unicode Strings
• Manipulating Strings with String Methods
• Using the format() Function to Format Strings
• Using Escape Sequences
• Working with Raw Strings

• Sequenced Data Structures
• Arrays
• Collections
• Dictionaries
• Creating and Accessing Lists
• Manipulating Lists
• Creating and Accessing Tuples
• Understanding the Differences Between Lists and Tuples
• Using Dictionaries to Create Data Records
• Manipulating Dictionaries Using Dictionary Methods
• Creating Sets
• Performing Set Operations
• Union
• Intersect
• Difference
• Differences Between Sets and Dictionaries
• Using Generators to Return Iterators

Organizing Code

• Defining Functions
• Calling Functions
• Creating Anonymous Functions
• Altering Function Functionality with Decorator Functions
• Creating Classes with the class Statement
• Creating Objects as Class Instances
• Using Preexisting Classes as the Basis of a New Class
• Using Modules to Group Related Functions, Classes and Variables
• Locating and Importing Modules
• Using Packages to Group Modules Together

Working with Arguments

• Passing Arguments to Functions by Reference and by Value
• Defining Functions with Required Arguments
• Defining Functions with Default Arguments
• Defining Flexible Functions that Take Variable Length Arguments

• GUI Programming Concepts
• GUI Programming Frameworks
• Installing the Tkinter Framework
• Using Tkinter to Create GUIs
• Using Tkinter Widgets

Object Oriented Programming Concepts

• The Object Oriented Programming Paradigm
• Encapsulating Information
• Classes vs. Instances of Objects
• Built-in Class Attributes
• Implementing Class Inheritance
• Using Objects in Code

• Discussing Python XML Processing Modules
• Importing the ElementTree API
• Parsing XML Documents
• Searching XML Documents for Specific Nodes
• Creating XML Documents
• Using XML to Exchange Data Between Python Programs

• Sending Output to STDOUT Using the print() Method
• Reading Input with the input() Method
• Creating File Objects with the open() Method
• Controlling File Access Modes
• Working with File Object Attributes
• Closing File Objects with the close() Method
• Reading and Writing to File Objects with read() and write()
• Using File Processing Functions from the OS Module

• Regular Expression Syntax
• Using Regular Expressions in Python
• Altering Regular Expression Processing with Regular Expression Modifiers
• Using Regular Expression Operators
• Scanning Through Strings Using the search() and match() Methods
• Creating Reusable Patterns by Using the compile() Method