Python Notes

Python Regular Expression Quick Guide

^ Matches the beginning of a line

$ Matches the end of the line
. Matches any character
\s Matches whitespace
\S Matches any non-whitespace character
* Repeats a character zero or more times
*? Repeats a character zero or more times
(non-greedy)
+ Repeats a character one or more times
+? Repeats a character one or more times
(non-greedy)
[aeiou] Matches a single character in the listed set
[^XYZ] Matches a single character not in the listed set
[a-z0-9] The set of characters can include a range
( Indicates where string extraction is to start
) Indicates where string extraction is to end

Python for Everybody Database Handout

https://www.py4e.com/lectures3/Pythonlearn-15-Database-Handout.

PRINT

Message you want to display is in parentheses - ie Hello world. Can use “ or ‘

parenthesis...just pick one and stick to it...don’t use both.

Typing a long string with differen lines - using \n\t

Using PyCharm to write code and test. Folder and file

Python\PyCharm\intropython.py
Line 1 - input statement to ask a question and request input from user and store it
into the variable
User would type in their answer to be used as an output display - ie “Christine”
Line 2 - use a print statement to display a message
Line 3 - print statement to display the input answer from user stored in the
variable
When writing strings of code, your screen can start to look cluttered, so it's
useful to have some blank lines. See options highlighted in yellow
When you use a print statement to display, it will also display a blank line after
it. Like “hello world”

You can do that by typing

print() and it will display a blank line
/n is a special character that tells your code to put a new line here in the middle
of the string

We can use print statements to debug. If we are getting error statements, you can
use print statements in your code to help define the errors. When you run code
you’ll see the display message “adding numbers” followed by another line of
“dividing numbers” then a traceback. Those two lines of display code help you
decipher where the problem is with the written code. Yes, the traceback has “line
4” in it but if you have tons of line of code, you can just glance through your
print statements to help you determine what you meant to do next where there error
occurred.
If debugging - sometimes comments written into your code is helpful. Using # to
start comment line.

VARIABLES
Types of Variables
* Booleans have true and false
* Integers have a whole bunch
* Floats have a whole bunch
* None types have one thing, None. We think of it as the absence of a value. The
lack of a value

Variables - names you choose. Ie - x or first_name and can be reserved words.

Variables are assigned values using the = operator, which is not to be confused
with the == sign used for testing equality. A variable can hold almost any type of
value such as lists, dictionaries, functions.

If you want to use multiple words - use lower case and use _ to for spaces

Modulus operator
The modulus operator works on integers and yields the remainder when the first
operand is divided by the second. In Python, the modulus operator is a percent sign
(%). The syntax is the same as for other operators:

So 7 divided by 3 is 2 with 1 left over.

The modulus operator turns out to be surprisingly useful.
For example, you can check whether one number is divisible by another:
if x % y is zero, then x is divisible by y.
You can also extract the right-most digit or digits from a number.
For example, x % 10 yields the right-most digit of x (in base 10).
Similarly, x % 100 yields the last two digits.

STRING CODE

Strings - store characters and have many built-in convenience methods that let you
modify their content. Strings are immutable, meaning they cannot be changed in
place.

Two strings, using + sign, allows you to combine two lines together as one line in
the display. Instead of one line with Christopher and another line as Harrison.
This works with variables and a string literal
If I want to add a space when I combine two lines - use + again. Ie - see last line
of code after first_name +

If you want to use multiple words - use lower case and use _ to for spaces ie-
“last_name”

Saved as PyCharm\stringcombine.py

I also added comment code for first two lines so they wouldn’t show up in code.
Notice the red lines under the words in line 5. That tells me those are a problem.
So….I know I have to input lines for user to input their data - Christine and
Machon

Added age too just to try and see if I could figure out string

Then capitalize() input by adding a period “.” after first_name. It will give you
the prompt to add capitalization and you just tab or click. Always consider adding
this to any “input” you ask for so the user input works regardless of their use of
capitalization

Convert everything into uppercase letters, or lowercase letters, capitalize the

first word, or want to count the use of ‘a’, etc. use the lines above

Can also use .upper()

If you want to bring all of that together, you can do that by string combining +.
And even bring input values from user.
While concatenating strings works, it doesn't always read well. Python offers the
ability to add placeholders for easier dynamic string creation. Can streamline by
using place holders for yellow and circled spots above.

Goes in order in which we specify parameters below

FORMAT

You can choose to use brackets or numbers. Always start with zero for numbers. It
will go in order

If I want to use the same string somewhere else or want to document that one of
them will be the first, then the second, etc...better to use numbers

If I want to use variable name in same line, use the ‘f’ for format as shown in the
last line below

Different examples of ways to write this string for same output many ways to wring
these string options.

#1

#2

#3

#4
In pycharm - how I wrote it
first_name = 'Christine'
last_name = 'Machon'

# output = 'Hello, ' + first_name + ' ' + last_name

# output = 'Hello, {} {}'.format(first_name,last_name)
output = 'Hello, {0} {1}'.format(first_name,last_name)
print(output)

#4 - if you want to reverse order of variables without having to change order of

variables in the code. I just copied the string and pasted it into code and made
sure I added # comment to last string for note to self that I did that.

first_name = 'Christine'
last_name = 'Machon'

# output = 'Hello, ' + first_name + ' ' + last_name

# output = 'Hello, {} {}'.format(first_name,last_name)
# output = 'Hello, {0} {1}'.format(first_name,last_name)
output = 'Hello, {1}, {0}'.format(first_name,last_name)
print(output)

#5
You could delete lines 4-7 but wanted to keep for notes

RANDOM String options:

replace
character positions
without whitespace
upper case
lower case
is this present or in the group
true statement
change value in a list

append or add to a list - or try it like below

add to a listUpdate list
insert or add to a list
remove from a list
discard
number of items in a list tuple
GET method

CHAPTER 2

Mnemonic names will help me know what expressions I want to write. Python doesn’t
read the words - letters are simply names

NUMBERS

Type conversion
From this
To this - you have to concatenate with str by type conversion

Adding quotes changes the numbers 5 and 6 to strings

another example of a number stored as a string.

If you have a number stored in a string and want to keep it as a number and do math
with it, you have to take the number from a string into an integer

Used one input number and a variable number to create a math problem. Must use int
portion to convert it from a string to an integer.

DATE & TIME

you sometimes need to figure out when something will happen. See how Python
supports dates.
Will use string from a library to help write this code because if you want to do
something with time or dates, there is most likely a function in a date/time
library already written for it.

for PYCHARM - you MUST IMPORT date.time as noted abovet

To print today’s date and time
txt.strip()

Timedelta allows you to say how many days/weeks/months/etc. From today

You don’t have to have all detail on previous display. You can format it to simply
show parts of it, those you want.

Input is always stored as a string - you need to store it as a date object. You
need to know if it’s given to you in day/month/year, month/day/year, etc. I can be
worth it to you use a format because you have to know what format you’ll receive in
your format -that info will be in the library with the format.
If you are only using it as a date, you can leave it as a string. If you want to
format, then you have to store it as a date object.

How do you know how you will receive date? Look it up on the date/time function

This works when typing in Python command prompt. Not in PyCharm

ERROR HANDLING

Error - things you don’t have control over e - ie database issue, server being
down, permission changing, etc.

Debugging - when you KNOW there is a problem with your code. Causing your code to
crash/etc. Try except isn’t good for debugging.
* Syntax Errors
* Runtime Errors
* Logic Errors

Try Except is good for when something is going wrong with your code externally you
couldn’t predict which would cause your code to go sideways. Not to find errors or
debug

Syntax - easiest to fix and your code won’t run

It is displayed on screen will show problem as displayed byt the “if x == Y” with
the carrot under the y
Runtime - will also give you some information by providing the line #.
Start from that line and work your way up to find error
*The problem is 99% chance it’s somewhere inside your code - don’t assume there is
something external - most likely your code.

this is a Try Except not to find bugs. While you shouldn’t use it to debug - you
can sometimes use it to find errors
If I know there is a problem in my code - then don’t use this.

If there is a problem that is external with your code, then try except is perfect
for it.

Logic - when code runs but doesn’t give you the response you are looking for and
doesn’t give you an error or syntax message. Your code doesn’t make sense. Common
mistakes.
This code doesn’t run at all and provides no error message.
The code asks “If x is less than y
Then it asks to display “x is greater than y”. How can you ask it a less than y
then ask for a greater than answer?

You can also look at your error to help what you’ll write in your try except code.

Take a look at Unit testing and test driven development. They are beyond the scope
of this course. They are writing little automated tests to try and catch mistakes
in your code. Good tool to use to help catch these types of mistakes and avoid them
in the future. Python unit tests are great for this too
Conditional Statements
Conditions

Everything under “if” which is indented will only run IF it meets those conditions
- ie greater than or equal to 1
This statement reads - If the price is greater than or equal to 1 then tax it at .
07 then print the tax amount

Otherwise run “else” which reads - If the tax is less than 1 then tax at zero then
print that amount. Which would be zero

Both of these conditional statements above will do exactly the same thing. The one
on the right is cleaner and doesn’t repeat the print statement as does the one on
the left. Just your preference

You’ll need to float number for decimal display.

Error Solution

One CANADA is capitalized and the other is not. So Python thinks the lower case
Canada is not equal to the uppercase one.

So when you use the highlighted part, a user types in a value, it won’t matter
what case it’s in. It allows our code to react to different conditions.

Multiple Conditions

You could use if statements for all but elif is better

Only one of these will be used.

For these “if” and “elif” that fall into one of these categories, do this. For
everyone “else” , do this instead.

Can use “OR” to use the statement - one or the other.

An OR statement works this way, if any of the conditions is true, then the entire
statement will be evaluated as true. Won’t matter which one is true. An example
above, it will run in order but if Alberta was false and Nunavut was true - it
still runs true.
CAPITALIZATION() - important to use when input is requested from user.
IN statements
This is good a LIST of values to check for “if it equals this, or if it equals
this, or if it equals this…” this is helpful so you don't have to write a line of
code for each value. Also cleaner
When one statement checks the same value with same output - you can replace the OR
statement with IN. You can add a number of values to check if you use the IN
statement.
****Ensure you ALWAYS check through every conditional statement to ensure they
work. That can lead to difficulty in debugging code later

Nesting of statements
If statement with a block of indented will only execute if it’s true. So it only
runs “IF” the country is Canada. If it isn’t Canada, then the entire block will
not run and it will drop to the “else” statement.
Complex Conditions

Can use AND instead of nesting or with nesting. In this case, you need to meet
both requirements to be on the honor roll. Both option 1 and option 2 work but #2
option is cleaner on one line. Programmers choice. Both conditions must be met
for AND statements as noted below on how they are processed.

Boolean Flag

Rather than writing the IF statement, we used in the “honor roll” example, 2 or 3
times you can make a Boolean Flag. It will remember what happened in the other IF
statement. An example is above. The #1 is the honor roll statement from previous
example. By adding the yellow highlighted section - you’ve created a Boolean Flag.
You need to do it for each if, elif & else statement.
Then, later when you are coding and need to reference that same IF statement,
rather than retype the same statement, you simply type the Boolean Flag, minus the
true or false as noted in #2

comparison operators.
== Double equal equal is a question mark.
* Remember equals is an assignment statement, it has kind of direction. x = 1,
right? x = 1. That puts 1 in x.
* But, if you say x == 1, you're asking the question, is x equal to 1 and it
doesn't harm x
* Double equals is the question mark version of equality.

!= Not equal is exclamation point.

* another word for exclamation is bang.
* We say bang equal or not equal and so the exclamation point is like not equal,
sort of like emphasis.
Remember that none of these harm the data that they're looking at.
They evaluate and then return us a true or a false.

Remember that none of these harm the data that they're looking at. They evaluate
and then return us a true or a false. So here's an example of all these things kind
of in action.

* For x = 5, they're all going to be true.

* If x = 5, remember that's the question mark.
* If x is greater than 4, and the answer's yes, print Greater than 4.
* If x greater than or equal to 5, that's also true so this part runs.
* * You can also, if it's only one line of stuff, you can sort of pull this line up
to the end here. If x less than 6, print Less than 6.
* 4:25
* If x less than or equal to 5, print Less than or equal 5.
* If x is not equal to 6, print 6.
And so you see this pattern of indent, end of indent. Indent, end of indent.
Indent, end of indent. Indent, end of indent. So this is an important part of
Python. Not a lot of languages make the indenting of lines a syntactically
meaningful thing, but that is how Python works. And so if you don't indent it, it's
not going to work the way that you expected. Especially if you're coming from a
programming language like JavaScript, or Java, or C where the actual spacing
doesn't matter. In Python, the spacing does matter.

: Colon starts an indented block.

Maintaining the same indent, you make this all part of the conditionally executed
block.

So this is three lines of code that it runs, it runs this line then sequentially
runs the next line, sequentially runs the next line.

And we indicate when it is that we want to get out of this block and then continue
by de-indenting.

So when it's true it runs all of them, then now it's running sequentially,
sequentially, sequentially. And now it says, oh if, if x = 6. Well this one's going
to be false, then that skips all of these. None of these run. Skips all of the
indented blocks. And so this indenting is a way to, in effect, make bigger blocks
of conditional code, or multi-line blocks of conditional code.
6:08
Indentation is important in Python. It's more important in Python

3.2 Assignment

Then add a try and except here to pretend you aren’t sure of code.
 in Python when you know that there's a dangerous set of lines and you want to take
out insurance You put them in a try-catch block

Add the error code to except section. You can copy and past the error message from
this assignment section:
“Error, please enter numeric input”

what are we supposed to say when it blows up?

It says, error, please enter numeric input,
I'll just copy that and paste this, print "error, please enter numeric input" make
that a little bit wider, print that out. And I want to put this print statement
back in.

What happens when you put “ten” input. It gives you the error code you programmed
but also has a traceback…

just look, what line are you mad about, dear computer?
7:25
Line 9. Okay, let's take a look at line 9. It's always this line or the one before
it, almost always. Almost always it gets it right. And it says name 'fr' is not
defined.
So let's just focus on this, it's complaining about this. And the problem is that
it came down from line 1 to line 5. But then it blew up. Line 5 never ran. That's
the line that blew up, and then it ran this error on line 7

So it never, never, never got a variable or a value in fr.

And that's because, in this particular case, we would either have to put an if
statement in line 8 to make sure the rest of this code run. Or , if everything is
just so bad in this thing and I don't want to continue, add a quit on line 8 which
basically says do not continue, okay?
So when it starts again at line 1 then runs to line 7, it blows up, it comes down
to line 8 and then it quits. And then it doesn't continue on. So now I can run this
again, 10, 10 it works.

Now if we type in “ten” instead of “10”, it fails exactly the same way as it did
before with just an error code and no traceback message. It run it, produces the
error code, quits and doesn’t run rest of code. It would provide the end user an
error code to change the “ten” to a numeric “10”

So if you're doing really simple input code, checking is one of the things we call
this, just to make sure the data make sense and doesn’t continue. If the data
doesn't make sense, if these two statements don't work, then whatever we've been
given is nonsensical data that we're not capable of handling. So that is how to
write exercise 3.2.
Functions:
* Sequential
* Conditional
* Iterations
* Store and reuse pattern

4.1 - FUNCTIONS

DEF -Store and reuse pattern

If you want to use the same code different places - you can name that functions
and use it other places. Don't repeat yourself.
def

You can name the thing you are storing

It remembers it but doesn’t execute it. Like a variable but it just holds code.
No output from the function section
Calling or invoking - it remembers where to come back to.
When you create the function, it holds it in memory.
Then you de-indent and type the function name ‘Thing’ as noted here, then give it
an execution statement ‘Print’ which then executes it. If you add the function
again ‘Thing’ it runs that function again.

MAX
It seeks out the largest letter in a function
MIN does the opposite and looks for the smallest thing - which is a space

Input() is a function that always gives us back a string

BUILDING FUNCTIONS

It remembers the code but doesn’t run it.

Loops and Iterations

Uses ‘while’ and these loops run until some logical conditions run until they run
false or hit a break.

“While’ is like an ‘if’ statement. If it is True, it runs the block. If it’s

False, it stops then jumps to after the block. If it’s True it will also run the
block again and again. This will continue to loop until n is not greater than
zero.
This will always be True and the problem is that it never can be false. It will
infinitely loop. It will run until it locks up your computer. You DO NOT want to
be in an infinite Loop

This one starts with a question that is answered as False and will never be true as
it is written. This will never run anything either. This is a bad loop too. Break
gets out of the loop.

You can use a ‘break’ multiple times in a code.

‘Continue’ says quit on the current iteration and go to the next iteration. It
doesn’t go the line beyond it, it goes back to the top. Continue goes back up to
the top.

Definite Loops
Uses ‘for’ and finite. Go over all the lines in the file or items in a list. More
predictable and to validate them.

‘For’ then the ‘i’ is the Iteration variable. You can choose whatever word you
want. It will just run for each of these items in the list. Can use numbers or
words. It asks ‘are you we done yet?’ No? Then move on to the next item in the
collection/list. Then it goes to the next one and after its done it asks the
question again. Are we done yet until it goes through all items.

‘IN’ is a reserved word that serves an important part of code.

Essentially this says to python, run this code 5 times with ‘i’ taking on the value
of these numbers. This way you don’t have to write out 5 lines of code to run the
same string. This “FOR” statement does it for you with one simple line.

FINDING THE LARGEST VALUE

To to find the largest value. As an example - what is the largest 42 is a member
of a set. To do something to each item in the list.

Set some variables - not really know what largest variable, our goal when the loop
finishes, we know something. How many are in the list, what is the largest of the
group...we’ll know something about those items in the list.

Use these numbers and find the largest number. 2 41 12 9 74 15

Loops Idiom
Counting the number of things we will be looping through. We might want to keep
track of how many? How many have we seen?

‘Zork’ - variable
‘Thing’ - iteration variable
Zork + 1 is an increment
 the difference between the count and the total is instead of adding 1 here, you
add the thing you're running that you're totaling up. So that's how we compute
totals.

we divide sum by count and now we have calculated the average, actually this should
be 154 divided by 6

filtering is the idea that we're looking for something that meets some criteria.
So we're going to go through and look at all the things in the loop. And we're
trying to figure out if something is greater than 20 and we're going to declare
that large number. So this is how you put an if in the loop. So sometimes this loop
will do nothing, sometimes this loop will print out Large number. And so, value is
going to be 9 and that's false, so it doesn't do anything. Value is 41, that's
true, so it prints out this. Value's 12, so it does nothing. Value's 3, it does
nothing. Value's 74 and so it prints this out. Value's 15, so that's false. Done.
Now the for loop knows oh, we're done, go on to the next line. Okay?
5:29
So this is kind of a filtering pattern where we are going to do some if statement
and conditionally run some code based on the value that we are looking at for now.
So that's like searching for large numbers in our long list of numbers.

Sometimes instead of printing something out in the middle of the loop, just like in
functions, we don't often print in functions. We tend to prefer using return
values, sometimes we just want a variable that tells us whether something was found
or not. And so we're going to use a boolean variable. So boolean is another type of
a variable - either True or False.
False is a constant in Python.
we're looking for 3. And we want to know did we find 3 or not. It goes through, it
won’t print what it processes...only ‘Before False’ and ‘After True’ to let you
know it did find a 3. Doesn’t tell you what which ones were true or false or how
many, only that it did find 3.

This example:
Since the value of None is nothing, the first thing it finds becomes the first. In
this example it is 9. Then since it grabbed 9 as the first, then 41 becomes false.
Then it goes to the elif and uses 9 as the smallest, false for anything higher than
9 until it finds the 3 which is less than 9. Then 3 becomes the smallest. It will
loop through all list and eventually print out the smallest in the group. None
becomes irrelevant as soon as it finds the first number, then that number is the
variable. So while we value None at nothing, the ‘If” statement primes it and gets
it started
FLAG VALUE

There is a variable called None type, None. It only has one constant in it, the
absence of a value.

We're going to say, you know what, before this loop starts, the smallest number
we've seen is nothing. We've seen no numbers whatsoever. And that's going to be our
marker to indicate that we've seen no numbers.

But we're going to use smallest equals None. None is a variable, a value, that we
can distinctly detect different than numbers. So we can say is the contents of
smallest None? If smallest is None, is is like it's more powerful than double equal
sign.

Means is it exactly the same as. And so if we are asking is smallest None, that's
only true if we've got a None in there. If we put 17 in, smallest is not None. So
this is how it works. Start with smallest equals None.

If smallest is None, this means that it's the first time. If the smallest is None,
smallest is value.

don't hurt their operands and they return you a true or a false. So is, None, and
is not is also a logical operator

Is and is not are like less than or less than or equal to or not equal to

You shouldn't use is when you should be using double equals == (usually you're
using == for a True, False, or None). So that we don't overuse is, because is, is a
really, really strong equality. So it's a stronger equality than double equals to,
so the double equals is mathematically equal to with potential conversion.

VOCABULARY

The reserved words in the language where humans talk to Python include the
following:
and del global not with
as elif if or yield
assert else import pass
break except in raise
class finally is return
continue for lambda try
def from nonlocal while

print() function - tell computers what to say by giving it a message in quotes

instruction that causes a display on the screen. ie print('Hello world!')

Program - A set of instructions that specifies a computation.

Prompt - When a program displays a message and pauses for the user to type some
input to the program.
semantic error - An error in a program that makes it do something other than what
the programmer intended.
source code - A program in a high-level language.
statement - a unit of code that the Python interpreter can execute
Operators - special symbols that represent computations like addition and
multiplication. The values the operator is applied to are called operands.
expression - a combination of values, variables, and operators. A value all by
itself is considered an expression, and so is a variable.
Order of operations
* Parentheses have the highest precedence
* Exponentiation has the next highest precedence
* Multiplication and Division have the same precedence, which is higher than
Addition and Subtraction, which also have the same precedence.
* Operators with the same precedence are evaluated from left to right.
+ operator - works with strings, but it is not addition in the mathematical sense.
Instead it performs concatenation, which means joining the strings by linking them
end to end.
Input - gets input from the keyboard/user and the program stops and waits for the
user to type something.
Assignment - A statement that assigns a value to a variable.
Concatenate - To join two operands end to end.
Comment - Information in a program that is meant for other programmers (or anyone
reading the source code) and has no effect on the execution of the program.
Evaluate - To simplify an expression by performing the operations in order to yield
a single value.
Expression - A combination of variables, operators, and values that represents a
single result value.
floating point - A type that represents numbers with fractional parts.
Integer - A type that represents whole numbers.
Keyword - A reserved word that is used by the compiler to parse a program; you
cannot use keywords like if, def, and while as variable names.
Mnemonic - A memory aid. We often give variables mnemonic names to help us remember
what is stored in the variable.
modulus operator - An operator, denoted with a percent sign (%), that works on
integers and yields the remainder when one number is divided by another. A special
symbol that represents a simple computation like addition, multiplication, or
string concatenation.
rules of precedence - The set of rules governing the order in which expressions
involving multiple operators and operands are evaluated.
Statement - A section of code that represents a command or action. So far, the
statements we have seen are assignments and print expression statement.
String - A type that represents sequences of characters.
Type - A category of values. The types we have seen so far are integers (type int),
floating-point numbers (type float), and strings (type str).
Value - One of the basic units of data, like a number or string, that a program
manipulates.
Variable - A name that refers to a value.
Body - The sequence of statements within a compound statement.
boolean expression - An expression whose value is either True or False.
Branch - One of the alternative sequences of statements in a conditional statement.
chained conditional - A conditional statement with a series of alternative
branches.
comparison operator - One of the operators that compares its operands: ==, !=, >,
<, >=, and <=.
conditional statement - A statement that controls the flow of execution depending
on some condition.
Condition - The boolean expression in a conditional statement that determines which
branch is executed.
compound statement - A statement that consists of a header and a body. The header
ends with a colon (:). The body is indented relative to the header.
guardian pattern -Where we construct a logical expression with additional
comparisons to take advantage of the short-circuit behavior.
logical operator -One of the operators that combines boolean expressions: and, or,
and not.
nested conditional - A conditional statement that appears in one of the branches of
another conditional statement.
Traceback - A list of the functions that are executing, printed when an exception
occurs.
short circuit - When Python is part-way through evaluating a logical expression and
stops the evaluation because Python knows the final value for the expression
without needing to evaluate the rest of the expression.