Python Programming For Economics Finance

Python Programming for Economics
and Finance
Thomas J. Sargent and John Stachurski
May 10, 2020

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Contents
I Introduction to Python 1
1 About Python 3
2 Setting up Your Python Environment 13
3 An Introductory Example 31
4 Functions 49
5 Python Essentials 59
6 OOP I: Introduction to Object Oriented Programming 79
7 OOP II: Building Classes 85
II The Scientific Libraries 103
8 Python for Scientific Computing 105
9 NumPy 115
10 Matplotlib 135
11 SciPy 147
12 Numba 157
13 Parallelization 171
14 Pandas 181
III Advanced Python Programming 201
15 Writing Good Code 203
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4 CONTENTS
16 More Language Features 217
17 Debugging 257
Part I
Introduction to Python
1
Chapter 1
About Python
1.1 Contents
• Overview 1.2
• What’s Python? 1.3
• Scientific Programming 1.4
• Learn More 1.5
“Python has gotten sufficiently weapons grade that we don’t descend into R any-
more. Sorry, R people. I used to be one of you but we no longer descend into R.”
– Chris Wiggins
1.2 Overview
In this lecture we will

• outline what Python is
• showcase some of its abilities
• compare it to some other languages.
At this stage, it’s not our intention that you try to replicate all you see.
We will work through what follows at a slow pace later in the lecture series.
Our only objective for this lecture is to give you some feel of what Python is, and what it can
do.
1.3 What’s Python?
Python is a general-purpose programming language conceived in 1989 by Dutch programmer

Guido van Rossum.
Python is free and open source, with development coordinated through the Python Software
Foundation.
Python has experienced rapid adoption in the last decade and is now one of the most popular
programming languages.
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4 CHAPTER 1. ABOUT PYTHON
1.3.1 Common Uses
Python is a general-purpose language used in almost all application domains such as

• communications
• web development
• CGI and graphical user interfaces
• game development
• multimedia, data processing, security, etc., etc., etc.
Used extensively by Internet services and high tech companies including
• Google
• Dropbox
• Reddit
• YouTube
• Walt Disney Animation.
Python is very beginner-friendly and is often used to teach computer science and program-
ming.
For reasons we will discuss, Python is particularly popular within the scientific community
with users including NASA, CERN and practically all branches of academia.
It is also replacing familiar tools like Excel in the fields of finance and banking.
1.3.2 Relative Popularity
The following chart, produced using Stack Overflow Trends, shows one measure of the relative
popularity of Python
The figure indicates not only that Python is widely used but also that adoption of Python
has accelerated significantly since 2012.
We suspect this is driven at least in part by uptake in the scientific domain, particularly in
rapidly growing fields like data science.
For example, the popularity of pandas, a library for data analysis with Python has exploded,
as seen here.
(The corresponding time path for MATLAB is shown for comparison)
1.4. SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMING 5
Note that pandas takes off in 2012, which is the same year that we see Python’s popularity
begin to spike in the first figure.
Overall, it’s clear that
• Python is one of the most popular programming languages worldwide.
• Python is a major tool for scientific computing, accounting for a rapidly rising share of
scientific work around the globe.
1.3.3 Features
Python is a high-level language suitable for rapid development.

It has a relatively small core language supported by many libraries.
Other features of Python:
• multiple programming styles are supported (procedural, object-oriented, functional,
etc.)
• it is interpreted rather than compiled.
1.3.4 Syntax and Design
One nice feature of Python is its elegant syntax — we’ll see many examples later on.
Elegant code might sound superfluous but in fact it’s highly beneficial because it makes the
syntax easy to read and easy to remember.
Remembering how to read from files, sort dictionaries and other such routine tasks means
that you don’t need to break your flow in order to hunt down correct syntax.
Closely related to elegant syntax is an elegant design.
Features like iterators, generators, decorators and list comprehensions make Python highly
expressive, allowing you to get more done with less code.
Namespaces improve productivity by cutting down on bugs and syntax errors.
1.4 Scientific Programming
Python has become one of the core languages of scientific computing.

It’s either the dominant player or a major player in
• machine learning and data science
• astronomy
• artificial intelligence
• chemistry
• computational biology
• meteorology
Its popularity in economics is also beginning to rise.
This section briefly showcases some examples of Python for scientific programming.
• All of these topics will be covered in detail later on.
1.4.1 Numerical Programming
Fundamental matrix and array processing capabilities are provided by the excellent NumPy
library.
NumPy provides the basic array data type plus some simple processing operations.
For example, let’s build some arrays
In [1]: import numpy as np # Load the library
a = np.linspace(-np.pi, np.pi, 100) # Create even grid from -π to π

b = np.cos(a) # Apply cosine to each element of a
c = np.sin(a) # Apply sin to each element of a
Now let’s take the inner product
In [2]: b @ c
Out[2]: 4.04891256782214e-16
The number you see here might vary slightly but it’s essentially zero.
(For older versions of Python and NumPy you need to use the np.dot function)
The SciPy library is built on top of NumPy and provides additional functionality.
2
For example, let’s calculate ∫−2 𝜙(𝑧)𝑑𝑧 where 𝜙 is the standard normal density.
In [3]: from scipy.stats import norm

from scipy.integrate import quad
ϕ = norm()
value, error = quad(ϕ.pdf, -2, 2) # Integrate using Gaussian quadrature
value
Out[3]: 0.9544997361036417
SciPy includes many of the standard routines used in

• linear algebra
• integration
• interpolation
• optimization
• distributions and random number generation
• signal processing
See them all here.
1.4.2 Graphics
The most popular and comprehensive Python library for creating figures and graphs is Mat-
plotlib, with functionality including
• plots, histograms, contour images, 3D graphs, bar charts etc.

• output in many formats (PDF, PNG, EPS, etc.)
• LaTeX integration
Example 2D plot with embedded LaTeX annotations
Example contour plot

Example 3D plot
More examples can be found in the Matplotlib thumbnail gallery.

Other graphics libraries include
• Plotly
• Bokeh
• VPython — 3D graphics and animations
1.4.3 Symbolic Algebra
It’s useful to be able to manipulate symbolic expressions, as in Mathematica or Maple.

The SymPy library provides this functionality from within the Python shell.
In [4]: from sympy import Symbol
x, y = Symbol('x'), Symbol('y') # Treat 'x' and 'y' as algebraic symbols

x + x + x + y
Out[4]: 3𝑥 + 𝑦
We can manipulate expressions
In [5]: expression = (x + y)**2

expression.expand()
Out[5]: 𝑥2 + 2𝑥𝑦 + 𝑦2
solve polynomials
In [6]: from sympy import solve
solve(x**2 + x + 2)
Out[6]: [-1/2 - sqrt(7)*I/2, -1/2 + sqrt(7)*I/2]
and calculate limits, derivatives and integrals
In [7]: from sympy import limit, sin, diff
limit(1 / x, x, 0)
Out[7]: ∞
In [8]: limit(sin(x) / x, x, 0)
Out[8]: 1
In [9]: diff(sin(x), x)
Out[9]: cos (𝑥)
The beauty of importing this functionality into Python is that we are working within a fully
fledged programming language.
We can easily create tables of derivatives, generate LaTeX output, add that output to figures
and so on.
1.4.4 Statistics
Python’s data manipulation and statistics libraries have improved rapidly over the last few
years.
Pandas
One of the most popular libraries for working with data is pandas.
Pandas is fast, efficient, flexible and well designed.
Here’s a simple example, using some dummy data generated with Numpy’s excellent random
functionality.
In [10]: import pandas as pd

np.random.seed(1234)
data = np.random.randn(5, 2) # 5x2 matrix of N(0, 1) random draws

dates = pd.date_range('28/12/2010', periods=5)
df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=('price', 'weight'), index=dates)

print(df)
price weight
2010-12-28 0.471435 -1.190976
2010-12-29 1.432707 -0.312652
2010-12-30 -0.720589 0.887163
2010-12-31 0.859588 -0.636524
2011-01-01 0.015696 -2.242685
In [11]: df.mean()
Out[11]: price 0.411768

weight -0.699135
dtype: float64
Other Useful Statistics Libraries
• statsmodels — various statistical routines

• scikit-learn — machine learning in Python (sponsored by Google, among others)
• pyMC — for Bayesian data analysis
• pystan Bayesian analysis based on stan
1.4.5 Networks and Graphs
Python has many libraries for studying graphs.

One well-known example is NetworkX. Its features include, among many other things:
• standard graph algorithms for analyzing networks
• plotting routines
Here’s some example code that generates and plots a random graph, with node color deter-
mined by shortest path length from a central node.
In [12]: import networkx as nx

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
%matplotlib inline
# Generate a random graph

p = dict((i, (np.random.uniform(0, 1), np.random.uniform(0, 1)))
for i in range(200))
g = nx.random_geometric_graph(200, 0.12, pos=p)
pos = nx.get_node_attributes(g, 'pos')
# Find node nearest the center point (0.5, 0.5)

dists = [(x - 0.5)**2 + (y - 0.5)**2 for x, y in list(pos.values())]
ncenter = np.argmin(dists)
# Plot graph, coloring by path length from central node

p = nx.single_source_shortest_path_length(g, ncenter)
plt.figure()
nx.draw_networkx_edges(g, pos, alpha=0.4)
nx.draw_networkx_nodes(g,
pos,
nodelist=list(p.keys()),
node_size=120, alpha=0.5,
node_color=list(p.values()),
cmap=plt.cm.jet_r)
plt.show()
/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/networkx/drawing/nx_pylab.py:
↪579:
MatplotlibDeprecationWarning:
The iterable function was deprecated in Matplotlib 3.1 and will be removed in 3.3.�
↪Use
np.iterable instead.
if not cb.iterable(width):
1.4.6 Cloud Computing
Running your Python code on massive servers in the cloud is becoming easier and easier.
A nice example is Anaconda Enterprise.
See also
• Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
• The Google App Engine (Python, Java, PHP or Go)
• Pythonanywhere
• Sagemath Cloud
1.4.7 Parallel Processing
Apart from the cloud computing options listed above, you might like to consider
• Parallel computing through IPython clusters.

• The Starcluster interface to Amazon’s EC2.
• GPU programming through PyCuda, PyOpenCL, Theano or similar.
1.4.8 Other Developments
There are many other interesting developments with scientific programming in Python.
Some representative examples include
• Jupyter — Python in your browser with interactive code cells, embedded images and
other useful features.
• Numba — Make Python run at the same speed as native machine code!
• Blaze — a generalization of NumPy.
• PyTables — manage large data sets.
• CVXPY — convex optimization in Python.
1.5 Learn More
• Browse some Python projects on GitHub.

• Read more about Python’s history and rise in popularity .
• Have a look at some of the Jupyter notebooks people have shared on various scientific
topics.
• Visit the Python Package Index.
• View some of the questions people are asking about Python on Stackoverflow.
• Keep up to date on what’s happening in the Python community with the Python sub-
reddit.
Chapter 2
Setting up Your Python

Environment
2.1 Contents
• Overview 2.2
• Anaconda 2.3
• Jupyter Notebooks 2.4
• Installing Libraries 2.5
• Working with Python Files 2.6
• Exercises 2.7
2.2 Overview
In this lecture, you will learn how to
1. get a Python environment up and running
2. execute simple Python commands
3. run a sample program
4. install the code libraries that underpin these lectures
2.3 Anaconda
The core Python package is easy to install but not what you should choose for these lectures.
These lectures require the entire scientific programming ecosystem, which
• the core installation doesn’t provide
• is painful to install one piece at a time.
Hence the best approach for our purposes is to install a Python distribution that contains
1. the core Python language and
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14 CHAPTER 2. SETTING UP YOUR PYTHON ENVIRONMENT
2. compatible versions of the most popular scientific libraries.
The best such distribution is Anaconda.

Anaconda is
• very popular
• cross-platform
• comprehensive
• completely unrelated to the Nicki Minaj song of the same name
Anaconda also comes with a great package management system to organize your code li-
braries.
All of what follows assumes that you adopt this recommendation!
2.3.1 Installing Anaconda
To install Anaconda, download the binary and follow the instructions.

Important points:
• Install the latest version!
• If you are asked during the installation process whether you’d like to make Anaconda
your default Python installation, say yes.
2.3.2 Updating Anaconda
Anaconda supplies a tool called conda to manage and upgrade your Anaconda packages.
One conda command you should execute regularly is the one that updates the whole Ana-
conda distribution.
As a practice run, please execute the following
1. Open up a terminal
2. Type conda update anaconda
For more information on conda, type conda help in a terminal.
2.4 Jupyter Notebooks
Jupyter notebooks are one of the many possible ways to interact with Python and the scien-
tific libraries.
They use a browser-based interface to Python with
• The ability to write and execute Python commands.
• Formatted output in the browser, including tables, figures, animation, etc.
• The option to mix in formatted text and mathematical expressions.
Because of these features, Jupyter is now a major player in the scientific computing ecosys-
tem.
2.4. JUPYTER NOTEBOOKS 15
Here’s an image showing execution of some code (borrowed from here) in a Jupyter notebook
While Jupyter isn’t the only way to code in Python, it’s great for when you wish to
• start coding in Python
• test new ideas or interact with small pieces of code
• share or collaborate scientific ideas with students or colleagues
These lectures are designed for executing in Jupyter notebooks.
2.4.1 Starting the Jupyter Notebook
Once you have installed Anaconda, you can start the Jupyter notebook.
Either
• search for Jupyter in your applications menu, or
• open up a terminal and type jupyter notebook
– Windows users should substitute “Anaconda command prompt” for “terminal” in
the previous line.

If you use the second option, you will see something like this
The output tells us the notebook is running at http://localhost:8888/

• localhost is the name of the local machine
• 8888 refers to port number 8888 on your computer
Thus, the Jupyter kernel is listening for Python commands on port 8888 of our local machine.
Hopefully, your default browser has also opened up with a web page that looks something like
this
What you see here is called the Jupyter dashboard.

If you look at the URL at the top, it should be localhost:8888 or similar, matching the
message above.
Assuming all this has worked OK, you can now click on New at the top right and select
Python 3 or similar.
Here’s what shows up on our machine:
The notebook displays an active cell, into which you can type Python commands.
2.4.2 Notebook Basics
Let’s start with how to edit code and run simple programs.
Running Cells
Notice that, in the previous figure, the cell is surrounded by a green border.
This means that the cell is in edit mode.
In this mode, whatever you type will appear in the cell with the flashing cursor.
When you’re ready to execute the code in a cell, hit Shift-Enter instead of the usual En-
ter.
(Note: There are also menu and button options for running code in a cell that you can find
by exploring)
Modal Editing
The next thing to understand about the Jupyter notebook is that it uses a modal editing sys-
tem.
This means that the effect of typing at the keyboard depends on which mode you are in.
The two modes are
1. Edit mode
• Indicated by a green border around one cell, plus a blinking cursor

• Whatever you type appears as is in that cell
1. Command mode
• The green border is replaced by a grey (or grey and blue) border
• Keystrokes are interpreted as commands — for example, typing b adds a new cell below
the current one
To switch to
• command mode from edit mode, hit the Esc key or Ctrl-M
• edit mode from command mode, hit Enter or click in a cell

The modal behavior of the Jupyter notebook is very efficient when you get used to it.
Inserting Unicode (e.g., Greek Letters)
Python supports unicode, allowing the use of characters such as 𝛼 and 𝛽 as names in your
code.
In a code cell, try typing \alpha and then hitting the tab key on your keyboard.
A Test Program
Let’s run a test program.

Here’s an arbitrary program we can use: http://matplotlib.org/3.1.1/gallery/
pie_and_polar_charts/polar_bar.html.
On that page, you’ll see the following code
In [1]: import numpy as np

%matplotlib inline
# Fixing random state for reproducibility

# Compute pie slices

N = 20
θ = np.linspace(0.0, 2 * np.pi, N, endpoint=False)
radii = 10 * np.random.rand(N)
width = np.pi / 4 * np.random.rand(N)
colors = plt.cm.viridis(radii / 10.)
ax = plt.subplot(111, projection='polar')
ax.bar(θ, radii, width=width, bottom=0.0, color=colors, alpha=0.5)
plt.show()
Don’t worry about the details for now — let’s just run it and see what happens.
The easiest way to run this code is to copy and paste it into a cell in the notebook.
Hopefully you will get a similar plot.
2.4.3 Working with the Notebook
Here are a few more tips on working with Jupyter notebooks.
Tab Completion
In the previous program, we executed the line import numpy as np

• NumPy is a numerical library we’ll work with in depth.
After this import command, functions in NumPy can be accessed with np.function_name
type syntax.
• For example, try np.random.randn(3).
We can explore these attributes of np using the Tab key.
For example, here we type np.ran and hit Tab
Jupyter offers up the two possible completions, random and rank.

In this way, the Tab key helps remind you of what’s available and also saves you typing.
On-Line Help
To get help on np.rank, say, we can execute np.rank?.

Documentation appears in a split window of the browser, like so
Clicking on the top right of the lower split closes the on-line help.
Other Content
In addition to executing code, the Jupyter notebook allows you to embed text, equations, fig-
ures and even videos in the page.
For example, here we enter a mixture of plain text and LaTeX instead of code
Next we Esc to enter command mode and then type m to indicate that we are writing Mark-
down, a mark-up language similar to (but simpler than) LaTeX.
(You can also use your mouse to select Markdown from the Code drop-down box just below
the list of menu items)
Now we Shift+Enter to produce this
2.4.4 Sharing Notebooks
Notebook files are just text files structured in JSON and typically ending with .ipynb.
You can share them in the usual way that you share files — or by using web services such as
nbviewer.
The notebooks you see on that site are static html representations.
To run one, download it as an ipynb file by clicking on the download icon at the top right.
Save it somewhere, navigate to it from the Jupyter dashboard and then run as discussed
above.
2.4.5 QuantEcon Notes
QuantEcon has its own site for sharing Jupyter notebooks related to economics – QuantEcon
Notes.
Notebooks submitted to QuantEcon Notes can be shared with a link, and are open to com-
ments and votes by the community.
2.5 Installing Libraries
Most of the libraries we need come in Anaconda.

Other libraries can be installed with pip.
One library we’ll be using is QuantEcon.py.
You can install QuantEcon.py by starting Jupyter and typing
!pip install --upgrade quantecon
into a cell.
Alternatively, you can type the following into a terminal
pip install quantecon
More instructions can be found on the library page.

To upgrade to the latest version, which you should do regularly, use
pip install --upgrade quantecon
Another library we will be using is interpolation.py.

This can be installed by typing in Jupyter
!pip install interpolation
2.6 Working with Python Files
So far we’ve focused on executing Python code entered into a Jupyter notebook cell.
Traditionally most Python code has been run in a different way.
Code is first saved in a text file on a local machine
By convention, these text files have a .py extension.
We can create an example of such a file as follows:
In [2]: %%file foo.py
print("foobar")
Writing foo.py
This writes the line print("foobar") into a file called foo.py in the local directory.
Here %%file is an example of a cell magic.
2.7. EXERCISES 27
2.6.1 Editing and Execution
If you come across code saved in a *.py file, you’ll need to consider the following questions:
1. how should you execute it?
2. How should you modify or edit it?
Option 1: JupyterLab
JupyterLab is an integrated development environment built on top of Jupyter notebooks.

With JupyterLab you can edit and run *.py files as well as Jupyter notebooks.
To start JupyterLab, search for it in the applications menu or type jupyter-lab in a termi-
nal.
Now you should be able to open, edit and run the file foo.py created above by opening it in
JupyterLab.
Read the docs or search for a recent YouTube video to find more information.
Option 2: Using a Text Editor
One can also edit files using a text editor and then run them from within Jupyter notebooks.
A text editor is an application that is specifically designed to work with text files — such as
Python programs.
Nothing beats the power and efficiency of a good text editor for working with program text.
A good text editor will provide
• efficient text editing commands (e.g., copy, paste, search and replace)
• syntax highlighting, etc.

Right now, an extremely popular text editor for coding is VS Code.
VS Code is easy to use out of the box and has many high quality extensions.
Alternatively, if you want an outstanding free text editor and don’t mind a seemingly vertical
learning curve plus long days of pain and suffering while all your neural pathways are rewired,
try Vim.
2.7 Exercises
2.7.1 Exercise 1
If Jupyter is still running, quit by using Ctrl-C at the terminal where you started it.
Now launch again, but this time using jupyter notebook --no-browser.
This should start the kernel without launching the browser.
Note also the startup message: It should give you a URL such as
http://localhost:8888 where the notebook is running.
Now
1. Start your browser — or open a new tab if it’s already running.
2. Enter the URL from above (e.g. http://localhost:8888) in the address bar at the
top.
You should now be able to run a standard Jupyter notebook session.

This is an alternative way to start the notebook that can also be handy.
2.7.2 Exercise 2
This exercise will familiarize you with git and GitHub.

Git is a version control system — a piece of software used to manage digital projects such as
code libraries.
In many cases, the associated collections of files — called repositories — are stored on
GitHub.
GitHub is a wonderland of collaborative coding projects.
For example, it hosts many of the scientific libraries we’ll be using later on, such as this one.
Git is the underlying software used to manage these projects.
Git is an extremely powerful tool for distributed collaboration — for example, we use it to
share and synchronize all the source files for these lectures.
There are two main flavors of Git
1. the plain vanilla command line Git version
2. the various point-and-click GUI versions
• See, for example, the GitHub version

As the 1st task, try
1. Installing Git.
2. Getting a copy of QuantEcon.py using Git.
For example, if you’ve installed the command line version, open up a terminal and enter.
git clone https://github.com/QuantEcon/QuantEcon.py.
(This is just git clone in front of the URL for the repository)
As the 2nd task,
1. Sign up to GitHub.
2.7. EXERCISES 29
2. Look into ‘forking’ GitHub repositories (forking means making your own copy of a
GitHub repository, stored on GitHub).
3. Fork QuantEcon.py.
4. Clone your fork to some local directory, make edits, commit them, and push them back
up to your forked GitHub repo.
5. If you made a valuable improvement, send us a pull request!
For reading on these and other topics, try

• The official Git documentation.
• Reading through the docs on GitHub.
• Pro Git Book by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub.
• One of the thousands of Git tutorials on the Net.
Chapter 3
An Introductory Example
3.1 Contents
• Overview 3.2
• The Task: Plotting a White Noise Process 3.3
• Version 1 3.4
• Alternative Implementations 3.5
• Another Application 3.6
• Exercises 3.7
• Solutions 3.8
3.2 Overview
We’re now ready to start learning the Python language itself.

In this lecture, we will write and then pick apart small Python programs.
The objective is to introduce you to basic Python syntax and data structures.
Deeper concepts will be covered in later lectures.
You should have read the lecture on getting started with Python before beginning this one.
3.3 The Task: Plotting a White Noise Process
Suppose we want to simulate and plot the white noise process 𝜖0 , 𝜖1 , … , 𝜖𝑇 , where each draw
𝜖𝑡 is independent standard normal.
In other words, we want to generate figures that look something like this:
31
32 CHAPTER 3. AN INTRODUCTORY EXAMPLE
(Here 𝑡 is on the horizontal axis and 𝜖𝑡 is on the vertical axis.)

We’ll do this in several different ways, each time learning something more about Python.
We run the following command first, which helps ensure that plots appear in the notebook if
you run it on your own machine.
In [1]: %matplotlib inline
3.4 Version 1
Here are a few lines of code that perform the task we set

ϵ_values = np.random.randn(100)
plt.plot(ϵ_values)
plt.show()
3.4. VERSION 1 33
Let’s break this program down and see how it works.
3.4.1 Imports
The first two lines of the program import functionality from external code libraries.
The first line imports NumPy, a favorite Python package for tasks like
• working with arrays (vectors and matrices)
• common mathematical functions like cos and sqrt
• generating random numbers
• linear algebra, etc.
After import numpy as np we have access to these attributes via the syntax
np.attribute.
Here’s two more examples
In [3]: np.sqrt(4)
Out[3]: 2.0
In [4]: np.log(4)
Out[4]: 1.3862943611198906
We could also use the following syntax:
In [5]: import numpy
numpy.sqrt(4)
Out[5]: 2.0
But the former method (using the short name np) is convenient and more standard.
Why So Many Imports?
Python programs typically require several import statements.

The reason is that the core language is deliberately kept small, so that it’s easy to learn and
maintain.
When you want to do something interesting with Python, you almost always need to import
additional functionality.
Packages
As stated above, NumPy is a Python package.

Packages are used by developers to organize code they wish to share.
In fact, a package is just a directory containing
1. files with Python code — called modules in Python speak
2. possibly some compiled code that can be accessed by Python (e.g., functions compiled
from C or FORTRAN code)
3. a file called __init__.py that specifies what will be executed when we type import
package_name
In fact, you can find and explore the directory for NumPy on your computer easily enough if
you look around.
On this machine, it’s located in
anaconda3/lib/python3.7/site-packages/numpy
Subpackages
Consider the line ϵ_values = np.random.randn(100).

Here np refers to the package NumPy, while random is a subpackage of NumPy.
Subpackages are just packages that are subdirectories of another package.
3.4.2 Importing Names Directly
Recall this code that we saw above
np.sqrt(4)
3.4. VERSION 1 35
Out[6]: 2.0
Here’s another way to access NumPy’s square root function
In [7]: from numpy import sqrt
sqrt(4)
Out[7]: 2.0
This is also fine.

The advantage is less typing if we use sqrt often in our code.
The disadvantage is that, in a long program, these two lines might be separated by many
other lines.
Then it’s harder for readers to know where sqrt came from, should they wish to.
3.4.3 Random Draws
Returning to our program that plots white noise, the remaining three lines after the import
statements are
In [8]: ϵ_values = np.random.randn(100)

plt.plot(ϵ_values)
plt.show()
The first line generates 100 (quasi) independent standard normals and stores them in
ϵ_values.
The next two lines genererate the plot.
We can and will look at various ways to configure and improve this plot below.
3.5 Alternative Implementations
Let’s try writing some alternative versions of our first program, which plotted IID draws from
the normal distribution.
The programs below are less efficient than the original one, and hence somewhat artificial.
But they do help us illustrate some important Python syntax and semantics in a familiar set-
ting.
3.5.1 A Version with a For Loop
Here’s a version that illustrates for loops and Python lists.
In [9]: ts_length = 100

ϵ_values = [] # empty list
for i in range(ts_length):
e = np.random.randn()
ϵ_values.append(e)
plt.plot(ϵ_values)
plt.show()
In brief,
• The first line sets the desired length of the time series.
• The next line creates an empty list called ϵ_values that will store the 𝜖𝑡 values as we
generate them.
• The statement # empty list is a comment, and is ignored by Python’s interpreter.
• The next three lines are the for loop, which repeatedly draws a new random number 𝜖𝑡
and appends it to the end of the list ϵ_values.
3.5. ALTERNATIVE IMPLEMENTATIONS 37
• The last two lines generate the plot and display it to the user.
Let’s study some parts of this program in more detail.
3.5.2 Lists
Consider the statement ϵ_values = [], which creates an empty list.

Lists are a native Python data structure used to group a collection of objects.
For example, try
In [10]: x = [10, 'foo', False]

type(x)
Out[10]: list
The first element of x is an integer, the next is a string, and the third is a Boolean value.
When adding a value to a list, we can use the syntax list_name.append(some_value)
In [11]: x
Out[11]: [10, 'foo', False]
In [12]: x.append(2.5)
x
Out[12]: [10, 'foo', False, 2.5]
Here append() is what’s called a method, which is a function “attached to” an object—in
this case, the list x.
We’ll learn all about methods later on, but just to give you some idea,
• Python objects such as lists, strings, etc. all have methods that are used to manipulate
the data contained in the object.
• String objects have string methods, list objects have list methods, etc.
Another useful list method is pop()
In [13]: x
Out[13]: [10, 'foo', False, 2.5]
In [14]: x.pop()
Out[14]: 2.5
In [15]: x
Out[15]: [10, 'foo', False]

Lists in Python are zero-based (as in C, Java or Go), so the first element is referenced by
x[0]
In [16]: x[0] # first element of x
Out[16]: 10
In [17]: x[1] # second element of x
Out[17]: 'foo'
3.5.3 The For Loop
Now let’s consider the for loop from the program above, which was
In [18]: for i in range(ts_length):

ϵ_values.append(e)
Python executes the two indented lines ts_length times before moving on.
These two lines are called a code block, since they comprise the “block” of code that we
are looping over.
Unlike most other languages, Python knows the extent of the code block only from indenta-
tion.
In our program, indentation decreases after line ϵ_values.append(e), telling Python that
this line marks the lower limit of the code block.
More on indentation below—for now, let’s look at another example of a for loop
In [19]: animals = ['dog', 'cat', 'bird']

for animal in animals:
print("The plural of " + animal + " is " + animal + "s")
The plural of dog is dogs

The plural of cat is cats
The plural of bird is birds
This example helps to clarify how the for loop works: When we execute a loop of the form
for variable_name in sequence:

<code block>
The Python interpreter performs the following:

• For each element of the sequence, it “binds” the name variable_name to that ele-
ment and then executes the code block.
The sequence object can in fact be a very general object, as we’ll see soon enough.
3.5. ALTERNATIVE IMPLEMENTATIONS 39
3.5.4 A Comment on Indentation
In discussing the for loop, we explained that the code blocks being looped over are delimited
by indentation.
In fact, in Python, all code blocks (i.e., those occurring inside loops, if clauses, function defi-
nitions, etc.) are delimited by indentation.
Thus, unlike most other languages, whitespace in Python code affects the output of the pro-
gram.
Once you get used to it, this is a good thing: It
• forces clean, consistent indentation, improving readability
• removes clutter, such as the brackets or end statements used in other languages
On the other hand, it takes a bit of care to get right, so please remember:
• The line before the start of a code block always ends in a colon
– for i in range(10):
– if x > y:
– while x < 100:
– etc., etc.
• All lines in a code block must have the same amount of indentation.
• The Python standard is 4 spaces, and that’s what you should use.
3.5.5 While Loops
The for loop is the most common technique for iteration in Python.
But, for the purpose of illustration, let’s modify the program above to use a while loop in-
stead.

ϵ_values = []
i = 0
while i < ts_length:
ϵ_values.append(e)
i = i + 1
plt.plot(ϵ_values)
plt.show()
Note that
• the code block for the while loop is again delimited only by indentation
• the statement i = i + 1 can be replaced by i += 1
3.6 Another Application
Let’s do one more application before we turn to exercises.

In this application, we plot the balance of a bank account over time.
There are no withdraws over the time period, the last date of which is denoted by 𝑇 .
The initial balance is 𝑏0 and the interest rate is 𝑟.
The balance updates from period 𝑡 to 𝑡 + 1 according to 𝑏𝑡+1 = (1 + 𝑟)𝑏𝑡 .
In the code below, we generate and plot the sequence 𝑏0 , 𝑏1 , … , 𝑏𝑇 .
Instead of using a Python list to store this sequence, we will use a NumPy array.
In [21]: r = 0.025 # interest rate

T = 50 # end date
b = np.empty(T+1) # an empty NumPy array, to store all b_t
b[0] = 10 # initial balance
for t in range(T):
b[t+1] = (1 + r) * b[t]
plt.plot(b, label='bank balance')

plt.legend()
plt.show()
3.7. EXERCISES 41
The statement b = np.empty(T+1) allocates storage in memory for T+1 (floating point)
numbers.
These numbers are filled in by the for loop.
Allocating memory at the start is more efficient than using a Python list and append, since
the latter must repeatedly ask for storage space from the operating system.
Notice that we added a legend to the plot — a feature you will be asked to use in the exer-
cises.
3.7 Exercises
Now we turn to exercises. It is important that you complete them before continuing, since
they present new concepts we will need.
3.7.1 Exercise 1
Your first task is to simulate and plot the correlated time series
𝑥𝑡+1 = 𝛼 𝑥𝑡 + 𝜖𝑡+1 where 𝑥0 = 0 and 𝑡 = 0, … , 𝑇
The sequence of shocks {𝜖𝑡 } is assumed to be IID and standard normal.

In your solution, restrict your import statements to

Set 𝑇 = 200 and 𝛼 = 0.9.

3.7.2 Exercise 2
Starting with your solution to exercise 2, plot three simulated time series, one for each of the
cases 𝛼 = 0, 𝛼 = 0.8 and 𝛼 = 0.98.
Use a for loop to step through the 𝛼 values.
If you can, add a legend, to help distinguish between the three time series.
Hints:
• If you call the plot() function multiple times before calling show(), all of the lines
you produce will end up on the same figure.
• For the legend, noted that the expression 'foo' + str(42) evaluates to 'foo42'.
3.7.3 Exercise 3
Similar to the previous exercises, plot the time series
𝑥𝑡+1 = 𝛼 |𝑥𝑡 | + 𝜖𝑡+1 where 𝑥0 = 0 and 𝑡 = 0, … , 𝑇
Use 𝑇 = 200, 𝛼 = 0.9 and {𝜖𝑡 } as before.

Search online for a function that can be used to compute the absolute value |𝑥𝑡 |.
3.7.4 Exercise 4
One important aspect of essentially all programming languages is branching and conditions.
In Python, conditions are usually implemented with if–else syntax.
Here’s an example, that prints -1 for each negative number in an array and 1 for each non-
negative number
In [23]: numbers = [-9, 2.3, -11, 0]
In [24]: for x in numbers:

if x < 0:
print(-1)
else:
print(1)
-1
1
-1
1
Now, write a new solution to Exercise 3 that does not use an existing function to compute
the absolute value.
Replace this existing function with an if–else condition.
3.8. SOLUTIONS 43
3.7.5 Exercise 5
Here’s a harder exercise, that takes some thought and planning.

The task is to compute an approximation to 𝜋 using Monte Carlo.
Use no imports besides
Your hints are as follows:

• If 𝑈 is a bivariate uniform random variable on the unit square (0, 1)2 , then the proba-
bility that 𝑈 lies in a subset 𝐵 of (0, 1)2 is equal to the area of 𝐵.
• If 𝑈1 , … , 𝑈𝑛 are IID copies of 𝑈 , then, as 𝑛 gets large, the fraction that falls in 𝐵, con-
verges to the probability of landing in 𝐵.
• For a circle, 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝜋 ∗ 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠2 .
3.8 Solutions
3.8.1 Exercise 1
Here’s one solution.
In [26]: α = 0.9
T = 200
x = np.empty(T+1)
x[0] = 0
for t in range(T):
x[t+1] = α * x[t] + np.random.randn()
plt.plot(x)
plt.show()
3.8.2 Exercise 2
In [27]: α_values = [0.0, 0.8, 0.98]

T = 200
x = np.empty(T+1)
for α in α_values:
x[0] = 0
for t in range(T):
x[t+1] = α * x[t] + np.random.randn()
plt.plot(x, label=f'$\\alpha = {α}$')
plt.legend()
plt.show()
3.8. SOLUTIONS 45
3.8.3 Exercise 3
Here’s one solution:
In [28]: α = 0.9
T = 200
x = np.empty(T+1)
x[0] = 0
for t in range(T):
x[t+1] = α * np.abs(x[t]) + np.random.randn()
plt.plot(x)
plt.show()
3.8.4 Exercise 4
Here’s one way:
In [29]: α = 0.9
T = 200
x = np.empty(T+1)
x[0] = 0
for t in range(T):
if x[t] < 0:
abs_x = - x[t]
else:
abs_x = x[t]
x[t+1] = α * abs_x + np.random.randn()
plt.plot(x)
plt.show()
3.8. SOLUTIONS 47
Here’s a shorter way to write the same thing:
In [30]: α = 0.9
T = 200
x = np.empty(T+1)
x[0] = 0
for t in range(T):
abs_x = - x[t] if x[t] < 0 else x[t]
x[t+1] = α * abs_x + np.random.randn()
plt.plot(x)
plt.show()
3.8.5 Exercise 5
Consider the circle of diameter 1 embedded in the unit square.

Let 𝐴 be its area and let 𝑟 = 1/2 be its radius.
If we know 𝜋 then we can compute 𝐴 via 𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟2 .
But here the point is to compute 𝜋, which we can do by 𝜋 = 𝐴/𝑟2 .
Summary: If we can estimate the area of a circle with diameter 1, then dividing by 𝑟2 =
(1/2)2 = 1/4 gives an estimate of 𝜋.
We estimate the area by sampling bivariate uniforms and looking at the fraction that falls
into the circle.
In [31]: n = 100000
count = 0
for i in range(n):
u, v = np.random.uniform(), np.random.uniform()
d = np.sqrt((u - 0.5)**2 + (v - 0.5)**2)
if d < 0.5:
count += 1
area_estimate = count / n
print(area_estimate * 4) # dividing by radius**2
3.12892
Chapter 4
Functions
4.1 Contents
• Overview 4.2
• Function Basics 4.3
• Defining Functions 4.4
• Applications 4.5
• Exercises 4.6
• Solutions 4.7
4.2 Overview
One construct that’s extremely useful and provided by almost all programming languages is
functions.
We have already met several functions, such as
• the sqrt() function from NumPy and
• the built-in print() function
In this lecture we’ll treat functions systematically and begin to learn just how useful and im-
portant they are.
One of the things we will learn to do is build our own user-defined functions
We will use the following imports.

%matplotlib inline
4.3 Function Basics
A function is a named section of a program that implements a specific task.

Many functions exist already and we can use them off the shelf.
First we review these functions and then discuss how we can build our own.
49
50 CHAPTER 4. FUNCTIONS
4.3.1 Built-In Functions
Python has a number of built-in functions that are available without import.
We have already met some
In [2]: max(19, 20)
Out[2]: 20
In [3]: print('foobar')
foobar
In [4]: str(22)
Out[4]: '22'
In [5]: type(22)
Out[5]: int
Two more useful built-in functions are any() and all()
In [6]: bools = False, True, True

all(bools) # True if all are True and False otherwise
Out[6]: False
In [7]: any(bools) # False if all are False and True otherwise
Out[7]: True
The full list of Python built-ins is here.
4.3.2 Third Party Functions
If the built-in functions don’t cover what we need, we either need to import functions or cre-
ate our own.
Examples of importing and using functions were given in the previous lecture
Here’s another one, which tests whether a given year is a leap year:
In [8]: import calendar
calendar.isleap(2020)
Out[8]: True
4.4. DEFINING FUNCTIONS 51
4.4 Defining Functions
In many instances, it is useful to be able to define our own functions.

This will become clearer as you see more examples.
Let’s start by discussing how it’s done.
4.4.1 Syntax
Here’s a very simple Python function, that implements the mathematical function 𝑓(𝑥) =
2𝑥 + 1
In [9]: def f(x):

return 2 * x + 1
Now that we’ve defined this function, let’s call it and check whether it does what we expect:
In [10]: f(1)
Out[10]: 3
In [11]: f(10)
Out[11]: 21
Here’s a longer function, that computes the absolute value of a given number.
(Such a function already exists as a built-in, but let’s write our own for the exercise.)
In [12]: def new_abs_function(x):
if x < 0:
abs_value = -x
else:
abs_value = x
return abs_value
Let’s review the syntax here.

• def is a Python keyword used to start function definitions.
• def new_abs_function(x): indicates that the function is called
new_abs_function and that it has a single argument x.
• The indented code is a code block called the function body.
• The return keyword indicates that abs_value is the object that should be returned
to the calling code.
This whole function definition is read by the Python interpreter and stored in memory.
Let’s call it to check that it works:
In [13]: print(new_abs_function(3))
print(new_abs_function(-3))
3
3
4.4.2 Why Write Functions?
User-defined functions are important for improving the clarity of your code by
• separating different strands of logic
• facilitating code reuse
(Writing the same thing twice is almost always a bad idea)
We will say more about this later.
4.5 Applications
4.5.1 Random Draws
Consider again this code from the previous lecture

ϵ_values = [] # empty list
for i in range(ts_length):
ϵ_values.append(e)
plt.plot(ϵ_values)
plt.show()
We will break this program into two parts:

4.5. APPLICATIONS 53
1. A user-defined function that generates a list of random variables.
2. The main part of the program that
3. calls this function to get data
4. plots the data
This is accomplished in the next program
In [15]: def generate_data(n):

ϵ_values = []
for i in range(n):
ϵ_values.append(e)
return ϵ_values
data = generate_data(100)
plt.plot(data)
plt.show()
When the interpreter gets to the expression generate_data(100), it executes the function
body with n set equal to 100.
The net result is that the name data is bound to the list ϵ_values returned by the func-
tion.
4.5.2 Adding Conditions
Our function generate_data() is rather limited.

Let’s make it slightly more useful by giving it the ability to return either standard normals or
uniform random variables on (0, 1) as required.
This is achieved in the next piece of code.
In [16]: def generate_data(n, generator_type):

ϵ_values = []
for i in range(n):
if generator_type == 'U':
e = np.random.uniform(0, 1)
else:
ϵ_values.append(e)
return ϵ_values
data = generate_data(100, 'U')

plt.plot(data)
plt.show()
Hopefully, the syntax of the if/else clause is self-explanatory, with indentation again delimit-
ing the extent of the code blocks.
Notes
• We are passing the argument U as a string, which is why we write it as 'U'.
• Notice that equality is tested with the == syntax, not =.
– For example, the statement a = 10 assigns the name a to the value 10.
– The expression a == 10 evaluates to either True or False, depending on the
value of a.
Now, there are several ways that we can simplify the code above.
For example, we can get rid of the conditionals all together by just passing the desired gener-
ator type as a function.
To understand this, consider the following version.
4.5. APPLICATIONS 55
In [17]: def generate_data(n, generator_type):

ϵ_values = []
for i in range(n):
e = generator_type()
ϵ_values.append(e)
return ϵ_values
data = generate_data(100, np.random.uniform)

plt.plot(data)
plt.show()
Now, when we call the function generate_data(), we pass np.random.uniform as the

second argument.
This object is a function.
When the function call generate_data(100, np.random.uniform) is executed,
Python runs the function code block with n equal to 100 and the name generator_type
“bound” to the function np.random.uniform.
• While these lines are executed, the names generator_type and
np.random.uniform are “synonyms”, and can be used in identical ways.
This principle works more generally—for example, consider the following piece of code
In [18]: max(7, 2, 4) # max() is a built-in Python function
Out[18]: 7
In [19]: m = max
m(7, 2, 4)
Out[19]: 7
Here we created another name for the built-in function max(), which could then be used in
identical ways.
In the context of our program, the ability to bind new names to functions means that there is
no problem passing a function as an argument to another function—as we did above.
4.6 Exercises
4.6.1 Exercise 1
Recall that 𝑛! is read as “𝑛 factorial” and defined as 𝑛! = 𝑛 × (𝑛 − 1) × ⋯ × 2 × 1.

There are functions to compute this in various modules, but let’s write our own version as an
exercise.
In particular, write a function factorial such that factorial(n) returns 𝑛! for any posi-
tive integer 𝑛.
4.6.2 Exercise 2
The binomial random variable 𝑌 ∼ 𝐵𝑖𝑛(𝑛, 𝑝) represents the number of successes in 𝑛 binary
trials, where each trial succeeds with probability 𝑝.
Without any import besides from numpy.random import uniform, write a function
binomial_rv such that binomial_rv(n, p) generates one draw of 𝑌 .
Hint: If 𝑈 is uniform on (0, 1) and 𝑝 ∈ (0, 1), then the expression U < p evaluates to True
with probability 𝑝.
4.6.3 Exercise 3
First, write a function that returns one realization of the following random device
1. Flip an unbiased coin 10 times.

2. If a head occurs k or more times consecutively within this sequence at least once, pay
one dollar.
3. If not, pay nothing.
Second, write another function that does the same task except that the second rule of the
above random device becomes
• If a head occurs k or more times within this sequence, pay one dollar.
Use no import besides from numpy.random import uniform.
4.7 Solutions
4.7.1 Exercise 1

4.7. SOLUTIONS 57
In [20]: def factorial(n):

k = 1
for i in range(n):
k = k * (i + 1)
return k
factorial(4)
Out[20]: 24
4.7.2 Exercise 2
In [21]: from numpy.random import uniform
def binomial_rv(n, p):

count = 0
for i in range(n):
U = uniform()
if U < p:
count = count + 1 # Or count += 1
return count
binomial_rv(10, 0.5)
Out[21]: 6
4.7.3 Exercise 3
Here’s a function for the first random device.
In [22]: from numpy.random import uniform
def draw(k): # pays if k consecutive successes in a sequence
payoff = 0
count = 0
for i in range(10):
U = uniform()
count = count + 1 if U < 0.5 else 0
print(count) # print counts for clarity
if count == k:
payoff = 1
return payoff
draw(3)
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
2
3
Out[22]: 1
Here’s another function for the second random device.
In [23]: def draw_new(k): # pays if k successes in a sequence
payoff = 0
count = 0
for i in range(10):
U = uniform()
count = count + ( 1 if U < 0.5 else 0 )
print(count)
if count == k:
payoff = 1
return payoff
draw_new(3)
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
3
4
4
Out[23]: 1
Chapter 5
Python Essentials
5.1 Contents
• Overview 5.2
• Data Types 5.3
• Input and Output 5.4
• Iterating 5.5
• Comparisons and Logical Operators 5.6
• More Functions 5.7
• Coding Style and PEP8 5.8
• Exercises 5.9
• Solutions 5.10
5.2 Overview
We have covered a lot of material quite quickly, with a focus on examples.

Now let’s cover some core features of Python in a more systematic way.
This approach is less exciting but helps clear up some details.
5.3 Data Types
Computer programs typically keep track of a range of data types.

For example, 1.5 is a floating point number, while 1 is an integer.
Programs need to distinguish between these two types for various reasons.
One is that they are stored in memory differently.
Another is that arithmetic operations are different
• For example, floating point arithmetic is implemented on most machines by a special-
ized Floating Point Unit (FPU).
In general, floats are more informative but arithmetic operations on integers are faster and
more accurate.
59
60 CHAPTER 5. PYTHON ESSENTIALS
Python provides numerous other built-in Python data types, some of which we’ve already met
• strings, lists, etc.
Let’s learn a bit more about them.
5.3.1 Primitive Data Types
One simple data type is Boolean values, which can be either True or False
In [1]: x = True
x
Out[1]: True
We can check the type of any object in memory using the type() function.
In [2]: type(x)
Out[2]: bool
In the next line of code, the interpreter evaluates the expression on the right of = and binds y
to this value
In [3]: y = 100 < 10

y
Out[3]: False
In [4]: type(y)
Out[4]: bool
In arithmetic expressions, True is converted to 1 and False is converted 0.

This is called Boolean arithmetic and is often useful in programming.
Here are some examples
In [5]: x + y
Out[5]: 1
In [6]: x * y
Out[6]: 0
In [7]: True + True
Out[7]: 2
5.3. DATA TYPES 61
In [8]: bools = [True, True, False, True] # List of Boolean values
sum(bools)
Out[8]: 3
Complex numbers are another primitive data type in Python
In [9]: x = complex(1, 2)
y = complex(2, 1)
print(x * y)
type(x)
5j
Out[9]: complex
5.3.2 Containers
Python has several basic types for storing collections of (possibly heterogeneous) data.
We’ve already discussed lists.
A related data type is tuples, which are “immutable” lists
In [10]: x = ('a', 'b') # Parentheses instead of the square brackets

x = 'a', 'b' # Or no brackets --- the meaning is identical
x
Out[10]: ('a', 'b')
In [11]: type(x)
Out[11]: tuple
In Python, an object is called immutable if, once created, the object cannot be changed.
Conversely, an object is mutable if it can still be altered after creation.
Python lists are mutable
In [12]: x = [1, 2]
x[0] = 10
x
Out[12]: [10, 2]
But tuples are not

In [13]: x = (1, 2)
x[0] = 10
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError Traceback (most�

↪recent call last)
<ipython-input-13-d1b2647f6c81> in <module>
1 x = (1, 2)
----> 2 x[0] = 10
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment
We’ll say more about the role of mutable and immutable data a bit later.
Tuples (and lists) can be “unpacked” as follows
In [14]: integers = (10, 20, 30)

x, y, z = integers
x
Out[14]: 10
In [15]: y
Out[15]: 20
You’ve actually seen an example of this already.

Tuple unpacking is convenient and we’ll use it often.
Slice Notation
To access multiple elements of a list or tuple, you can use Python’s slice notation.
For example,
In [16]: a = [2, 4, 6, 8]
a[1:]
Out[16]: [4, 6, 8]
In [17]: a[1:3]
Out[17]: [4, 6]
5.3. DATA TYPES 63
The general rule is that a[m:n] returns n - m elements, starting at a[m].

Negative numbers are also permissible
In [18]: a[-2:] # Last two elements of the list
Out[18]: [6, 8]
The same slice notation works on tuples and strings
In [19]: s = 'foobar'
s[-3:] # Select the last three elements
Out[19]: 'bar'
Sets and Dictionaries
Two other container types we should mention before moving on are sets and dictionaries.
Dictionaries are much like lists, except that the items are named instead of numbered
In [20]: d = {'name': 'Frodo', 'age': 33}

type(d)
Out[20]: dict
In [21]: d['age']
Out[21]: 33
The names 'name' and 'age' are called the keys.

The objects that the keys are mapped to ('Frodo' and 33) are called the values.
Sets are unordered collections without duplicates, and set methods provide the usual set-
theoretic operations
In [22]: s1 = {'a', 'b'}

type(s1)
Out[22]: set
In [23]: s2 = {'b', 'c'}

s1.issubset(s2)
Out[23]: False
In [24]: s1.intersection(s2)
Out[24]: {'b'}
The set() function creates sets from sequences
In [25]: s3 = set(('foo', 'bar', 'foo'))

s3
Out[25]: {'bar', 'foo'}

5.4 Input and Output
Let’s briefly review reading and writing to text files, starting with writing
In [26]: f = open('newfile.txt', 'w') # Open 'newfile.txt' for writing

f.write('Testing\n') # Here '\n' means new line
f.write('Testing again')
f.close()
Here
• The built-in function open() creates a file object for writing to.
• Both write() and close() are methods of file objects.
Where is this file that we’ve created?
Recall that Python maintains a concept of the present working directory (pwd) that can be
located from with Jupyter or IPython via
In [27]: %pwd
Out[27]: '/home/ubuntu/repos/lecture-python-programming/_build/jupyterpdf/
↪executed'
If a path is not specified, then this is where Python writes to.

We can also use Python to read the contents of newline.txt as follows
In [28]: f = open('newfile.txt', 'r')

out = f.read()
out
Out[28]: 'Testing\nTesting again'
In [29]: print(out)
Testing
Testing again
5.4.1 Paths
Note that if newfile.txt is not in the present working directory then this call to open()
fails.
In this case, you can shift the file to the pwd or specify the full path to the file
f = open('insert_full_path_to_file/newfile.txt', 'r')
5.5. ITERATING 65
5.5 Iterating
One of the most important tasks in computing is stepping through a sequence of data and
performing a given action.
One of Python’s strengths is its simple, flexible interface to this kind of iteration via the for
loop.
5.5.1 Looping over Different Objects
Many Python objects are “iterable”, in the sense that they can be looped over.
To give an example, let’s write the file us_cities.txt, which lists US cities and their popula-
tion, to the present working directory.
In [30]: %%file us_cities.txt

new york: 8244910
los angeles: 3819702
chicago: 2707120
houston: 2145146
philadelphia: 1536471
phoenix: 1469471
san antonio: 1359758
san diego: 1326179
dallas: 1223229
Overwriting us_cities.txt
Here %%file is an IPython cell magic.

Suppose that we want to make the information more readable, by capitalizing names and
adding commas to mark thousands.
The program below reads the data in and makes the conversion:
In [31]: data_file = open('us_cities.txt', 'r')

for line in data_file:
city, population = line.split(':') # Tuple unpacking
city = city.title() # Capitalize city names
population = f'{int(population):,}' # Add commas to numbers
print(city.ljust(15) + population)
data_file.close()
New York 8,244,910

Los Angeles 3,819,702
Chicago 2,707,120
Houston 2,145,146
Philadelphia 1,536,471
Phoenix 1,469,471
San Antonio 1,359,758
San Diego 1,326,179
Dallas 1,223,229
Here format() is a string method used for inserting variables into strings.
The reformatting of each line is the result of three different string methods, the details of
which can be left till later.
The interesting part of this program for us is line 2, which shows that
1. The file object data_file is iterable, in the sense that it can be placed to the right of
in within a for loop.
2. Iteration steps through each line in the file.
This leads to the clean, convenient syntax shown in our program.

Many other kinds of objects are iterable, and we’ll discuss some of them later on.
5.5.2 Looping without Indices
One thing you might have noticed is that Python tends to favor looping without explicit in-
dexing.
For example,
In [32]: x_values = [1, 2, 3] # Some iterable x

for x in x_values:
print(x * x)
1
4
9
is preferred to
In [33]: for i in range(len(x_values)):

print(x_values[i] * x_values[i])
1
4
9
When you compare these two alternatives, you can see why the first one is preferred.
Python provides some facilities to simplify looping without indices.
One is zip(), which is used for stepping through pairs from two sequences.
For example, try running the following code
In [34]: countries = ('Japan', 'Korea', 'China')

cities = ('Tokyo', 'Seoul', 'Beijing')
for country, city in zip(countries, cities):
print(f'The capital of {country} is {city}')
5.5. ITERATING 67
The capital of Japan is Tokyo

The capital of Korea is Seoul
The capital of China is Beijing
The zip() function is also useful for creating dictionaries — for example
In [35]: names = ['Tom', 'John']

marks = ['E', 'F']
dict(zip(names, marks))
Out[35]: {'Tom': 'E', 'John': 'F'}
If we actually need the index from a list, one option is to use enumerate().
To understand what enumerate() does, consider the following example
In [36]: letter_list = ['a', 'b', 'c']

for index, letter in enumerate(letter_list):
print(f"letter_list[{index}] = '{letter}'")
letter_list[0] = 'a'
letter_list[1] = 'b'
letter_list[2] = 'c'
5.5.3 List Comprehensions
We can also simplify the code for generating the list of random draws considerably by using
something called a list comprehension.
List comprehensions are an elegant Python tool for creating lists.
Consider the following example, where the list comprehension is on the right-hand side of the
second line
In [37]: animals = ['dog', 'cat', 'bird']

plurals = [animal + 's' for animal in animals]
plurals
Out[37]: ['dogs', 'cats', 'birds']
Here’s another example
In [38]: range(8)
Out[38]: range(0, 8)
In [39]: doubles = [2 * x for x in range(8)]

doubles
Out[39]: [0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14]

5.6 Comparisons and Logical Operators
5.6.1 Comparisons
Many different kinds of expressions evaluate to one of the Boolean values (i.e., True or
False).
A common type is comparisons, such as
In [40]: x, y = 1, 2
x < y
Out[40]: True
In [41]: x > y
Out[41]: False
One of the nice features of Python is that we can chain inequalities
In [42]: 1 < 2 < 3
Out[42]: True
In [43]: 1 <= 2 <= 3
Out[43]: True
As we saw earlier, when testing for equality we use ==
In [44]: x = 1 # Assignment
x == 2 # Comparison
Out[44]: False
For “not equal” use !=
In [45]: 1 != 2
Out[45]: True
Note that when testing conditions, we can use any valid Python expression
In [46]: x = 'yes' if 42 else 'no'

x
Out[46]: 'yes'
5.7. MORE FUNCTIONS 69
In [47]: x = 'yes' if [] else 'no'

x
Out[47]: 'no'
What’s going on here?

The rule is:
• Expressions that evaluate to zero, empty sequences or containers (strings, lists, etc.)
and None are all equivalent to False.
– for example, [] and () are equivalent to False in an if clause
• All other values are equivalent to True.
– for example, 42 is equivalent to True in an if clause
5.6.2 Combining Expressions
We can combine expressions using and, or and not.

These are the standard logical connectives (conjunction, disjunction and denial)
In [48]: 1 < 2 and 'f' in 'foo'
Out[48]: True
In [49]: 1 < 2 and 'g' in 'foo'
Out[49]: False
In [50]: 1 < 2 or 'g' in 'foo'
Out[50]: True
In [51]: not True
Out[51]: False
In [52]: not not True
Out[52]: True
Remember
• P and Q is True if both are True, else False
• P or Q is False if both are False, else True
5.7 More Functions
Let’s talk a bit more about functions, which are all important for good programming style.
5.7.1 The Flexibility of Python Functions
As we discussed in the previous lecture, Python functions are very flexible.

In particular
• Any number of functions can be defined in a given file.
• Functions can be (and often are) defined inside other functions.
• Any object can be passed to a function as an argument, including other functions.
• A function can return any kind of object, including functions.
We already gave an example of how straightforward it is to pass a function to a function.
Note that a function can have arbitrarily many return statements (including zero).
Execution of the function terminates when the first return is hit, allowing code like the fol-
lowing example
In [53]: def f(x):

if x < 0:
return 'negative'
return 'nonnegative'
Functions without a return statement automatically return the special Python object None.
5.7.2 Docstrings
Python has a system for adding comments to functions, modules, etc. called docstrings.
The nice thing about docstrings is that they are available at run-time.
Try running this
In [54]: def f(x):

"""
This function squares its argument
"""
return x**2
After running this code, the docstring is available
In [55]: f?
Type: function
String Form:<function f at 0x2223320>
File: /home/john/temp/temp.py
Definition: f(x)
Docstring: This function squares its argument
In [56]: f??
Type: function
String Form:<function f at 0x2223320>
5.7. MORE FUNCTIONS 71
File: /home/john/temp/temp.py
Definition: f(x)
Source:
def f(x):
"""
This function squares its argument
"""
return x**2
With one question mark we bring up the docstring, and with two we get the source code as
well.
5.7.3 One-Line Functions: lambda
The lambda keyword is used to create simple functions on one line.

For example, the definitions
In [57]: def f(x):

return x**3
and
In [58]: f = lambda x: x**3
are entirely equivalent.

2
To see why lambda is useful, suppose that we want to calculate ∫0 𝑥3 𝑑𝑥 (and have forgotten
our high-school calculus).
The SciPy library has a function called quad that will do this calculation for us.
The syntax of the quad function is quad(f, a, b) where f is a function and a and b are
numbers.
To create the function 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥3 we can use lambda as follows
In [59]: from scipy.integrate import quad
quad(lambda x: x**3, 0, 2)
Out[59]: (4.0, 4.440892098500626e-14)
Here the function created by lambda is said to be anonymous because it was never given a
name.
5.7.4 Keyword Arguments
In a previous lecture, you came across the statement
plt.plot(x, 'b-', label="white noise")

In this call to Matplotlib’s plot function, notice that the last argument is passed in
name=argument syntax.
This is called a keyword argument, with label being the keyword.
Non-keyword arguments are called positional arguments, since their meaning is determined by
order
• plot(x, 'b-', label="white noise") is different from plot('b-', x,
label="white noise")
Keyword arguments are particularly useful when a function has a lot of arguments, in which
case it’s hard to remember the right order.
You can adopt keyword arguments in user-defined functions with no difficulty.
The next example illustrates the syntax
In [60]: def f(x, a=1, b=1):

return a + b * x
The keyword argument values we supplied in the definition of f become the default values
In [61]: f(2)
Out[61]: 3
They can be modified as follows
In [62]: f(2, a=4, b=5)
Out[62]: 14
5.8 Coding Style and PEP8
To learn more about the Python programming philosophy type import this at the
prompt.
Among other things, Python strongly favors consistency in programming style.
We’ve all heard the saying about consistency and little minds.
In programming, as in mathematics, the opposite is true
• A mathematical paper where the symbols ∪ and ∩ were reversed would be very hard to
read, even if the author told you so on the first page.
In Python, the standard style is set out in PEP8.
(Occasionally we’ll deviate from PEP8 in these lectures to better match mathematical nota-
tion)
5.9 Exercises
Solve the following exercises.

(For some, the built-in function sum() comes in handy).
5.9. EXERCISES 73
5.9.1 Exercise 1
Part 1: Given two numeric lists or tuples x_vals and y_vals of equal length, compute their
inner product using zip().
Part 2: In one line, count the number of even numbers in 0,…,99.
• Hint: x % 2 returns 0 if x is even, 1 otherwise.
Part 3: Given pairs = ((2, 5), (4, 2), (9, 8), (12, 10)), count the number of
pairs (a, b) such that both a and b are even.
5.9.2 Exercise 2
Consider the polynomial
𝑛
𝑝(𝑥) = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑥 + 𝑎2 𝑥 + ⋯ 𝑎𝑛 𝑥 = ∑ 𝑎𝑖 𝑥𝑖
2 𝑛
(1)
𝑖=0
Write a function p such that p(x, coeff) that computes the value in (1) given a point x
and a list of coefficients coeff.
Try to use enumerate() in your loop.
5.9.3 Exercise 3
Write a function that takes a string as an argument and returns the number of capital letters
in the string.
Hint: 'foo'.upper() returns 'FOO'.
5.9.4 Exercise 4
Write a function that takes two sequences seq_a and seq_b as arguments and returns True
if every element in seq_a is also an element of seq_b, else False.
• By “sequence” we mean a list, a tuple or a string.
• Do the exercise without using sets and set methods.
5.9.5 Exercise 5
When we cover the numerical libraries, we will see they include many alternatives for interpo-
lation and function approximation.
Nevertheless, let’s write our own function approximation routine as an exercise.
In particular, without using any imports, write a function linapprox that takes as argu-
ments
• A function f mapping some interval [𝑎, 𝑏] into ℝ.
• Two scalars a and b providing the limits of this interval.
• An integer n determining the number of grid points.
• A number x satisfying a <= x <= b.
and returns the piecewise linear interpolation of f at x, based on n evenly spaced grid points
a = point[0] < point[1] < ... < point[n-1] = b.
Aim for clarity, not efficiency.
5.9.6 Exercise 6
Using list comprehension syntax, we can simplify the loop in the following code.
n = 100
ϵ_values = []
for i in range(n):
ϵ_values.append(e)
5.10 Solutions
5.10.1 Exercise 1
Part 1 Solution:
Here’s one possible solution
In [64]: x_vals = [1, 2, 3]

y_vals = [1, 1, 1]
sum([x * y for x, y in zip(x_vals, y_vals)])
Out[64]: 6
This also works
In [65]: sum(x * y for x, y in zip(x_vals, y_vals))
Out[65]: 6
Part 2 Solution:
One solution is
In [66]: sum([x % 2 == 0 for x in range(100)])
Out[66]: 50
This also works:
In [67]: sum(x % 2 == 0 for x in range(100))

5.10. SOLUTIONS 75
Out[67]: 50
Some less natural alternatives that nonetheless help to illustrate the flexibility of list compre-
hensions are
In [68]: len([x for x in range(100) if x % 2 == 0])
Out[68]: 50
and
In [69]: sum([1 for x in range(100) if x % 2 == 0])
Out[69]: 50
Part 3 Solution
Here’s one possibility
In [70]: pairs = ((2, 5), (4, 2), (9, 8), (12, 10))
sum([x % 2 == 0 and y % 2 == 0 for x, y in pairs])
Out[70]: 2
5.10.2 Exercise 2
In [71]: def p(x, coeff):

return sum(a * x**i for i, a in enumerate(coeff))
In [72]: p(1, (2, 4))
Out[72]: 6
5.10.3 Exercise 3
Here’s one solution:
In [73]: def f(string):

count = 0
for letter in string:
if letter == letter.upper() and letter.isalpha():
count += 1
return count
f('The Rain in Spain')
Out[73]: 3
An alternative, more pythonic solution:
In [74]: def count_uppercase_chars(s):

return sum([c.isupper() for c in s])
count_uppercase_chars('The Rain in Spain')
Out[74]: 3
5.10.4 Exercise 4
Here’s a solution:
In [75]: def f(seq_a, seq_b):

is_subset = True
for a in seq_a:
if a not in seq_b:
is_subset = False
return is_subset
# == test == #
print(f([1, 2], [1, 2, 3]))

print(f([1, 2, 3], [1, 2]))
True
False
Of course, if we use the sets data type then the solution is easier
In [76]: def f(seq_a, seq_b):

return set(seq_a).issubset(set(seq_b))
5.10.5 Exercise 5
In [77]: def linapprox(f, a, b, n, x):

"""
Evaluates the piecewise linear interpolant of f at x on the interval
[a, b], with n evenly spaced grid points.
Parameters
==========
f : function
The function to approximate
x, a, b : scalars (floats or integers)

Evaluation point and endpoints, with a <= x <= b
n : integer
Number of grid points
Returns
5.10. SOLUTIONS 77
=======
A float. The interpolant evaluated at x
"""
length_of_interval = b - a
num_subintervals = n - 1
step = length_of_interval / num_subintervals
# === find first grid point larger than x === #

point = a
while point <= x:
point += step
# === x must lie between the gridpoints (point - step) and point === #
u, v = point - step, point
return f(u) + (x - u) * (f(v) - f(u)) / (v - u)
5.10.6 Exercise 6
In [78]: n = 100
ϵ_values = [np.random.randn() for i in range(n)]
Chapter 6
OOP I: Introduction to Object

Oriented Programming
6.1 Contents
• Overview 6.2
• Objects 6.3
• Summary 6.4
6.2 Overview
OOP is one of the major paradigms in programming.

The traditional programming paradigm (think Fortran, C, MATLAB, etc.) is called procedu-
ral.
It works as follows
• The program has a state corresponding to the values of its variables.
• Functions are called to act on these data.
• Data are passed back and forth via function calls.
In contrast, in the OOP paradigm
• data and functions are “bundled together” into “objects”
(Functions in this context are referred to as methods)
6.2.1 Python and OOP
Python is a pragmatic language that blends object-oriented and procedural styles, rather than
taking a purist approach.
However, at a foundational level, Python is object-oriented.
In particular, in Python, everything is an object.
In this lecture, we explain what that statement means and why it matters.
79
80 CHAPTER 6. OOP I: INTRODUCTION TO OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING
6.3 Objects
In Python, an object is a collection of data and instructions held in computer memory that
consists of
1. a type
2. a unique identity
3. data (i.e., content)
4. methods
These concepts are defined and discussed sequentially below.
6.3.1 Type
Python provides for different types of objects, to accommodate different categories of data.
For example
In [1]: s = 'This is a string'

type(s)
Out[1]: str
In [2]: x = 42 # Now let's create an integer

type(x)
Out[2]: int
The type of an object matters for many expressions.

For example, the addition operator between two strings means concatenation
In [3]: '300' + 'cc'
Out[3]: '300cc'
On the other hand, between two numbers it means ordinary addition
In [4]: 300 + 400
Out[4]: 700
Consider the following expression
In [5]: '300' + 400

6.3. OBJECTS 81
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------

<ipython-input-5-263a89d2d982> in <module>
----> 1 '300' + 400
TypeError: can only concatenate str (not "int") to str
Here we are mixing types, and it’s unclear to Python whether the user wants to
• convert '300' to an integer and then add it to 400, or
• convert 400 to string and then concatenate it with '300'
Some languages might try to guess but Python is strongly typed
• Type is important, and implicit type conversion is rare.
• Python will respond instead by raising a TypeError.
To avoid the error, you need to clarify by changing the relevant type.
For example,
In [6]: int('300') + 400 # To add as numbers, change the string to an integer
Out[6]: 700
6.3.2 Identity
In Python, each object has a unique identifier, which helps Python (and us) keep track of the
object.
The identity of an object can be obtained via the id() function
In [7]: y = 2.5
z = 2.5
id(y)
Out[7]: 140187764307240
In [8]: id(z)
Out[8]: 140187764307216
In this example, y and z happen to have the same value (i.e., 2.5), but they are not the
same object.
The identity of an object is in fact just the address of the object in memory.
6.3.3 Object Content: Data and Attributes
If we set x = 42 then we create an object of type int that contains the data 42.
In fact, it contains more, as the following example shows
In [9]: x = 42
x
Out[9]: 42
In [10]: x.imag
Out[10]: 0
In [11]: x.__class__
Out[11]: int
When Python creates this integer object, it stores with it various auxiliary information, such
as the imaginary part, and the type.
Any name following a dot is called an attribute of the object to the left of the dot.
• e.g.,imag and __class__ are attributes of x.
We see from this example that objects have attributes that contain auxiliary information.
They also have attributes that act like functions, called methods.
These attributes are important, so let’s discuss them in-depth.
6.3.4 Methods
Methods are functions that are bundled with objects.

Formally, methods are attributes of objects that are callable (i.e., can be called as functions)
In [12]: x = ['foo', 'bar']

callable(x.append)
Out[12]: True
In [13]: callable(x.__doc__)
Out[13]: False
Methods typically act on the data contained in the object they belong to, or combine that
data with other data
In [14]: x = ['a', 'b']

x.append('c')
s = 'This is a string'
s.upper()
6.4. SUMMARY 83
Out[14]: 'THIS IS A STRING'
In [15]: s.lower()
Out[15]: 'this is a string'
In [16]: s.replace('This', 'That')
Out[16]: 'That is a string'
A great deal of Python functionality is organized around method calls.

For example, consider the following piece of code
In [17]: x = ['a', 'b']

x[0] = 'aa' # Item assignment using square bracket notation
x
Out[17]: ['aa', 'b']
It doesn’t look like there are any methods used here, but in fact the square bracket assign-
ment notation is just a convenient interface to a method call.
What actually happens is that Python calls the __setitem__ method, as follows
In [18]: x = ['a', 'b']

x.__setitem__(0, 'aa') # Equivalent to x[0] = 'aa'
x
Out[18]: ['aa', 'b']
(If you wanted to you could modify the __setitem__ method, so that square bracket as-
signment does something totally different)
6.4 Summary
In Python, everything in memory is treated as an object.

This includes not just lists, strings, etc., but also less obvious things, such as
• functions (once they have been read into memory)
• modules (ditto)
• files opened for reading or writing
• integers, etc.
Consider, for example, functions.
When Python reads a function definition, it creates a function object and stores it in mem-
ory.
The following code illustrates
In [19]: def f(x): return x**2

f
Out[19]: <function __main__.f(x)>
In [20]: type(f)
Out[20]: function
In [21]: id(f)
Out[21]: 140187764206856
In [22]: f.__name__
Out[22]: 'f'
We can see that f has type, identity, attributes and so on—just like any other object.
It also has methods.
One example is the __call__ method, which just evaluates the function
In [23]: f.__call__(3)
Out[23]: 9
Another is the __dir__ method, which returns a list of attributes.

Modules loaded into memory are also treated as objects
In [24]: import math
id(math)
Out[24]: 140187861625016
This uniform treatment of data in Python (everything is an object) helps keep the language
simple and consistent.
Chapter 7
OOP II: Building Classes
7.1 Contents
• Overview 7.2
• OOP Review 7.3
• Defining Your Own Classes 7.4
• Special Methods 7.5
• Exercises 7.6
• Solutions 7.7
7.2 Overview
In an earlier lecture, we learned some foundations of object-oriented programming.

The objectives of this lecture are
• cover OOP in more depth
• learn how to build our own objects, specialized to our needs
For example, you already know how to
• create lists, strings and other Python objects
• use their methods to modify their contents
So imagine now you want to write a program with consumers, who can
• hold and spend cash
• consume goods
• work and earn cash
A natural solution in Python would be to create consumers as objects with
• data, such as cash on hand
• methods, such as buy or work that affect this data
Python makes it easy to do this, by providing you with class definitions.
Classes are blueprints that help you build objects according to your own specifications.
It takes a little while to get used to the syntax so we’ll provide plenty of examples.
We’ll use the following imports:
85
86 CHAPTER 7. OOP II: BUILDING CLASSES

%matplotlib inline
7.3 OOP Review
OOP is supported in many languages:

• JAVA and Ruby are relatively pure OOP.
• Python supports both procedural and object-oriented programming.
• Fortran and MATLAB are mainly procedural, some OOP recently tacked on.
• C is a procedural language, while C++ is C with OOP added on top.
Let’s cover general OOP concepts before we specialize to Python.
7.3.1 Key Concepts
As discussed an earlier lecture, in the OOP paradigm, data and functions are bundled to-
gether into “objects”.
An example is a Python list, which not only stores data but also knows how to sort itself, etc.
In [2]: x = [1, 5, 4]
x.sort()
x
Out[2]: [1, 4, 5]
As we now know, sort is a function that is “part of” the list object — and hence called a
method.
If we want to make our own types of objects we need to use class definitions.
A class definition is a blueprint for a particular class of objects (e.g., lists, strings or complex
numbers).
It describes
• What kind of data the class stores
• What methods it has for acting on these data
An object or instance is a realization of the class, created from the blueprint
• Each instance has its own unique data.
• Methods set out in the class definition act on this (and other) data.
In Python, the data and methods of an object are collectively referred to as attributes.
Attributes are accessed via “dotted attribute notation”
• object_name.data
• object_name.method_name()
In the example
In [3]: x = [1, 5, 4]
x.sort()
x.__class__
7.4. DEFINING YOUR OWN CLASSES 87
Out[3]: list
• x is an object or instance, created from the definition for Python lists, but with its own
particular data.
• x.sort() and x.__class__ are two attributes of x.
• dir(x) can be used to view all the attributes of x.
7.3.2 Why is OOP Useful?
OOP is useful for the same reason that abstraction is useful: for recognizing and exploiting
the common structure.
For example,
• a Markov chain consists of a set of states and a collection of transition probabilities for
moving across states
• a general equilibrium theory consists of a commodity space, preferences, technologies,
and an equilibrium definition
• a game consists of a list of players, lists of actions available to each player, player pay-
offs as functions of all players’ actions, and a timing protocol
These are all abstractions that collect together “objects” of the same “type”.
Recognizing common structure allows us to employ common tools.
In economic theory, this might be a proposition that applies to all games of a certain type.
In Python, this might be a method that’s useful for all Markov chains (e.g., simulate).
When we use OOP, the simulate method is conveniently bundled together with the Markov
chain object.
7.4 Defining Your Own Classes
Let’s build some simple classes to start off.
7.4.1 Example: A Consumer Class
First, we’ll build a Consumer class with

• a wealth attribute that stores the consumer’s wealth (data)
• an earn method, where earn(y) increments the consumer’s wealth by y
• a spend method, where spend(x) either decreases wealth by x or returns an error if
insufficient funds exist
Admittedly a little contrived, this example of a class helps us internalize some new syntax.
Here’s one implementation
In [4]: class Consumer:
def __init__(self, w):

"Initialize consumer with w dollars of wealth"
self.wealth = w
def earn(self, y):

"The consumer earns y dollars"
self.wealth += y
def spend(self, x):

"The consumer spends x dollars if feasible"
new_wealth = self.wealth - x
if new_wealth < 0:
print("Insufficent funds")
else:
self.wealth = new_wealth
There’s some special syntax here so let’s step through carefully

• The class keyword indicates that we are building a class.
This class defines instance data wealth and three methods: __init__, earn and spend
• wealth is instance data because each consumer we create (each instance of the
Consumer class) will have its own separate wealth data.
The ideas behind the earn and spend methods were discussed above.
Both of these act on the instance data wealth.
The __init__ method is a constructor method.
Whenever we create an instance of the class, this method will be called automatically.
Calling __init__ sets up a “namespace” to hold the instance data — more on this soon.
We’ll also discuss the role of self just below.
Usage
Here’s an example of usage
In [5]: c1 = Consumer(10) # Create instance with initial wealth 10

c1.spend(5)
c1.wealth
Out[5]: 5
In [6]: c1.earn(15)
c1.spend(100)
Insufficent funds
We can of course create multiple instances each with its own data
In [7]: c1 = Consumer(10)
c2 = Consumer(12)
c2.spend(4)
c2.wealth
Out[7]: 8
In [8]: c1.wealth
Out[8]: 10
In fact, each instance stores its data in a separate namespace dictionary
In [9]: c1.__dict__
Out[9]: {'wealth': 10}
In [10]: c2.__dict__
Out[10]: {'wealth': 8}
When we access or set attributes we’re actually just modifying the dictionary maintained by
the instance.
Self
If you look at the Consumer class definition again you’ll see the word self throughout the
code.
The rules with self are that
• Any instance data should be prepended with self
– e.g., the earn method references self.wealth rather than just wealth
• Any method defined within the class should have self as its first argument
– e.g., def earn(self, y) rather than just def earn(y)
• Any method referenced within the class should be called as self.method_name
There are no examples of the last rule in the preceding code but we will see some shortly.
Details
In this section, we look at some more formal details related to classes and self
• You might wish to skip to the next section on first pass of this lecture.
• You can return to these details after you’ve familiarized yourself with more examples.
Methods actually live inside a class object formed when the interpreter reads the class defini-
tion
In [11]: print(Consumer.__dict__) # Show __dict__ attribute of class object
{'__module__': '__main__', '__init__': <function Consumer.__init__ at�

↪0x7f9777b27d08>,
'earn': <function Consumer.earn at 0x7f9777b27d90>, 'spend': <function Consumer.
↪spend
at 0x7f9777b27e18>, '__dict__': <attribute '__dict__' of 'Consumer' objects>,
'__weakref__': <attribute '__weakref__' of 'Consumer' objects>, '__doc__': None}
Note how the three methods __init__, earn and spend are stored in the class object.
Consider the following code
In [12]: c1 = Consumer(10)
c1.earn(10)
c1.wealth
Out[12]: 20
When you call earn via c1.earn(10) the interpreter passes the instance c1 and the argu-
ment 10 to Consumer.earn.
In fact, the following are equivalent
• c1.earn(10)
• Consumer.earn(c1, 10)
In the function call Consumer.earn(c1, 10) note that c1 is the first argument.
Recall that in the definition of the earn method, self is the first parameter
In [13]: def earn(self, y):

"The consumer earns y dollars"
self.wealth += y
The end result is that self is bound to the instance c1 inside the function call.
That’s why the statement self.wealth += y inside earn ends up modifying c1.wealth.
7.4.2 Example: The Solow Growth Model
For our next example, let’s write a simple class to implement the Solow growth model.
The Solow growth model is a neoclassical growth model where the amount of capital stock
per capita 𝑘𝑡 evolves according to the rule
𝑠𝑧𝑘𝑡𝛼 + (1 − 𝛿)𝑘𝑡
𝑘𝑡+1 = (1)
1+𝑛
Here
• 𝑠 is an exogenously given savings rate
• 𝑧 is a productivity parameter
• 𝛼 is capital’s share of income
• 𝑛 is the population growth rate
• 𝛿 is the depreciation rate
The steady state of the model is the 𝑘 that solves (1) when 𝑘𝑡+1 = 𝑘𝑡 = 𝑘.
Here’s a class that implements this model.
Some points of interest in the code are
• An instance maintains a record of its current capital stock in the variable self.k.
• The h method implements the right-hand side of (1).
• The update method uses h to update capital as per (1).
– Notice how inside update the reference to the local method h is self.h.
The methods steady_state and generate_sequence are fairly self-explanatory
In [14]: class Solow:

r"""
Implements the Solow growth model with the update rule
k_{t+1} = [(s z k^α_t) + (1 - δ)k_t] /(1 + n)
"""
def __init__(self, n=0.05, # population growth rate
s=0.25, # savings rate
δ=0.1, # depreciation rate
α=0.3, # share of labor
z=2.0, # productivity
k=1.0): # current capital stock
self.n, self.s, self.δ, self.α, self.z = n, s, δ, α, z

self.k = k
def h(self):
"Evaluate the h function"
# Unpack parameters (get rid of self to simplify notation)
n, s, δ, α, z = self.n, self.s, self.δ, self.α, self.z
# Apply the update rule
return (s * z * self.k**α + (1 - δ) * self.k) / (1 + n)
def update(self):
"Update the current state (i.e., the capital stock)."
self.k = self.h()
def steady_state(self):
"Compute the steady state value of capital."
# Compute and return steady state
return ((s * z) / (n + δ))**(1 / (1 - α))
def generate_sequence(self, t):

"Generate and return a time series of length t"
path = []
for i in range(t):
path.append(self.k)
self.update()
return path
Here’s a little program that uses the class to compute time series from two different initial
conditions.
The common steady state is also plotted for comparison
In [15]: s1 = Solow()
s2 = Solow(k=8.0)
T = 60
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9, 6))
# Plot the common steady state value of capital

ax.plot([s1.steady_state()]*T, 'k-', label='steady state')
# Plot time series for each economy

for s in s1, s2:
lb = f'capital series from initial state {s.k}'
ax.plot(s.generate_sequence(T), 'o-', lw=2, alpha=0.6, label=lb)
ax.set_xlabel('$k_{t+1}$', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylabel('$k_t$', fontsize=14)
ax.legend()
plt.show()
7.4.3 Example: A Market
Next, let’s write a class for a simple one good market where agents are price takers.
The market consists of the following objects:
• A linear demand curve 𝑄 = 𝑎𝑑 − 𝑏𝑑 𝑝
• A linear supply curve 𝑄 = 𝑎𝑧 + 𝑏𝑧 (𝑝 − 𝑡)
Here
• 𝑝 is price paid by the consumer, 𝑄 is quantity and 𝑡 is a per-unit tax.
• Other symbols are demand and supply parameters.
The class provides methods to compute various values of interest, including competitive equi-
librium price and quantity, tax revenue raised, consumer surplus and producer surplus.
Here’s our implementation.

(It uses a function from SciPy called quad for numerical integration—a topic we will say more
about later on.)
class Market:
def __init__(self, ad, bd, az, bz, tax):

"""
Set up market parameters. All parameters are scalars. See
https://lectures.quantecon.org/py/python_oop.html for�
↪interpretation.
"""
self.ad, self.bd, self.az, self.bz, self.tax = ad, bd, az, bz, tax
if ad < az:
raise ValueError('Insufficient demand.')
def price(self):
"Return equilibrium price"
return (self.ad - self.az + self.bz * self.tax) / (self.bd + self.
↪ bz)
def quantity(self):
"Compute equilibrium quantity"
return self.ad - self.bd * self.price()
def consumer_surp(self):
"Compute consumer surplus"
# == Compute area under inverse demand function == #
integrand = lambda x: (self.ad / self.bd) - (1 / self.bd) * x
area, error = quad(integrand, 0, self.quantity())
return area - self.price() * self.quantity()
def producer_surp(self):
"Compute producer surplus"
# == Compute area above inverse supply curve, excluding tax == #
integrand = lambda x: -(self.az / self.bz) + (1 / self.bz) * x
area, error = quad(integrand, 0, self.quantity())
return (self.price() - self.tax) * self.quantity() - area
def taxrev(self):
"Compute tax revenue"
return self.tax * self.quantity()
def inverse_demand(self, x):

"Compute inverse demand"
return self.ad / self.bd - (1 / self.bd)* x
def inverse_supply(self, x):

"Compute inverse supply curve"
return -(self.az / self.bz) + (1 / self.bz) * x + self.tax
def inverse_supply_no_tax(self, x):

"Compute inverse supply curve without tax"
return -(self.az / self.bz) + (1 / self.bz) * x
Here’s a sample of usage
In [17]: baseline_params = 15, .5, -2, .5, 3

m = Market(*baseline_params)
print("equilibrium price = ", m.price())
equilibrium price = 18.5
In [18]: print("consumer surplus = ", m.consumer_surp())
consumer surplus = 33.0625
Here’s a short program that uses this class to plot an inverse demand curve together with in-
verse supply curves with and without taxes
In [19]: # Baseline ad, bd, az, bz, tax

baseline_params = 15, .5, -2, .5, 3
q_max = m.quantity() * 2
q_grid = np.linspace(0.0, q_max, 100)
pd = m.inverse_demand(q_grid)
ps = m.inverse_supply(q_grid)
psno = m.inverse_supply_no_tax(q_grid)
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot(q_grid, pd, lw=2, alpha=0.6, label='demand')
ax.plot(q_grid, ps, lw=2, alpha=0.6, label='supply')
ax.plot(q_grid, psno, '--k', lw=2, alpha=0.6, label='supply without tax')
ax.set_xlabel('quantity', fontsize=14)
ax.set_xlim(0, q_max)
ax.set_ylabel('price', fontsize=14)
ax.legend(loc='lower right', frameon=False, fontsize=14)
plt.show()
The next program provides a function that

• takes an instance of Market as a parameter
• computes dead weight loss from the imposition of the tax
In [20]: def deadw(m):

"Computes deadweight loss for market m."
# == Create analogous market with no tax == #
m_no_tax = Market(m.ad, m.bd, m.az, m.bz, 0)
# == Compare surplus, return difference == #
surp1 = m_no_tax.consumer_surp() + m_no_tax.producer_surp()
surp2 = m.consumer_surp() + m.producer_surp() + m.taxrev()
return surp1 - surp2
In [21]: baseline_params = 15, .5, -2, .5, 3

deadw(m) # Show deadweight loss
Out[21]: 1.125
7.4.4 Example: Chaos
Let’s look at one more example, related to chaotic dynamics in nonlinear systems.
One simple transition rule that can generate complex dynamics is the logistic map
𝑥𝑡+1 = 𝑟𝑥𝑡 (1 − 𝑥𝑡 ), 𝑥0 ∈ [0, 1], 𝑟 ∈ [0, 4] (2)

Let’s write a class for generating time series from this model.
Here’s one implementation
In [22]: class Chaos:

"""
Models the dynamical system with :math:`x_{t+1} = r x_t (1 - x_t)`
"""
def __init__(self, x0, r):
"""
Initialize with state x0 and parameter r
"""
self.x, self.r = x0, r
def update(self):
"Apply the map to update state."
self.x = self.r * self.x *(1 - self.x)
def generate_sequence(self, n):

"Generate and return a sequence of length n."
path = []
for i in range(n):
path.append(self.x)
self.update()
return path
In [23]: ch = Chaos(0.1, 4.0) # x0 = 0.1 and r = 0.4

ch.generate_sequence(5) # First 5 iterates
Out[23]: [0.1, 0.36000000000000004, 0.9216, 0.28901376000000006, 0.

↪8219392261226498]
This piece of code plots a longer trajectory
In [24]: ch = Chaos(0.1, 4.0)

ts_length = 250
ax.set_xlabel('$t$', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylabel('$x_t$', fontsize=14)
x = ch.generate_sequence(ts_length)
ax.plot(range(ts_length), x, 'bo-', alpha=0.5, lw=2, label='$x_t$')
plt.show()
The next piece of code provides a bifurcation diagram
In [25]: fig, ax = plt.subplots()

ch = Chaos(0.1, 4)
r = 2.5
while r < 4:
ch.r = r
t = ch.generate_sequence(1000)[950:]
ax.plot([r] * len(t), t, 'b.', ms=0.6)
r = r + 0.005
ax.set_xlabel('$r$', fontsize=16)
ax.set_ylabel('$x_t$', fontsize=16)
plt.show()
On the horizontal axis is the parameter 𝑟 in (2).

The vertical axis is the state space [0, 1].
For each 𝑟 we compute a long time series and then plot the tail (the last 50 points).
The tail of the sequence shows us where the trajectory concentrates after settling down to
some kind of steady state, if a steady state exists.
Whether it settles down, and the character of the steady state to which it does settle down,
depend on the value of 𝑟.
For 𝑟 between about 2.5 and 3, the time series settles into a single fixed point plotted on the
vertical axis.
For 𝑟 between about 3 and 3.45, the time series settles down to oscillating between the two
values plotted on the vertical axis.
For 𝑟 a little bit higher than 3.45, the time series settles down to oscillating among the four
values plotted on the vertical axis.
Notice that there is no value of 𝑟 that leads to a steady state oscillating among three values.
7.5 Special Methods
Python provides special methods with which some neat tricks can be performed.
For example, recall that lists and tuples have a notion of length and that this length can be
queried via the len function
In [26]: x = (10, 20)

len(x)
7.6. EXERCISES 99
Out[26]: 2
If you want to provide a return value for the len function when applied to your user-defined
object, use the __len__ special method
In [27]: class Foo:
def __len__(self):
return 42
Now we get
In [28]: f = Foo()
len(f)
Out[28]: 42
A special method we will use regularly is the __call__ method.

This method can be used to make your instances callable, just like functions
In [29]: class Foo:
def __call__(self, x):

return x + 42
After running we get
In [30]: f = Foo()
f(8) # Exactly equivalent to f.__call__(8)
Out[30]: 50
Exercise 1 provides a more useful example.
7.6 Exercises
7.6.1 Exercise 1
The empirical cumulative distribution function (ecdf) corresponding to a sample {𝑋𝑖 }𝑛𝑖=1 is
defined as
1 𝑛
𝐹𝑛 (𝑥) ∶= ∑ 1{𝑋𝑖 ≤ 𝑥} (𝑥 ∈ ℝ) (3)
𝑛 𝑖=1
Here 1{𝑋𝑖 ≤ 𝑥} is an indicator function (one if 𝑋𝑖 ≤ 𝑥 and zero otherwise) and hence 𝐹𝑛 (𝑥)
is the fraction of the sample that falls below 𝑥.
The Glivenko–Cantelli Theorem states that, provided that the sample is IID, the ecdf 𝐹𝑛 con-
verges to the true distribution function 𝐹 .
Implement 𝐹𝑛 as a class called ECDF, where
• A given sample {𝑋𝑖 }𝑛𝑖=1 are the instance data, stored as self.observations.
• The class implements a __call__ method that returns 𝐹𝑛 (𝑥) for any 𝑥.
Your code should work as follows (modulo randomness)
from random import uniform
samples = [uniform(0, 1) for i in range(10)]

F = ECDF(samples)
F(0.5) # Evaluate ecdf at x = 0.5
F.observations = [uniform(0, 1) for i in range(1000)]

F(0.5)
Aim for clarity, not efficiency.
7.6.2 Exercise 2
In an earlier exercise, you wrote a function for evaluating polynomials.

This exercise is an extension, where the task is to build a simple class called Polynomial for
representing and manipulating polynomial functions such as
𝑁
𝑝(𝑥) = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑥 + 𝑎2 𝑥2 + ⋯ 𝑎𝑁 𝑥𝑁 = ∑ 𝑎𝑛 𝑥𝑛 (𝑥 ∈ ℝ) (4)
𝑛=0
The instance data for the class Polynomial will be the coefficients (in the case of (4), the
numbers 𝑎0 , … , 𝑎𝑁 ).
Provide methods that
1. Evaluate the polynomial (4), returning 𝑝(𝑥) for any 𝑥.
2. Differentiate the polynomial, replacing the original coefficients with those of its deriva-
tive 𝑝′ .
Avoid using any import statements.
7.7 Solutions
7.7.1 Exercise 1
In [31]: class ECDF:
def __init__(self, observations):

self.observations = observations

counter = 0.0
for obs in self.observations:
7.7. SOLUTIONS 101
if obs <= x:
counter += 1
return counter / len(self.observations)
In [32]: # == test == #
samples = [uniform(0, 1) for i in range(10)]

F = ECDF(samples)
print(F(0.5)) # Evaluate ecdf at x = 0.5
F.observations = [uniform(0, 1) for i in range(1000)]
print(F(0.5))
0.6
0.482
7.7.2 Exercise 2
In [33]: class Polynomial:
def __init__(self, coefficients):

"""
Creates an instance of the Polynomial class representing
p(x) = a_0 x^0 + ... + a_N x^N,
where a_i = coefficients[i].

"""
self.coefficients = coefficients

"Evaluate the polynomial at x."
y = 0
for i, a in enumerate(self.coefficients):
y += a * x**i
return y
def differentiate(self):
"Reset self.coefficients to those of p' instead of p."
new_coefficients = []
for i, a in enumerate(self.coefficients):
new_coefficients.append(i * a)
# Remove the first element, which is zero
del new_coefficients[0]
# And reset coefficients data to new values
self.coefficients = new_coefficients
return new_coefficients
Part II
The Scientific Libraries
103
Chapter 8
Python for Scientific Computing
8.1 Contents
• Overview 8.2
• Scientific Libraries 8.3
• The Need for Speed 8.4
• Vectorization 8.5
• Beyond Vectorization 8.6
“We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature
optimization is the root of all evil.” – Donald Knuth
8.2 Overview
Python is extremely popular for scientific computing, due to such factors as

• the accessible and flexible nature of the language itself,
• the huge range of high quality scientific libraries now available,
• the fact that the language and libraries are open source,
• the popular Anaconda Python distribution, which simplifies installation and manage-
ment of those libraries, and
• the recent surge of interest in using Python for machine learning and artificial intelli-
gence.
In this lecture we give a short overview of scientific computing in Python, addressing the fol-
lowing questions:
• What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of Python for these tasks?
• What are the main elements of the scientific Python ecosystem?
• How is the situation changing over time?
In addition to what’s in Anaconda, this lecture will need
In [1]: !pip install --upgrade quantecon
105
106 CHAPTER 8. PYTHON FOR SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING
8.3 Scientific Libraries
Let’s briefly review Python’s scientific libraries, starting with why we need them.
8.3.1 The Role of Scientific Libraries
One obvious reason we use scientific libraries is because they implement routines we want to
use.
For example, it’s almost always better to use an existing routine for root finding than to write
a new one from scratch.
(For standard algorithms, efficiency is maximized if the community can coordinate on a com-
mon set of implementations, written by experts and tuned by users to be as fast and robust
as possible.)
But this is not the only reason that we use Python’s scientific libraries.
Another is that pure Python, while flexible and elegant, is not fast.
So we need libraries that are designed to accelerate execution of Python code.
As we’ll see below, there are now Python libraries that can do this extremely well.
8.3.2 Python’s Scientific Ecosystem
In terms of popularity, the big four in the world of scientific Python libraries are
• NumPy
• SciPy
• Matplotlib
• Pandas
For us, there’s another (relatively new) library that will also be essential for numerical com-
puting:
• Numba
Over the next few lectures we’ll see how to use these libraries.
But first, let’s quickly review how they fit together.
• NumPy forms the foundations by providing a basic array data type (think of vectors
and matrices) and functions for acting on these arrays (e.g., matrix multiplication).
• SciPy builds on NumPy by adding the kinds of numerical methods that are routinely
used in science (interpolation, optimization, root finding, etc.).
• Matplotlib is used to generate figures, with a focus on plotting data stored in NumPy
arrays.
• Pandas provides types and functions for empirical work (e.g., manipulating data).
• Numba accelerates execution via JIT compilation — we’ll learn about this soon.
8.4 The Need for Speed
Now let’s discuss execution speed.

8.4. THE NEED FOR SPEED 107
Higher-level languages like Python are optimized for humans.

This means that the programmer can leave many details to the runtime environment
• specifying variable types
• memory allocation/deallocation, etc.
The upside is that, compared to low-level languages, Python is typically faster to write, less
error-prone and easier to debug.
The downside is that Python is harder to optimize — that is, turn into fast machine code —
than languages like C or Fortran.
Indeed, the standard implementation of Python (called CPython) cannot match the speed of
compiled languages such as C or Fortran.
Does that mean that we should just switch to C or Fortran for everything?
The answer is: No, no and one hundred times no!
(This is what you should say to the senior professor insisting that the model needs to be
rewritten in Fortran or C++.)
There are two reasons why:
First, for any given program, relatively few lines are ever going to be time-critical.
Hence it is far more efficient to write most of our code in a high productivity language like
Python.
Second, even for those lines of code that are time-critical, we can now achieve the same speed
as C or Fortran using Python’s scientific libraries.
8.4.1 Where are the Bottlenecks?
Before we learn how to do this, let’s try to understand why plain vanilla Python is slower
than C or Fortran.
This will, in turn, help us figure out how to speed things up.
Dynamic Typing
Consider this Python operation
In [2]: a, b = 10, 10
a + b
Out[2]: 20
Even for this simple operation, the Python interpreter has a fair bit of work to do.
For example, in the statement a + b, the interpreter has to know which operation to invoke.
If a and b are strings, then a + b requires string concatenation
In [3]: a, b = 'foo', 'bar'

a + b
Out[3]: 'foobar'
If a and b are lists, then a + b requires list concatenation
In [4]: a, b = ['foo'], ['bar']

a + b
Out[4]: ['foo', 'bar']
(We say that the operator + is overloaded — its action depends on the type of the objects on
which it acts)
As a result, Python must check the type of the objects and then call the correct operation.
This involves substantial overheads.
Static Types
Compiled languages avoid these overheads with explicit, static types.

For example, consider the following C code, which sums the integers from 1 to 10
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void) {
int i;
int sum = 0;
for (i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
sum = sum + i;
}
printf("sum = %d\n", sum);
return 0;
}
The variables i and sum are explicitly declared to be integers.

Hence, the meaning of addition here is completely unambiguous.
8.4.2 Data Access
Another drag on speed for high-level languages is data access.

To illustrate, let’s consider the problem of summing some data — say, a collection of integers.
Summing with Compiled Code
In C or Fortran, these integers would typically be stored in an array, which is a simple data
structure for storing homogeneous data.
Such an array is stored in a single contiguous block of memory
• In modern computers, memory addresses are allocated to each byte (one byte = 8 bits).
8.5. VECTORIZATION 109
• For example, a 64 bit integer is stored in 8 bytes of memory.

• An array of 𝑛 such integers occupies 8𝑛 consecutive memory slots.
Moreover, the compiler is made aware of the data type by the programmer.
• In this case 64 bit integers
Hence, each successive data point can be accessed by shifting forward in memory space by a
known and fixed amount.
• In this case 8 bytes
Summing in Pure Python
Python tries to replicate these ideas to some degree.

For example, in the standard Python implementation (CPython), list elements are placed in
memory locations that are in a sense contiguous.
However, these list elements are more like pointers to data rather than actual data.
Hence, there is still overhead involved in accessing the data values themselves.
This is a considerable drag on speed.
In fact, it’s generally true that memory traffic is a major culprit when it comes to slow execu-
tion.
Let’s look at some ways around these problems.
8.5 Vectorization
There is a clever method called vectorization that can be used to speed up high level lan-
guages in numerical applications.
The key idea is to send array processing operations in batch to pre-compiled and efficient na-
tive machine code.
The machine code itself is typically compiled from carefully optimized C or Fortran.
For example, when working in a high level language, the operation of inverting a large ma-
trix can be subcontracted to efficient machine code that is pre-compiled for this purpose and
supplied to users as part of a package.
This clever idea dates back to MATLAB, which uses vectorization extensively.
Vectorization can greatly accelerate many numerical computations (but not all, as we shall
see).
Let’s see how vectorization works in Python, using NumPy.
8.5.1 Operations on Arrays
First, let’s run some imports
In [5]: import random

import numpy as np
import quantecon as qe
Next let’s try some non-vectorized code, which uses a native Python loop to generate, square
and then sum a large number of random variables:
In [6]: n = 1_000_000
In [7]: %%time
y = 0 # Will accumulate and store sum

for i in range(n):
x = random.uniform(0, 1)
y += x**2
CPU times: user 741 ms, sys: 708 µs, total: 741 ms
Wall time: 761 ms
The following vectorized code achieves the same thing.
In [8]: %%time
x = np.random.uniform(0, 1, n)
y = np.sum(x**2)
CPU times: user 14.9 ms, sys: 7.76 ms, total: 22.6 ms
Wall time: 23.6 ms
As you can see, the second code block runs much faster. Why?
The second code block breaks the loop down into three basic operations
1. draw n uniforms
2. square them
3. sum them
These are sent as batch operators to optimized machine code.

Apart from minor overheads associated with sending data back and forth, the result is C or
Fortran-like speed.
When we run batch operations on arrays like this, we say that the code is vectorized.
Vectorized code is typically fast and efficient.
It is also surprisingly flexible, in the sense that many operations can be vectorized.
The next section illustrates this point.
8.5.2 Universal Functions
Many functions provided by NumPy are so-called universal functions — also called ufuncs.
This means that they
8.5. VECTORIZATION 111
• map scalars into scalars, as expected

• map arrays into arrays, acting element-wise
For example, np.cos is a ufunc:
In [9]: np.cos(1.0)
Out[9]: 0.5403023058681398
In [10]: np.cos(np.linspace(0, 1, 3))
Out[10]: array([1. , 0.87758256, 0.54030231])
By exploiting ufuncs, many operations can be vectorized.

For example, consider the problem of maximizing a function 𝑓 of two variables (𝑥, 𝑦) over the
square [−𝑎, 𝑎] × [−𝑎, 𝑎].
For 𝑓 and 𝑎 let’s choose
cos(𝑥2 + 𝑦2 )
𝑓(𝑥, 𝑦) = and 𝑎 = 3
1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑦 2
Here’s a plot of 𝑓
In [11]: import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

%matplotlib inline
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.axes3d import Axes3D
from matplotlib import cm
def f(x, y):

return np.cos(x**2 + y**2) / (1 + x**2 + y**2)
xgrid = np.linspace(-3, 3, 50)

ygrid = xgrid
x, y = np.meshgrid(xgrid, ygrid)
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6))

ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')
ax.plot_surface(x,
y,
f(x, y),
rstride=2, cstride=2,
cmap=cm.jet,
alpha=0.7,
linewidth=0.25)
ax.set_zlim(-0.5, 1.0)
ax.set_xlabel('$x$', fontsize=14)
ax.set_ylabel('$y$', fontsize=14)
plt.show()
To maximize it, we’re going to use a naive grid search:
1. Evaluate 𝑓 for all (𝑥, 𝑦) in a grid on the square.
2. Return the maximum of observed values.
The grid will be
In [12]: grid = np.linspace(-3, 3, 1000)
Here’s a non-vectorized version that uses Python loops.
In [13]: %%time
m = -np.inf
for x in grid:
for y in grid:
z = f(x, y)
if z > m:
m = z
CPU times: user 6.12 s, sys: 6.51 ms, total: 6.13 s

Wall time: 6.18 s
And here’s a vectorized version

8.6. BEYOND VECTORIZATION 113
In [14]: %%time
x, y = np.meshgrid(grid, grid)
np.max(f(x, y))
CPU times: user 38.3 ms, sys: 16.1 ms, total: 54.4 ms
Wall time: 53.8 ms
Out[14]: 0.9999819641085747
In the vectorized version, all the looping takes place in compiled code.
As you can see, the second version is much faster.
(We’ll make it even faster again later on, using more scientific programming tricks.)
8.6 Beyond Vectorization
At its best, vectorization yields fast, simple code.

However, it’s not without disadvantages.
One issue is that it can be highly memory-intensive.
For example, the vectorized maximization routine above is far more memory intensive than
the non-vectorized version that preceded it.
This is because vectorization tends to create many intermediate arrays before producing the
final calculation.
Another issue is that not all algorithms can be vectorized.
In these kinds of settings, we need to go back to loops.
Fortunately, there are alternative ways to speed up Python loops that work in almost any
setting.
For example, in the last few years, a new Python library called Numba has appeared that
solves the main problems with vectorization listed above.
It does so through something called just in time (JIT) compilation, which can generate
extremely fast and efficient code.
We’ll learn how to use Numba soon.
Chapter 9
NumPy
9.1 Contents
• Overview 9.2
• NumPy Arrays 9.3
• Operations on Arrays 9.4
• Additional Functionality 9.5
• Exercises 9.6
• Solutions 9.7
“Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus.
Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one
investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that
are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant.
What is relevant is reproducible results.” – Michael Crichton
9.2 Overview
NumPy is a first-rate library for numerical programming

• Widely used in academia, finance and industry.
• Mature, fast, stable and under continuous development.
We have already seen some code involving NumPy in the preceding lectures.
In this lecture, we will start a more systematic discussion of both
• NumPy arrays and
• the fundamental array processing operations provided by NumPy.
9.2.1 References
• The official NumPy documentation.
115
116 CHAPTER 9. NUMPY
9.3 NumPy Arrays
The essential problem that NumPy solves is fast array processing.

The most important structure that NumPy defines is an array data type formally called a
numpy.ndarray.
NumPy arrays power a large proportion of the scientific Python ecosystem.
Let’s first import the library.
To create a NumPy array containing only zeros we use np.zeros
In [2]: a = np.zeros(3)
a
Out[2]: array([0., 0., 0.])
In [3]: type(a)
Out[3]: numpy.ndarray
NumPy arrays are somewhat like native Python lists, except that
• Data must be homogeneous (all elements of the same type).
• These types must be one of the data types (dtypes) provided by NumPy.
The most important of these dtypes are:
• float64: 64 bit floating-point number
• int64: 64 bit integer
• bool: 8 bit True or False
There are also dtypes to represent complex numbers, unsigned integers, etc.
On modern machines, the default dtype for arrays is float64
In [4]: a = np.zeros(3)
type(a[0])
Out[4]: numpy.float64
If we want to use integers we can specify as follows:
In [5]: a = np.zeros(3, dtype=int)

type(a[0])
Out[5]: numpy.int64
9.3. NUMPY ARRAYS 117
9.3.1 Shape and Dimension
Consider the following assignment
In [6]: z = np.zeros(10)
Here z is a flat array with no dimension — neither row nor column vector.
The dimension is recorded in the shape attribute, which is a tuple
In [7]: z.shape
Out[7]: (10,)
Here the shape tuple has only one element, which is the length of the array (tuples with one
element end with a comma).
To give it dimension, we can change the shape attribute
In [8]: z.shape = (10, 1)

z
Out[8]: array([[0.],
[0.],
[0.],
[0.],
[0.],
[0.],
[0.],
[0.],
[0.],
[0.]])
In [9]: z = np.zeros(4)
z.shape = (2, 2)
z
Out[9]: array([[0., 0.],

[0., 0.]])
In the last case, to make the 2 by 2 array, we could also pass a tuple to the zeros() func-
tion, as in z = np.zeros((2, 2)).
9.3.2 Creating Arrays
As we’ve seen, the np.zeros function creates an array of zeros.

You can probably guess what np.ones creates.
Related is np.empty, which creates arrays in memory that can later be populated with data
In [10]: z = np.empty(3)
z
Out[10]: array([0., 0., 0.])
The numbers you see here are garbage values.

(Python allocates 3 contiguous 64 bit pieces of memory, and the existing contents of those
memory slots are interpreted as float64 values)
To set up a grid of evenly spaced numbers use np.linspace
In [11]: z = np.linspace(2, 4, 5) # From 2 to 4, with 5 elements
To create an identity matrix use either np.identity or np.eye
In [12]: z = np.identity(2)
z
Out[12]: array([[1., 0.],

[0., 1.]])
In addition, NumPy arrays can be created from Python lists, tuples, etc. using np.array
In [13]: z = np.array([10, 20]) # ndarray from Python list

z
Out[13]: array([10, 20])
In [14]: type(z)
Out[14]: numpy.ndarray
In [15]: z = np.array((10, 20), dtype=float) # Here 'float' is equivalent to�

↪'np.float64'
Out[15]: array([10., 20.])
In [16]: z = np.array([[1, 2], [3, 4]]) # 2D array from a list of lists

z
Out[16]: array([[1, 2],

[3, 4]])
See also np.asarray, which performs a similar function, but does not make a distinct copy
of data already in a NumPy array.
In [17]: na = np.linspace(10, 20, 2)

na is np.asarray(na) # Does not copy NumPy arrays
Out[17]: True
In [18]: na is np.array(na) # Does make a new copy --- perhaps unnecessarily
Out[18]: False
To read in the array data from a text file containing numeric data use np.loadtxt or
np.genfromtxt—see the documentation for details.
9.3.3 Array Indexing
For a flat array, indexing is the same as Python sequences:
In [19]: z = np.linspace(1, 2, 5)
z
Out[19]: array([1. , 1.25, 1.5 , 1.75, 2. ])
In [20]: z[0]
Out[20]: 1.0
In [21]: z[0:2] # Two elements, starting at element 0
Out[21]: array([1. , 1.25])
In [22]: z[-1]
Out[22]: 2.0
For 2D arrays the index syntax is as follows:
In [23]: z = np.array([[1, 2], [3, 4]])

z
Out[23]: array([[1, 2],

[3, 4]])
In [24]: z[0, 0]
Out[24]: 1
In [25]: z[0, 1]
Out[25]: 2
And so on.
Note that indices are still zero-based, to maintain compatibility with Python sequences.
Columns and rows can be extracted as follows
In [26]: z[0, :]
Out[26]: array([1, 2])
In [27]: z[:, 1]
Out[27]: array([2, 4])
NumPy arrays of integers can also be used to extract elements
In [28]: z = np.linspace(2, 4, 5)
z
Out[28]: array([2. , 2.5, 3. , 3.5, 4. ])
In [29]: indices = np.array((0, 2, 3))

z[indices]
Out[29]: array([2. , 3. , 3.5])
Finally, an array of dtype bool can be used to extract elements
In [30]: z
Out[30]: array([2. , 2.5, 3. , 3.5, 4. ])
In [31]: d = np.array([0, 1, 1, 0, 0], dtype=bool)

d
Out[31]: array([False, True, True, False, False])
In [32]: z[d]
Out[32]: array([2.5, 3. ])
We’ll see why this is useful below.

An aside: all elements of an array can be set equal to one number using slice notation
In [33]: z = np.empty(3)
z
Out[33]: array([2. , 3. , 3.5])
In [34]: z[:] = 42
z
Out[34]: array([42., 42., 42.])

9.3.4 Array Methods
Arrays have useful methods, all of which are carefully optimized
In [35]: a = np.array((4, 3, 2, 1))

a
Out[35]: array([4, 3, 2, 1])
In [36]: a.sort() # Sorts a in place

a
Out[36]: array([1, 2, 3, 4])
In [37]: a.sum() # Sum
Out[37]: 10
In [38]: a.mean() # Mean
Out[38]: 2.5
In [39]: a.max() # Max
Out[39]: 4
In [40]: a.argmax() # Returns the index of the maximal element
Out[40]: 3
In [41]: a.cumsum() # Cumulative sum of the elements of a
Out[41]: array([ 1, 3, 6, 10])
In [42]: a.cumprod() # Cumulative product of the elements of a
Out[42]: array([ 1, 2, 6, 24])
In [43]: a.var() # Variance
Out[43]: 1.25
In [44]: a.std() # Standard deviation
Out[44]: 1.118033988749895
In [45]: a.shape = (2, 2)

a.T # Equivalent to a.transpose()
Out[45]: array([[1, 3],

[2, 4]])
Another method worth knowing is searchsorted().

If z is a nondecreasing array, then z.searchsorted(a) returns the index of the first ele-
ment of z that is >= a
In [46]: z = np.linspace(2, 4, 5)
z
Out[46]: array([2. , 2.5, 3. , 3.5, 4. ])
In [47]: z.searchsorted(2.2)
Out[47]: 1
Many of the methods discussed above have equivalent functions in the NumPy namespace
In [48]: a = np.array((4, 3, 2, 1))
In [49]: np.sum(a)
Out[49]: 10
In [50]: np.mean(a)
Out[50]: 2.5
9.4 Operations on Arrays
9.4.1 Arithmetic Operations
The operators +, -, *, / and ** all act elementwise on arrays
In [51]: a = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4])

b = np.array([5, 6, 7, 8])
a + b
Out[51]: array([ 6, 8, 10, 12])
In [52]: a * b
Out[52]: array([ 5, 12, 21, 32])
We can add a scalar to each element as follows
In [53]: a + 10
9.4. OPERATIONS ON ARRAYS 123
Out[53]: array([11, 12, 13, 14])
Scalar multiplication is similar
In [54]: a * 10
Out[54]: array([10, 20, 30, 40])
The two-dimensional arrays follow the same general rules
In [55]: A = np.ones((2, 2))

B = np.ones((2, 2))
A + B
Out[55]: array([[2., 2.],

[2., 2.]])
In [56]: A + 10
Out[56]: array([[11., 11.],

[11., 11.]])
In [57]: A * B
Out[57]: array([[1., 1.],

[1., 1.]])
In particular, A * B is not the matrix product, it is an element-wise product.
9.4.2 Matrix Multiplication
With Anaconda’s scientific Python package based around Python 3.5 and above, one can use
the @ symbol for matrix multiplication, as follows:
In [58]: A = np.ones((2, 2))

B = np.ones((2, 2))
A @ B
Out[58]: array([[2., 2.],

[2., 2.]])
(For older versions of Python and NumPy you need to use the np.dot function)
We can also use @ to take the inner product of two flat arrays
In [59]: A = np.array((1, 2))

B = np.array((10, 20))
A @ B
Out[59]: 50
In fact, we can use @ when one element is a Python list or tuple
In [60]: A = np.array(((1, 2), (3, 4)))

A
Out[60]: array([[1, 2],

[3, 4]])
In [61]: A @ (0, 1)
Out[61]: array([2, 4])
Since we are post-multiplying, the tuple is treated as a column vector.
9.4.3 Mutability and Copying Arrays
NumPy arrays are mutable data types, like Python lists.

In other words, their contents can be altered (mutated) in memory after initialization.
We already saw examples above.
Here’s another example:
In [62]: a = np.array([42, 44])

a
Out[62]: array([42, 44])
In [63]: a[-1] = 0 # Change last element to 0

a
Out[63]: array([42, 0])
Mutability leads to the following behavior (which can be shocking to MATLAB program-
mers…)
In [64]: a = np.random.randn(3)
a
Out[64]: array([-0.20773413, 1.7416078 , -0.31990722])
In [65]: b = a
b[0] = 0.0
a
Out[65]: array([ 0. , 1.7416078 , -0.31990722])

9.5. ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY 125
What’s happened is that we have changed a by changing b.

The name b is bound to a and becomes just another reference to the array (the Python as-
signment model is described in more detail later in the course).
Hence, it has equal rights to make changes to that array.
This is in fact the most sensible default behavior!
It means that we pass around only pointers to data, rather than making copies.
Making copies is expensive in terms of both speed and memory.
Making Copies
It is of course possible to make b an independent copy of a when required.

This can be done using np.copy
In [66]: a = np.random.randn(3)
a
Out[66]: array([-0.25492475, 1.22346731, 0.23772805])
In [67]: b = np.copy(a)
b
Out[67]: array([-0.25492475, 1.22346731, 0.23772805])
Now b is an independent copy (called a deep copy)
In [68]: b[:] = 1
b
Out[68]: array([1., 1., 1.])
In [69]: a
Out[69]: array([-0.25492475, 1.22346731, 0.23772805])
Note that the change to b has not affected a.
9.5 Additional Functionality
Let’s look at some other useful things we can do with NumPy.
9.5.1 Vectorized Functions
NumPy provides versions of the standard functions log, exp, sin, etc. that act element-
wise on arrays
In [70]: z = np.array([1, 2, 3])

np.sin(z)
Out[70]: array([0.84147098, 0.90929743, 0.14112001])
This eliminates the need for explicit element-by-element loops such as
In [71]: n = len(z)
y = np.empty(n)
for i in range(n):
y[i] = np.sin(z[i])
Because they act element-wise on arrays, these functions are called vectorized functions.
In NumPy-speak, they are also called ufuncs, which stands for “universal functions”.
As we saw above, the usual arithmetic operations (+, *, etc.) also work element-wise, and
combining these with the ufuncs gives a very large set of fast element-wise functions.
In [72]: z
Out[72]: array([1, 2, 3])
In [73]: (1 / np.sqrt(2 * np.pi)) * np.exp(- 0.5 * z**2)
Out[73]: array([0.24197072, 0.05399097, 0.00443185])
Not all user-defined functions will act element-wise.

For example, passing the function f defined below a NumPy array causes a ValueError
In [74]: def f(x):

return 1 if x > 0 else 0
The NumPy function np.where provides a vectorized alternative:
In [75]: x = np.random.randn(4)
x
Out[75]: array([ 1.69271758, -0.81843094, 1.46998861, -0.53546343])
In [76]: np.where(x > 0, 1, 0) # Insert 1 if x > 0 true, otherwise 0
Out[76]: array([1, 0, 1, 0])
You can also use np.vectorize to vectorize a given function
In [77]: f = np.vectorize(f)
f(x) # Passing the same vector x as in the previous example
Out[77]: array([1, 0, 1, 0])
However, this approach doesn’t always obtain the same speed as a more carefully crafted vec-
torized function.
9.5. ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY 127
9.5.2 Comparisons
As a rule, comparisons on arrays are done element-wise
In [78]: z = np.array([2, 3])

y = np.array([2, 3])
z == y
Out[78]: array([ True, True])
In [79]: y[0] = 5
z == y
Out[79]: array([False, True])
In [80]: z != y
Out[80]: array([ True, False])
The situation is similar for >, <, >= and <=.

We can also do comparisons against scalars
In [81]: z = np.linspace(0, 10, 5)

z
Out[81]: array([ 0. , 2.5, 5. , 7.5, 10. ])
In [82]: z > 3
Out[82]: array([False, False, True, True, True])
This is particularly useful for conditional extraction
In [83]: b = z > 3
b
Out[83]: array([False, False, True, True, True])
In [84]: z[b]
Out[84]: array([ 5. , 7.5, 10. ])
Of course we can—and frequently do—perform this in one step
In [85]: z[z > 3]
Out[85]: array([ 5. , 7.5, 10. ])

9.5.3 Sub-packages
NumPy provides some additional functionality related to scientific programming through its
sub-packages.
We’ve already seen how we can generate random variables using np.random
In [86]: z = np.random.randn(10000) # Generate standard normals

y = np.random.binomial(10, 0.5, size=1000) # 1,000 draws from Bin(10,�
↪0.5)
y.mean()
Out[86]: 5.03
Another commonly used subpackage is np.linalg
In [87]: A = np.array([[1, 2], [3, 4]])
np.linalg.det(A) # Compute the determinant
Out[87]: -2.0000000000000004
In [88]: np.linalg.inv(A) # Compute the inverse
Out[88]: array([[-2. , 1. ],
[ 1.5, -0.5]])
Much of this functionality is also available in SciPy, a collection of modules that are built on
top of NumPy.
We’ll cover the SciPy versions in more detail soon.
For a comprehensive list of what’s available in NumPy see this documentation.
9.6 Exercises
9.6.1 Exercise 1
Consider the polynomial expression
𝑁
𝑝(𝑥) = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑥 + 𝑎2 𝑥2 + ⋯ 𝑎𝑁 𝑥𝑁 = ∑ 𝑎𝑛 𝑥𝑛 (1)
𝑛=0
Earlier, you wrote a simple function p(x, coeff) to evaluate (1) without considering effi-
ciency.
Now write a new function that does the same job, but uses NumPy arrays and array opera-
tions for its computations, rather than any form of Python loop.
(Such functionality is already implemented as np.poly1d, but for the sake of the exercise
don’t use this class)
• Hint: Use np.cumprod()
9.6. EXERCISES 129
9.6.2 Exercise 2
Let q be a NumPy array of length n with q.sum() == 1.

Suppose that q represents a probability mass function.
We wish to generate a discrete random variable 𝑥 such that ℙ{𝑥 = 𝑖} = 𝑞𝑖 .
In other words, x takes values in range(len(q)) and x = i with probability q[i].
The standard (inverse transform) algorithm is as follows:
• Divide the unit interval [0, 1] into 𝑛 subintervals 𝐼0 , 𝐼1 , … , 𝐼𝑛−1 such that the length of
𝐼𝑖 is 𝑞𝑖 .
• Draw a uniform random variable 𝑈 on [0, 1] and return the 𝑖 such that 𝑈 ∈ 𝐼𝑖 .
The probability of drawing 𝑖 is the length of 𝐼𝑖 , which is equal to 𝑞𝑖 .
We can implement the algorithm as follows
In [89]: from random import uniform
def sample(q):
a = 0.0
U = uniform(0, 1)
for i in range(len(q)):
if a < U <= a + q[i]:
return i
a = a + q[i]
If you can’t see how this works, try thinking through the flow for a simple example, such as q
= [0.25, 0.75] It helps to sketch the intervals on paper.
Your exercise is to speed it up using NumPy, avoiding explicit loops
• Hint: Use np.searchsorted and np.cumsum
If you can, implement the functionality as a class called DiscreteRV, where
• the data for an instance of the class is the vector of probabilities q
• the class has a draw() method, which returns one draw according to the algorithm de-
scribed above
If you can, write the method so that draw(k) returns k draws from q.
9.6.3 Exercise 3
Recall our earlier discussion of the empirical cumulative distribution function.

Your task is to
1. Make the __call__ method more efficient using NumPy.
2. Add a method that plots the ECDF over [𝑎, 𝑏], where 𝑎 and 𝑏 are method parameters.
9.7 Solutions

%matplotlib inline
9.7.1 Exercise 1
This code does the job
In [91]: def p(x, coef):

X = np.ones_like(coef)
X[1:] = x
y = np.cumprod(X) # y = [1, x, x**2,...]
return coef @ y
Let’s test it
In [92]: x = 2
coef = np.linspace(2, 4, 3)
print(coef)
print(p(x, coef))
# For comparison
q = np.poly1d(np.flip(coef))
print(q(x))
[2. 3. 4.]
24.0
24.0
9.7.2 Exercise 2
Here’s our first pass at a solution:
In [93]: from numpy import cumsum

from numpy.random import uniform
class DiscreteRV:
"""
Generates an array of draws from a discrete random variable with�
↪vector of
probabilities given by q.
"""
def __init__(self, q):

"""
The argument q is a NumPy array, or array like, nonnegative and sums
to 1
"""
self.q = q
self.Q = cumsum(q)
def draw(self, k=1):

9.7. SOLUTIONS 131
"""
Returns k draws from q. For each such draw, the value i is returned
with probability q[i].
"""
return self.Q.searchsorted(uniform(0, 1, size=k))
The logic is not obvious, but if you take your time and read it slowly, you will understand.
There is a problem here, however.
Suppose that q is altered after an instance of discreteRV is created, for example by
In [94]: q = (0.1, 0.9)

d = DiscreteRV(q)
d.q = (0.5, 0.5)
The problem is that Q does not change accordingly, and Q is the data used in the draw
method.
To deal with this, one option is to compute Q every time the draw method is called.
But this is inefficient relative to computing Q once-off.
A better option is to use descriptors.
A solution from the quantecon library using descriptors that behaves as we desire can be
found here.
9.7.3 Exercise 3
An example solution is given below.

In essence, we’ve just taken this code from QuantEcon and added in a plot method
In [95]: """
Modifies ecdf.py from QuantEcon to add in a plot method
"""
class ECDF:
"""
One-dimensional empirical distribution function given a vector of
observations.
Parameters
----------
observations : array_like
An array of observations
Attributes
----------
observations : array_like
An array of observations
"""
def __init__(self, observations):

self.observations = np.asarray(observations)

"""
Evaluates the ecdf at x
Parameters
----------
x : scalar(float)
The x at which the ecdf is evaluated
Returns
-------
scalar(float)
Fraction of the sample less than x
"""
return np.mean(self.observations <= x)
def plot(self, ax, a=None, b=None):

"""
Plot the ecdf on the interval [a, b].
Parameters
----------
a : scalar(float), optional(default=None)
Lower endpoint of the plot interval
b : scalar(float), optional(default=None)
Upper endpoint of the plot interval
"""
# === choose reasonable interval if [a, b] not specified === #

if a is None:
a = self.observations.min() - self.observations.std()
if b is None:
b = self.observations.max() + self.observations.std()
# === generate plot === #

x_vals = np.linspace(a, b, num=100)
f = np.vectorize(self.__call__)
ax.plot(x_vals, f(x_vals))
plt.show()

X = np.random.randn(1000)
F = ECDF(X)
F.plot(ax)
9.7. SOLUTIONS 133
Chapter 10
Matplotlib
10.1 Contents
• Overview 10.2
• The APIs 10.3
• More Features 10.4
• Further Reading 10.5
• Exercises 10.6
• Solutions 10.7
10.2 Overview
We’ve already generated quite a few figures in these lectures using Matplotlib.
Matplotlib is an outstanding graphics library, designed for scientific computing, with
• high-quality 2D and 3D plots
• output in all the usual formats (PDF, PNG, etc.)
• LaTeX integration
• fine-grained control over all aspects of presentation
• animation, etc.
10.2.1 Matplotlib’s Split Personality
Matplotlib is unusual in that it offers two different interfaces to plotting.

One is a simple MATLAB-style API (Application Programming Interface) that was written to
help MATLAB refugees find a ready home.
The other is a more “Pythonic” object-oriented API.
For reasons described below, we recommend that you use the second API.
But first, let’s discuss the difference.
135
136 CHAPTER 10. MATPLOTLIB
10.3 The APIs
10.3.1 The MATLAB-style API
Here’s the kind of easy example you might find in introductory treatments

%matplotlib inline
import numpy as np
x = np.linspace(0, 10, 200)

y = np.sin(x)
plt.plot(x, y, 'b-', linewidth=2)

plt.show()
This is simple and convenient, but also somewhat limited and un-Pythonic.
For example, in the function calls, a lot of objects get created and passed around without
making themselves known to the programmer.
Python programmers tend to prefer a more explicit style of programming (run import this
in a code block and look at the second line).
This leads us to the alternative, object-oriented Matplotlib API.
10.3.2 The Object-Oriented API
Here’s the code corresponding to the preceding figure using the object-oriented API

ax.plot(x, y, 'b-', linewidth=2)
plt.show()
10.3. THE APIS 137
Here the call fig, ax = plt.subplots() returns a pair, where

• fig is a Figure instance—like a blank canvas.
• ax is an AxesSubplot instance—think of a frame for plotting in.
The plot() function is actually a method of ax.
While there’s a bit more typing, the more explicit use of objects gives us better control.
This will become more clear as we go along.
10.3.3 Tweaks
Here we’ve changed the line to red and added a legend

ax.plot(x, y, 'r-', linewidth=2, label='sine function', alpha=0.6)
ax.legend()
plt.show()
We’ve also used alpha to make the line slightly transparent—which makes it look smoother.
The location of the legend can be changed by replacing ax.legend() with
ax.legend(loc='upper center').

ax.legend(loc='upper center')
plt.show()
If everything is properly configured, then adding LaTeX is trivial

10.3. THE APIS 139

ax.plot(x, y, 'r-', linewidth=2, label='$y=\sin(x)$', alpha=0.6)
plt.show()
Controlling the ticks, adding titles and so on is also straightforward

ax.plot(x, y, 'r-', linewidth=2, label='$y=\sin(x)$', alpha=0.6)
ax.set_yticks([-1, 0, 1])
ax.set_title('Test plot')
plt.show()
10.4 More Features
Matplotlib has a huge array of functions and features, which you can discover over time as
you have need for them.
We mention just a few.
10.4.1 Multiple Plots on One Axis
It’s straightforward to generate multiple plots on the same axes.

Here’s an example that randomly generates three normal densities and adds a label with their
mean
In [7]: from scipy.stats import norm

x = np.linspace(-4, 4, 150)
for i in range(3):
m, s = uniform(-1, 1), uniform(1, 2)
y = norm.pdf(x, loc=m, scale=s)
current_label = f'$\mu = {m:.2}$'
ax.plot(x, y, linewidth=2, alpha=0.6, label=current_label)
ax.legend()
plt.show()
10.4. MORE FEATURES 141
10.4.2 Multiple Subplots
Sometimes we want multiple subplots in one figure.

Here’s an example that generates 6 histograms
In [8]: num_rows, num_cols = 3, 2

fig, axes = plt.subplots(num_rows, num_cols, figsize=(10, 12))
for i in range(num_rows):
for j in range(num_cols):
m, s = uniform(-1, 1), uniform(1, 2)
x = norm.rvs(loc=m, scale=s, size=100)
axes[i, j].hist(x, alpha=0.6, bins=20)
t = f'$\mu = {m:.2}, \quad \sigma = {s:.2}$'
axes[i, j].set(title=t, xticks=[-4, 0, 4], yticks=[])
plt.show()
10.4.3 3D Plots
Matplotlib does a nice job of 3D plots — here is one example
In [9]: from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.axes3d import Axes3D

from matplotlib import cm
def f(x, y):

xgrid = np.linspace(-3, 3, 50)

10.4. MORE FEATURES 143
ygrid = xgrid
x, y = np.meshgrid(xgrid, ygrid)
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6))

ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')
ax.plot_surface(x,
y,
f(x, y),
rstride=2, cstride=2,
cmap=cm.jet,
alpha=0.7,
linewidth=0.25)
ax.set_zlim(-0.5, 1.0)
plt.show()
10.4.4 A Customizing Function
Perhaps you will find a set of customizations that you regularly use.
Suppose we usually prefer our axes to go through the origin, and to have a grid.
Here’s a nice example from Matthew Doty of how the object-oriented API can be used to
build a custom subplots function that implements these changes.
Read carefully through the code and see if you can follow what’s going on
In [10]: def subplots():

"Custom subplots with axes through the origin"
# Set the axes through the origin

for spine in ['left', 'bottom']:
ax.spines[spine].set_position('zero')
for spine in ['right', 'top']:
ax.spines[spine].set_color('none')
ax.grid()
return fig, ax
fig, ax = subplots() # Call the local version, not plt.subplots()

x = np.linspace(-2, 10, 200)
y = np.sin(x)
ax.legend(loc='lower right')
plt.show()
The custom subplots function
1. calls the standard plt.subplots function internally to generate the fig, ax pair,
2. makes the desired customizations to ax, and
3. passes the fig, ax pair back to the calling code.
10.5 Further Reading
• The Matplotlib gallery provides many examples.

• A nice Matplotlib tutorial by Nicolas Rougier, Mike Muller and Gael Varoquaux.
• mpltools allows easy switching between plot styles.
• Seaborn facilitates common statistics plots in Matplotlib.
10.6. EXERCISES 145
10.6 Exercises
10.6.1 Exercise 1
Plot the function
𝑓(𝑥) = cos(𝜋𝜃𝑥) exp(−𝑥)
over the interval [0, 5] for each 𝜃 in np.linspace(0, 2, 10).

Place all the curves in the same figure.
The output should look like this
10.7 Solutions
10.7.1 Exercise 1
Here’s one solution
In [11]: def f(x, θ):

return np.cos(np.pi * θ * x ) * np.exp(- x)
θ_vals = np.linspace(0, 2, 10)

for θ in θ_vals:
ax.plot(x, f(x, θ))
plt.show()
Chapter 11
SciPy
11.1 Contents
• Overview 11.2
• SciPy versus NumPy 11.3
• Statistics 11.4
• Roots and Fixed Points 11.5
• Optimization 11.6
• Integration 11.7
• Linear Algebra 11.8
• Exercises 11.9
• Solutions 11.10
11.2 Overview
SciPy builds on top of NumPy to provide common tools for scientific programming such as
• linear algebra
• numerical integration
• interpolation
• optimization
• distributions and random number generation
• signal processing
• etc., etc
Like NumPy, SciPy is stable, mature and widely used.
Many SciPy routines are thin wrappers around industry-standard Fortran libraries such as
LAPACK, BLAS, etc.
It’s not really necessary to “learn” SciPy as a whole.
A more common approach is to get some idea of what’s in the library and then look up docu-
mentation as required.
In this lecture, we aim only to highlight some useful parts of the package.
147
148 CHAPTER 11. SCIPY
11.3 SciPy versus NumPy
SciPy is a package that contains various tools that are built on top of NumPy, using its array
data type and related functionality.
In fact, when we import SciPy we also get NumPy, as can be seen from this excerpt the
SciPy initialization file:
In [1]: # Import numpy symbols to scipy namespace

from numpy import *
from numpy.random import rand, randn
from numpy.fft import fft, ifft
from numpy.lib.scimath import *
However, it’s more common and better practice to use NumPy functionality explicitly
a = np.identity(3)
What is useful in SciPy is the functionality in its sub-packages

• scipy.optimize, scipy.integrate, scipy.stats, etc.
Let’s explore some of the major sub-packages.
11.4 Statistics
The scipy.stats subpackage supplies

• numerous random variable objects (densities, cumulative distributions, random sam-
pling, etc.)
• some estimation procedures
• some statistical tests
11.4.1 Random Variables and Distributions
Recall that numpy.random provides functions for generating random variables
In [3]: np.random.beta(5, 5, size=3)
Out[3]: array([0.56809711, 0.57373171, 0.58187167])
This generates a draw from the distribution with the density function below when a, b =
5, 5
𝑥(𝑎−1) (1 − 𝑥)(𝑏−1)
𝑓(𝑥; 𝑎, 𝑏) = 1
(0 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 1) (1)
∫0 𝑢(𝑎−1) (1 − 𝑢)(𝑏−1) 𝑑𝑢
Sometimes we need access to the density itself, or the cdf, the quantiles, etc.
11.4. STATISTICS 149
For this, we can use scipy.stats, which provides all of this functionality as well as random
number generation in a single consistent interface.
In [4]: from scipy.stats import beta

%matplotlib inline
q = beta(5, 5) # Beta(a, b), with a = b = 5

obs = q.rvs(2000) # 2000 observations
grid = np.linspace(0.01, 0.99, 100)
ax.hist(obs, bins=40, density=True)
ax.plot(grid, q.pdf(grid), 'k-', linewidth=2)
plt.show()
The object q that represents the distribution has additional useful methods, including
In [5]: q.cdf(0.4) # Cumulative distribution function
Out[5]: 0.26656768000000003
In [6]: q.ppf(0.8) # Quantile (inverse cdf) function
Out[6]: 0.6339134834642708
In [7]: q.mean()
Out[7]: 0.5
The general syntax for creating these objects that represent distributions (of type
rv_frozen) is
name = scipy.stats.distribution_name(shape_parameters,
loc=c, scale=d)
Here distribution_name is one of the distribution names in scipy.stats.

The loc and scale parameters transform the original random variable 𝑋 into 𝑌 = 𝑐 + 𝑑𝑋.
11.4.2 Alternative Syntax
There is an alternative way of calling the methods described above.

For example, the code that generates the figure above can be replaced by
In [8]: obs = beta.rvs(5, 5, size=2000)

grid = np.linspace(0.01, 0.99, 100)
ax.hist(obs, bins=40, density=True)
ax.plot(grid, beta.pdf(grid, 5, 5), 'k-', linewidth=2)
plt.show()
11.4.3 Other Goodies in scipy.stats
There are a variety of statistical functions in scipy.stats.

For example, scipy.stats.linregress implements simple linear regression
11.5. ROOTS AND FIXED POINTS 151
In [9]: from scipy.stats import linregress
x = np.random.randn(200)
y = 2 * x + 0.1 * np.random.randn(200)
gradient, intercept, r_value, p_value, std_err = linregress(x, y)
gradient, intercept
Out[9]: (1.9859224107422762, 0.0014933929437894178)
To see the full list, consult the documentation.
11.5 Roots and Fixed Points
A root or zero of a real function 𝑓 on [𝑎, 𝑏] is an 𝑥 ∈ [𝑎, 𝑏] such that 𝑓(𝑥) = 0.

For example, if we plot the function
𝑓(𝑥) = sin(4(𝑥 − 1/4)) + 𝑥 + 𝑥20 − 1 (2)
with 𝑥 ∈ [0, 1] we get
In [10]: f = lambda x: np.sin(4 * (x - 1/4)) + x + x**20 - 1

ax.plot(x, f(x))
ax.axhline(ls='--', c='k', label='$f(x)$')
ax.set_xlabel('$x$', fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel('$f(x)$', fontsize=12)
ax.legend(fontsize=12)
plt.show()
The unique root is approximately 0.408.

Let’s consider some numerical techniques for finding roots.
11.5.1 Bisection
One of the most common algorithms for numerical root-finding is bisection.

To understand the idea, recall the well-known game where
• Player A thinks of a secret number between 1 and 100
• Player B asks if it’s less than 50
– If yes, B asks if it’s less than 25
– If no, B asks if it’s less than 75
And so on.
This is bisection.
Here’s a simplistic implementation of the algorithm in Python.
It works for all sufficiently well behaved increasing continuous functions with 𝑓(𝑎) < 0 < 𝑓(𝑏)
In [11]: def bisect(f, a, b, tol=10e-5):

"""
Implements the bisection root finding algorithm, assuming that f is a
real-valued function on [a, b] satisfying f(a) < 0 < f(b).
"""
lower, upper = a, b
while upper - lower > tol:

middle = 0.5 * (upper + lower)
if f(middle) > 0: # root is between lower and middle
lower, upper = lower, middle
else: # root is between middle and upper
lower, upper = middle, upper
return 0.5 * (upper + lower)
Let’s test it using the function 𝑓 defined in (2)
In [12]: bisect(f, 0, 1)
Out[12]: 0.408294677734375
Not surprisingly, SciPy provides its own bisection function.

Let’s test it using the same function 𝑓 defined in (2)
In [13]: from scipy.optimize import bisect
bisect(f, 0, 1)
Out[13]: 0.4082935042806639
11.5. ROOTS AND FIXED POINTS 153
11.5.2 The Newton-Raphson Method
Another very common root-finding algorithm is the Newton-Raphson method.

In SciPy this algorithm is implemented by scipy.optimize.newton.
Unlike bisection, the Newton-Raphson method uses local slope information in an attempt to
increase the speed of convergence.
Let’s investigate this using the same function 𝑓 defined above.
With a suitable initial condition for the search we get convergence:
In [14]: from scipy.optimize import newton
newton(f, 0.2) # Start the search at initial condition x = 0.2
Out[14]: 0.40829350427935673
But other initial conditions lead to failure of convergence:
In [15]: newton(f, 0.7) # Start the search at x = 0.7 instead
Out[15]: 0.7001700000000279
11.5.3 Hybrid Methods
A general principle of numerical methods is as follows:

• If you have specific knowledge about a given problem, you might be able to exploit it to
generate efficiency.
• If not, then the choice of algorithm involves a trade-off between speed and robustness.
In practice, most default algorithms for root-finding, optimization and fixed points use hybrid
methods.
These methods typically combine a fast method with a robust method in the following man-
ner:
1. Attempt to use a fast method
2. Check diagnostics
3. If diagnostics are bad, then switch to a more robust algorithm
In scipy.optimize, the function brentq is such a hybrid method and a good default
In [16]: from scipy.optimize import brentq
brentq(f, 0, 1)
Out[16]: 0.40829350427936706
Here the correct solution is found and the speed is better than bisection:
In [17]: %timeit brentq(f, 0, 1)
34 µs ± 518 ns per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 10000 loops each)
In [18]: %timeit bisect(f, 0, 1)
135 µs ± 2.19 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 10000 loops each)
11.5.4 Multivariate Root-Finding
Use scipy.optimize.fsolve, a wrapper for a hybrid method in MINPACK.

See the documentation for details.
11.5.5 Fixed Points
A fixed point of a real function 𝑓 on [𝑎, 𝑏] is an 𝑥 ∈ [𝑎, 𝑏] such that 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥.

SciPy has a function for finding (scalar) fixed points too
In [19]: from scipy.optimize import fixed_point
fixed_point(lambda x: x**2, 10.0) # 10.0 is an initial guess
Out[19]: array(1.)
If you don’t get good results, you can always switch back to the brentq root finder, since
the fixed point of a function 𝑓 is the root of 𝑔(𝑥) ∶= 𝑥 − 𝑓(𝑥).
11.6 Optimization
Most numerical packages provide only functions for minimization.

Maximization can be performed by recalling that the maximizer of a function 𝑓 on domain 𝐷
is the minimizer of −𝑓 on 𝐷.
Minimization is closely related to root-finding: For smooth functions, interior optima corre-
spond to roots of the first derivative.
The speed/robustness trade-off described above is present with numerical optimization too.
Unless you have some prior information you can exploit, it’s usually best to use hybrid meth-
ods.
For constrained, univariate (i.e., scalar) minimization, a good hybrid option is fminbound
In [20]: from scipy.optimize import fminbound
fminbound(lambda x: x**2, -1, 2) # Search in [-1, 2]
Out[20]: 0.0
11.7. INTEGRATION 155
11.6.1 Multivariate Optimization
Multivariate local optimizers include minimize, fmin, fmin_powell, fmin_cg,

fmin_bfgs, and fmin_ncg.
Constrained multivariate local optimizers include fmin_l_bfgs_b, fmin_tnc,
fmin_cobyla.
See the documentation for details.
11.7 Integration
Most numerical integration methods work by computing the integral of an approximating

polynomial.
The resulting error depends on how well the polynomial fits the integrand, which in turn de-
pends on how “regular” the integrand is.
In SciPy, the relevant module for numerical integration is scipy.integrate.
A good default for univariate integration is quad
integral, error = quad(lambda x: x**2, 0, 1)

integral
Out[21]: 0.33333333333333337
In fact, quad is an interface to a very standard numerical integration routine in the Fortran
library QUADPACK.
It uses Clenshaw-Curtis quadrature, based on expansion in terms of Chebychev polynomials.
There are other options for univariate integration—a useful one is fixed_quad, which is fast
and hence works well inside for loops.
There are also functions for multivariate integration.
See the documentation for more details.
11.8 Linear Algebra
We saw that NumPy provides a module for linear algebra called linalg.
SciPy also provides a module for linear algebra with the same name.
The latter is not an exact superset of the former, but overall it has more functionality.
We leave you to investigate the set of available routines.
11.9 Exercises
11.9.1 Exercise 1
Previously we discussed the concept of recursive function calls.

Try to write a recursive implementation of homemade bisection function described above.
Test it on the function (2).
11.10 Solutions
11.10.1 Exercise 1
Here’s a reasonable solution:
In [22]: def bisect(f, a, b, tol=10e-5):

"""
Implements the bisection root-finding algorithm, assuming that f is a
real-valued function on [a, b] satisfying f(a) < 0 < f(b).
"""
lower, upper = a, b
if upper - lower < tol:
return 0.5 * (upper + lower)
else:
middle = 0.5 * (upper + lower)
print(f'Current mid point = {middle}')
if f(middle) > 0: # Implies root is between lower and middle
return bisect(f, lower, middle)
else: # Implies root is between middle and upper
return bisect(f, middle, upper)
We can test it as follows
In [23]: f = lambda x: np.sin(4 * (x - 0.25)) + x + x**20 - 1

bisect(f, 0, 1)
Current mid point = 0.5

Out[23]: 0.408294677734375
Chapter 12
Numba
12.1 Contents
• Overview 12.2
• Compiling Functions 12.3
• Decorators and “nopython” Mode ??
• Compiling Classes 12.5
• Alternatives to Numba 12.6
• Summary and Comments 12.7
• Exercises 12.8
• Solutions 12.9
In addition to what’s in Anaconda, this lecture will need the following libraries:
Please also make sure that you have the latest version of Anaconda, since old versions are a
common source of errors.
Let’s start with some imports:

%matplotlib inline
12.2 Overview
In an earlier lecture we learned about vectorization, which is one method to improve speed
and efficiency in numerical work.
Vectorization involves sending array processing operations in batch to efficient low-level code.
However, as discussed previously, vectorization has several weaknesses.
One is that it is highly memory-intensive when working with large amounts of data.
Another is that the set of algorithms that can be entirely vectorized is not universal.
157
158 CHAPTER 12. NUMBA
In fact, for some algorithms, vectorization is ineffective.

Fortunately, a new Python library called Numba solves many of these problems.
It does so through something called just in time (JIT) compilation.
The key idea is to compile functions to native machine code instructions on the fly.
When it succeeds, the compiled code is extremely fast.
Numba is specifically designed for numerical work and can also do other tricks such as multi-
threading.
Numba will be a key part of our lectures — especially those lectures involving dynamic pro-
gramming.
This lecture introduces the main ideas.
12.3 Compiling Functions
As stated above, Numba’s primary use is compiling functions to fast native machine code
during runtime.
12.3.1 An Example
Let’s consider a problem that is difficult to vectorize: generating the trajectory of a difference
equation given an initial condition.
We will take the difference equation to be the quadratic map
𝑥𝑡+1 = 𝛼𝑥𝑡 (1 − 𝑥𝑡 )
In what follows we set
In [3]: α = 4.0
Here’s the plot of a typical trajectory, starting from 𝑥0 = 0.1, with 𝑡 on the x-axis
In [4]: def qm(x0, n):

x = np.empty(n+1)
x[0] = x0
for t in range(n):
x[t+1] = α * x[t] * (1 - x[t])
return x
x = qm(0.1, 250)
ax.plot(x, 'b-', lw=2, alpha=0.8)
ax.set_ylabel('$x_{t}$', fontsize = 12)
plt.show()
12.3. COMPILING FUNCTIONS 159
To speed the function qm up using Numba, our first step is
In [5]: from numba import jit
qm_numba = jit(qm)
The function qm_numba is a version of qm that is “targeted” for JIT-compilation.

We will explain what this means momentarily.
Let’s time and compare identical function calls across these two versions, starting with the
original function qm:
In [6]: n = 10_000_000
qe.tic()
qm(0.1, int(n))
time1 = qe.toc()
TOC: Elapsed: 0:00:15.11
Now let’s try qm_numba
In [7]: qe.tic()
qm_numba(0.1, int(n))
time2 = qe.toc()

This is already a massive speed gain.

In fact, the next time and all subsequent times it runs even faster as the function has been
compiled and is in memory:
In [8]: qe.tic()
qm_numba(0.1, int(n))
time3 = qe.toc()
In [9]: time1 / time3 # Calculate speed gain
Out[9]: 198.12424701855295
This kind of speed gain is huge relative to how simple and clear the implementation is.
12.3.2 How and When it Works
Numba attempts to generate fast machine code using the infrastructure provided by the
LLVM Project.
It does this by inferring type information on the fly.
(See our earlier lecture on scientific computing for a discussion of types.)
The basic idea is this:
• Python is very flexible and hence we could call the function qm with many types.
– e.g., x0 could be a NumPy array or a list, n could be an integer or a float, etc.
• This makes it hard to pre-compile the function.
• However, when we do actually call the function, say by executing qm(0.5, 10), the
types of x0 and n become clear.
• Moreover, the types of other variables in qm can be inferred once the input is known.
• So the strategy of Numba and other JIT compilers is to wait until this moment, and
then compile the function.
That’s why it is called “just-in-time” compilation.
Note that, if you make the call qm(0.5, 10) and then follow it with qm(0.9, 20), compi-
lation only takes place on the first call.
The compiled code is then cached and recycled as required.
12.4 Decorators and “nopython” Mode
In the code above we created a JIT compiled version of qm via the call
In [10]: qm_numba = jit(qm)
In practice this would typically be done using an alternative decorator syntax.

12.4. DECORATORS AND “NOPYTHON” MODE 161
(We will explain all about decorators in a later lecture but you can skip the details at this
stage.)
Let’s see how this is done.
12.4.1 Decorator Notation
To target a function for JIT compilation we can put @jit before the function definition.
Here’s what this looks like for qm
In [11]: @jit
def qm(x0, n):
x = np.empty(n+1)
x[0] = x0
for t in range(n):
x[t+1] = α * x[t] * (1 - x[t])
return x
This is equivalent to qm = jit(qm).

The following now uses the jitted version:
In [12]: qm(0.1, 10)
Out[12]: array([0.1 , 0.36 , 0.9216 , 0.28901376, 0.82193923,

0.58542054, 0.97081333, 0.11333925, 0.40197385, 0.9615635 ,
0.14783656])
12.4.2 Type Inference and “nopython” Mode
Clearly type inference is a key part of JIT compilation.

As you can imagine, inferring types is easier for simple Python objects (e.g., simple scalar
data types such as floats and integers).
Numba also plays well with NumPy arrays.
In an ideal setting, Numba can infer all necessary type information.
This allows it to generate native machine code, without having to call the Python runtime
environment.
In such a setting, Numba will be on par with machine code from low-level languages.
When Numba cannot infer all type information, some Python objects are given generic object
status and execution falls back to the Python runtime.
When this happens, Numba provides only minor speed gains or none at all.
We generally prefer to force an error when this occurs, so we know effective compilation is
failing.
This is done by using either @jit(nopython=True) or, equivalently, @njit instead of
@jit.
For example,
In [13]: from numba import njit
@njit
def qm(x0, n):
x = np.empty(n+1)
x[0] = x0
for t in range(n):
x[t+1] = 4 * x[t] * (1 - x[t])
return x
12.5 Compiling Classes
As mentioned above, at present Numba can only compile a subset of Python.

However, that subset is ever expanding.
For example, Numba is now quite effective at compiling classes.
If a class is successfully compiled, then its methods act as JIT-compiled functions.
To give one example, let’s consider the class for analyzing the Solow growth model we created
in this lecture.
To compile this class we use the @jitclass decorator:
In [14]: from numba import jitclass, float64
Notice that we also imported something called float64.

This is a data type representing standard floating point numbers.
We are importing it here because Numba needs a bit of extra help with types when it trys to
deal with classes.
Here’s our code:
In [15]: solow_data = [
('n', float64),
('s', float64),
('δ', float64),
('α', float64),
('z', float64),
('k', float64)
]
@jitclass(solow_data)
class Solow:
r"""
Implements the Solow growth model with the update rule
k_{t+1} = [(s z k^α_t) + (1 - δ)k_t] /(1 + n)
"""
def __init__(self, n=0.05, # population growth rate
s=0.25, # savings rate
δ=0.1, # depreciation rate
α=0.3, # share of labor
12.5. COMPILING CLASSES 163
z=2.0, # productivity
k=1.0): # current capital stock
self.n, self.s, self.δ, self.α, self.z = n, s, δ, α, z

self.k = k
def h(self):
"Evaluate the h function"
# Apply the update rule
return (s * z * self.k**α + (1 - δ) * self.k) / (1 + n)
def update(self):
"Update the current state (i.e., the capital stock)."
self.k = self.h()
def steady_state(self):
"Compute the steady state value of capital."
# Compute and return steady state
return ((s * z) / (n + δ))**(1 / (1 - α))
def generate_sequence(self, t):

"Generate and return a time series of length t"
path = []
for i in range(t):
path.append(self.k)
self.update()
return path
First we specified the types of the instance data for the class in solow_data.
After that, targeting the class for JIT compilation only requires adding
@jitclass(solow_data) before the class definition.
When we call the methods in the class, the methods are compiled just like functions.
In [16]: s1 = Solow()
s2 = Solow(k=8.0)
T = 60
# Plot the common steady state value of capital

ax.plot([s1.steady_state()]*T, 'k-', label='steady state')
# Plot time series for each economy

for s in s1, s2:
lb = f'capital series from initial state {s.k}'
ax.plot(s.generate_sequence(T), 'o-', lw=2, alpha=0.6, label=lb)
ax.set_ylabel('$k_{t}$', fontsize=12)
ax.legend()
plt.show()
12.6 Alternatives to Numba
There are additional options for accelerating Python loops.

Here we quickly review them.
However, we do so only for interest and completeness.
If you prefer, you can safely skip this section.
12.6.1 Cython
Like Numba, Cython provides an approach to generating fast compiled code that can be used
from Python.
As was the case with Numba, a key problem is the fact that Python is dynamically typed.
As you’ll recall, Numba solves this problem (where possible) by inferring type.
Cython’s approach is different — programmers add type definitions directly to their “Python”
code.
As such, the Cython language can be thought of as Python with type definitions.
In addition to a language specification, Cython is also a language translator, transforming
Cython code into optimized C and C++ code.
Cython also takes care of building language extensions — the wrapper code that interfaces
between the resulting compiled code and Python.
While Cython has certain advantages, we generally find it both slower and more cumbersome
than Numba.
12.7. SUMMARY AND COMMENTS 165
12.6.2 Interfacing with Fortran via F2Py
If you are comfortable writing Fortran you will find it very easy to create extension modules
from Fortran code using F2Py.
F2Py is a Fortran-to-Python interface generator that is particularly simple to use.
Robert Johansson provides a nice introduction to F2Py, among other things.
Recently, a Jupyter cell magic for Fortran has been developed — you might want to give it a
try.
12.7 Summary and Comments
Let’s review the above and add some cautionary notes.
12.7.1 Limitations
As we’ve seen, Numba needs to infer type information on all variables to generate fast
machine-level instructions.
For simple routines, Numba infers types very well.
For larger ones, or for routines using external libraries, it can easily fail.
Hence, it’s prudent when using Numba to focus on speeding up small, time-critical snippets of
code.
This will give you much better performance than blanketing your Python programs with
@jit statements.
12.7.2 A Gotcha: Global Variables
Here’s another thing to be careful about when using Numba.

Consider the following example
In [17]: a = 1
@jit
def add_a(x):
return a + x
print(add_a(10))
11
In [18]: a = 2
print(add_a(10))
11
Notice that changing the global had no effect on the value returned by the function.
When Numba compiles machine code for functions, it treats global variables as constants to
ensure type stability.
12.8 Exercises
12.8.1 Exercise 1
Previously we considered how to approximate 𝜋 by Monte Carlo.

Use the same idea here, but make the code efficient using Numba.
Compare speed with and without Numba when the sample size is large.
12.8.2 Exercise 2
In the Introduction to Quantitative Economics with Python lecture series you can learn all
about finite-state Markov chains.
For now, let’s just concentrate on simulating a very simple example of such a chain.
Suppose that the volatility of returns on an asset can be in one of two regimes — high or low.
The transition probabilities across states are as follows
For example, let the period length be one day, and suppose the current state is high.
We see from the graph that the state tomorrow will be
• high with probability 0.8
• low with probability 0.2
Your task is to simulate a sequence of daily volatility states according to this rule.
Set the length of the sequence to n = 1_000_000 and start in the high state.
Implement a pure Python version and a Numba version, and compare speeds.
To test your code, evaluate the fraction of time that the chain spends in the low state.
If your code is correct, it should be about 2/3.
Hints:
• Represent the low state as 0 and the high state as 1.
• If you want to store integers in a NumPy array and then apply JIT compilation, use x
= np.empty(n, dtype=np.int_).
12.9. SOLUTIONS 167
12.9 Solutions
12.9.1 Exercise 1
Here is one solution:
@njit
def calculate_pi(n=1_000_000):
count = 0
for i in range(n):
u, v = uniform(0, 1), uniform(0, 1)
d = np.sqrt((u - 0.5)**2 + (v - 0.5)**2)
if d < 0.5:
count += 1
return area_estimate * 4 # dividing by radius**2
Now let’s see how fast it runs:
In [20]: %time calculate_pi()
CPU times: user 231 ms, sys: 0 ns, total: 231 ms

Wall time: 234 ms
Out[20]: 3.141656
CPU times: user 24.2 ms, sys: 0 ns, total: 24.2 ms

Wall time: 24.2 ms
Out[21]: 3.142244
If we switch of JIT compilation by removing @njit, the code takes around 150 times as long
on our machine.
So we get a speed gain of 2 orders of magnitude–which is huge–by adding four characters.
12.9.2 Exercise 2
We let
• 0 represent “low”
• 1 represent “high”
In [22]: p, q = 0.1, 0.2 # Prob of leaving low and high state respectively
Here’s a pure Python version of the function
In [23]: def compute_series(n):

x = np.empty(n, dtype=np.int_)
x[0] = 1 # Start in state 1
U = np.random.uniform(0, 1, size=n)
for t in range(1, n):
current_x = x[t-1]
if current_x == 0:
x[t] = U[t] < p
else:
x[t] = U[t] > q
return x
Let’s run this code and check that the fraction of time spent in the low state is about 0.666
In [24]: n = 1_000_000
x = compute_series(n)
print(np.mean(x == 0)) # Fraction of time x is in state 0
0.665906
This is (approximately) the right output.

Now let’s time it:
In [25]: qe.tic()
compute_series(n)
qe.toc()
Out[25]: 1.4737977981567383
Next let’s implement a Numba version, which is easy
In [26]: from numba import jit
compute_series_numba = jit(compute_series)
Let’s check we still get the right numbers
In [27]: x = compute_series_numba(n)
print(np.mean(x == 0))
0.665506
Let’s see the time

12.9. SOLUTIONS 169
In [28]: qe.tic()
compute_series_numba(n)
qe.toc()
Out[28]: 0.01894402503967285
This is a nice speed improvement for one line of code!

Chapter 13
Parallelization
13.1 Contents
• Overview 13.2
• Types of Parallelization 13.3
• Implicit Multithreading in NumPy 13.4
• Multithreaded Loops in Numba 13.5
• Exercises 13.6
• Solutions 13.7
13.2 Overview
The growth of CPU clock speed (i.e., the speed at which a single chain of logic can be run)
has slowed dramatically in recent years.
This is unlikely to change in the near future, due to inherent physical limitations on the con-
struction of chips and circuit boards.
Chip designers and computer programmers have responded to the slowdown by seeking a dif-
ferent path to fast execution: parallelization.
Hardware makers have increased the number of cores (physical CPUs) embedded in each ma-
chine.
For programmers, the challenge has been to exploit these multiple CPUs by running many
processes in parallel (i.e., simultaneously).
This is particularly important in scientific programming, which requires handling
• large amounts of data and
• CPU intensive simulations and other calculations.
In this lecture we discuss parallelization for scientific computing, with a focus on
1. the best tools for parallelization in Python and
171
172 CHAPTER 13. PARALLELIZATION
2. how these tools can be applied to quantitative economic problems.
Let’s start with some imports:

%matplotlib inline
13.3 Types of Parallelization
Large textbooks have been written on different approaches to parallelization but we will keep
a tight focus on what’s most useful to us.
We will briefly review the two main kinds of parallelization commonly used in scientific com-
puting and discuss their pros and cons.
13.3.1 Multiprocessing
Multiprocessing means concurrent execution of multiple processes using more than one pro-
cessor.
In this context, a process is a chain of instructions (i.e., a program).
Multiprocessing can be carried out on one machine with multiple CPUs or on a collection of
machines connected by a network.
In the latter case, the collection of machines is usually called a cluster.
With multiprocessing, each process has its own memory space, although the physical memory
chip might be shared.
13.3.2 Multithreading
Multithreading is similar to multiprocessing, except that, during execution, the threads all
share the same memory space.
Native Python struggles to implement multithreading due to some legacy design features.
But this is not a restriction for scientific libraries like NumPy and Numba.
Functions imported from these libraries and JIT-compiled code run in low level execution en-
vironments where Python’s legacy restrictions don’t apply.
13.3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages
Multithreading is more lightweight because most system and memory resources are shared by
the threads.
In addition, the fact that multiple threads all access a shared pool of memory is extremely
convenient for numerical programming.
On the other hand, multiprocessing is more flexible and can be distributed across clusters.
13.4. IMPLICIT MULTITHREADING IN NUMPY 173
For the great majority of what we do in these lectures, multithreading will suffice.
13.4 Implicit Multithreading in NumPy
Actually, you have already been using multithreading in your Python code, although you
might not have realized it.
(We are, as usual, assuming that you are running the latest version of Anaconda Python.)
This is because NumPy cleverly implements multithreading in a lot of its compiled code.
Let’s look at some examples to see this in action.
13.4.1 A Matrix Operation
The next piece of code computes the eigenvalues of a large number of randomly generated
matrices.
It takes a few seconds to run.
In [3]: n = 20
m = 1000
for i in range(n):
X = np.random.randn(m, m)
λ = np.linalg.eigvals(X)
Now, let’s look at the output of the htop system monitor on our machine while this code is
running:
We can see that 4 of the 8 CPUs are running at full speed.

This is because NumPy’s eigvals routine neatly splits up the tasks and distributes them to
different threads.
13.4.2 A Multithreaded Ufunc
Over the last few years, NumPy has managed to push this kind of multithreading out to more
and more operations.
For example, let’s return to a maximization problem discussed previously:
In [4]: def f(x, y):

grid = np.linspace(-3, 3, 5000)

x, y = np.meshgrid(grid, grid)
In [5]: %timeit np.max(f(x, y))
1.27 s ± 60.6 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1 loop each)
If you have a system monitor such as htop (Linux/Mac) or perfmon (Windows), then try run-
ning this and then observing the load on your CPUs.
(You will probably need to bump up the grid size to see large effects.)
At least on our machine, the output shows that the operation is successfully distributed
across multiple threads.
This is one of the reasons why the vectorized code above is fast.
13.4.3 A Comparison with Numba
To get some basis for comparison for the last example, let’s try the same thing with Numba.
In fact there is an easy way to do this, since Numba can also be used to create custom ufuncs
with the [@vectorize](http://numba.pydata.org/numba-doc/dev/user/vectorize.html) decora-
tor.
In [6]: from numba import vectorize
@vectorize
def f_vec(x, y):
np.max(f_vec(x, y)) # Run once to compile
Out[6]: 0.9999992797121728
In [7]: %timeit np.max(f_vec(x, y))
813 ms ± 16.4 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1 loop each)
At least on our machine, the difference in the speed between the Numba version and the vec-
torized NumPy version shown above is not large.
13.5. MULTITHREADED LOOPS IN NUMBA 175
But there’s quite a bit going on here so let’s try to break down what is happening.
Both Numba and NumPy use efficient machine code that’s specialized to these floating point
operations.
However, the code NumPy uses is, in some ways, less efficient.
The reason is that, in NumPy, the operation np.cos(x**2 + y**2) / (1 + x**2 +
y**2) generates several intermediate arrays.
For example, a new array is created when x**2 is calculated.
The same is true when y**2 is calculated, and then x**2 + y**2 and so on.
Numba avoids creating all these intermediate arrays by compiling one function that is special-
ized to the entire operation.
But if this is true, then why isn’t the Numba code faster?
The reason is that NumPy makes up for its disadvantages with implicit multithreading, as
we’ve just discussed.
13.4.4 Multithreading a Numba Ufunc
Can we get both of these advantages at once?

In other words, can we pair
• the efficiency of Numba’s highly specialized JIT compiled function and
• the speed gains from parallelization obtained by NumPy’s implicit multithreading?
It turns out that we can, by adding some type information plus target='parallel'.
In [8]: @vectorize('float64(float64, float64)', target='parallel')

def f_vec(x, y):
np.max(f_vec(x, y)) # Run once to compile
Out[8]: 0.9999992797121728
In [9]: %timeit np.max(f_vec(x, y))
573 ms ± 54.5 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1 loop each)
Now our code runs significantly faster than the NumPy version.
13.5 Multithreaded Loops in Numba
We just saw one approach to parallelization in Numba, using the parallel flag in
@vectorize.
This is neat but, it turns out, not well suited to many problems we consider.
Fortunately, Numba provides another approach to multithreading that will work for us almost
everywhere parallelization is possible.
To illustrate, let’s look first at a simple, single-threaded (i.e., non-parallelized) piece of code.
The code simulates updating the wealth 𝑤𝑡 of a household via the rule
𝑤𝑡+1 = 𝑅𝑡+1 𝑠𝑤𝑡 + 𝑦𝑡+1
Here
• 𝑅 is the gross rate of return on assets
• 𝑠 is the savings rate of the household and
• 𝑦 is labor income.
We model both 𝑅 and 𝑦 as independent draws from a lognormal distribution.
Here’s the code:
In [10]: from numpy.random import randn

from numba import njit
@njit
def h(w, r=0.1, s=0.3, v1=0.1, v2=1.0):
"""
Updates household wealth.
"""
# Draw shocks
R = np.exp(v1 * randn()) * (1 + r)
y = np.exp(v2 * randn())
# Update wealth
w = R * s * w + y
return w
Let’s have a look at how wealth evolves under this rule.
T = 100
w = np.empty(T)
w[0] = 5
for t in range(T-1):
w[t+1] = h(w[t])
ax.plot(w)
ax.set_ylabel('$w_{t}$', fontsize=12)
plt.show()
13.5. MULTITHREADED LOOPS IN NUMBA 177
Now let’s suppose that we have a large population of households and we want to know what
median wealth will be.
This is not easy to solve with pencil and paper, so we will use simulation instead.
In particular, we will simulate a large number of households and then calculate median wealth
for this group.
Suppose we are interested in the long-run average of this median over time.
It turns out that, for the specification that we’ve chosen above, we can calculate this by tak-
ing a one-period snapshot of what has happened to median wealth of the group at the end of
a long simulation.
Moreover, provided the simulation period is long enough, initial conditions don’t matter.
• This is due to something called ergodicity, which we will discuss later on.
So, in summary, we are going to simulate 50,000 households by
1. arbitrarily setting initial wealth to 1 and
2. simulating forward in time for 1,000 periods.
Then we’ll calculate median wealth at the end period.

Here’s the code:
In [12]: @njit
def compute_long_run_median(w0=1, T=1000, num_reps=50_000):
obs = np.empty(num_reps)
for i in range(num_reps):
w = w0
for t in range(T):
w = h(w)
obs[i] = w
return np.median(obs)
Let’s see how fast this runs:
In [13]: %%time
compute_long_run_median()
CPU times: user 12.9 s, sys: 0 ns, total: 12.9 s

Wall time: 13.1 s
Out[13]: 1.8251695416638585
To speed this up, we’re going to parallelize it via multithreading.

To do so, we add the parallel=True flag and change range to prange:
In [14]: from numba import prange
@njit(parallel=True)
def compute_long_run_median_parallel(w0=1, T=1000, num_reps=50_000):
obs = np.empty(num_reps)
for i in prange(num_reps):
w = w0
for t in range(T):
w = h(w)
obs[i] = w
return np.median(obs)
Let’s look at the timing:
In [15]: %%time
compute_long_run_median_parallel()
CPU times: user 10.1 s, sys: 0 ns, total: 10.1 s

Wall time: 7.14 s
Out[15]: 1.8409026225668061
The speed-up is significant.
13.5.1 A Warning
Parallelization works well in the outer loop of the last example because the individual tasks
inside the loop are independent of each other.
13.6. EXERCISES 179
If this independence fails then parallelization is often problematic.

For example, each step inside the inner loop depends on the last step, so independence fails,
and this is why we use ordinary range instead of prange.
When you see us using prange in later lectures, it is because the independence of tasks holds
true.
When you see us using ordinary range in a jitted function, it is either because the speed
gain from parallelization is small or because independence fails.
13.6 Exercises
13.6.1 Exercise 1
In an earlier exercise, we used Numba to accelerate an effort to compute the constant 𝜋 by

Monte Carlo.
Now try adding parallelization and see if you get further speed gains.
You should not expect huge gains here because, while there are many independent tasks
(draw point and test if in circle), each one has low execution time.
Generally speaking, parallelization is less effective when the individual tasks to be parallelized
are very small relative to total execution time.
This is due to overheads associated with spreading all of these small tasks across multiple
CPUs.
Nevertheless, with suitable hardware, it is possible to get nontrivial speed gains in this exer-
cise.
For the size of the Monte Carlo simulation, use something substantial, such as n =
100_000_000.
13.7 Solutions
13.7.1 Exercise 1
Here is one solution:
@njit(parallel=True)
def calculate_pi(n=1_000_000):
count = 0
for i in prange(n):
u, v = uniform(0, 1), uniform(0, 1)
d = np.sqrt((u - 0.5)**2 + (v - 0.5)**2)
if d < 0.5:
count += 1
return area_estimate * 4 # dividing by radius**2
Now let’s see how fast it runs:
CPU times: user 372 ms, sys: 0 ns, total: 372 ms

Wall time: 372 ms
Out[17]: 3.139408
CPU times: user 19.6 ms, sys: 0 ns, total: 19.6 ms

Wall time: 13.3 ms
Out[18]: 3.142336
By switching parallelization on and off (selecting True or False in the @njit annotation),
we can test the speed gain that multithreading provides on top of JIT compilation.
On our workstation, we find that parallelization increases execution speed by a factor of 2 or
3.
(If you are executing locally, you will get different numbers, depending mainly on the number
of CPUs on your machine.)
Chapter 14
Pandas
14.1 Contents
• Overview 14.2
• Series 14.3
• DataFrames 14.4
• On-Line Data Sources 14.5
• Exercises 14.6
• Solutions 14.7
In [1]: !pip install --upgrade pandas-datareader
14.2 Overview
Pandas is a package of fast, efficient data analysis tools for Python.

Its popularity has surged in recent years, coincident with the rise of fields such as data science
and machine learning.
Here’s a popularity comparison over time against STATA, SAS, and dplyr courtesy of Stack
Overflow Trends
181
182 CHAPTER 14. PANDAS
Just as NumPy provides the basic array data type plus core array operations, pandas
1. defines fundamental structures for working with data and
2. endows them with methods that facilitate operations such as
• reading in data
• adjusting indices
• working with dates and time series
• sorting, grouping, re-ordering and general data munging Section ??
• dealing with missing values, etc., etc.
More sophisticated statistical functionality is left to other packages, such as statsmodels and
scikit-learn, which are built on top of pandas.
This lecture will provide a basic introduction to pandas.
Throughout the lecture, we will assume that the following imports have taken place
In [2]: import pandas as pd

import numpy as np
%matplotlib inline
import requests
14.3 Series
Two important data types defined by pandas are Series and DataFrame.
You can think of a Series as a “column” of data, such as a collection of observations on a
single variable.
A DataFrame is an object for storing related columns of data.
Let’s start with Series
14.3. SERIES 183
In [3]: s = pd.Series(np.random.randn(4), name='daily returns')

s
Out[3]: 0 0.073715
1 0.362161
2 -1.512099
3 -1.174992
Name: daily returns, dtype: float64
Here you can imagine the indices 0, 1, 2, 3 as indexing four listed companies, and the
values being daily returns on their shares.
Pandas Series are built on top of NumPy arrays and support many similar operations
In [4]: s * 100
Out[4]: 0 7.371542
1 36.216113
2 -151.209885
3 -117.499217
In [5]: np.abs(s)
Out[5]: 0 0.073715
1 0.362161
2 1.512099
3 1.174992
But Series provide more than NumPy arrays.

Not only do they have some additional (statistically oriented) methods
In [6]: s.describe()
Out[6]: count 4.000000

mean -0.562804
std 0.919538
min -1.512099
25% -1.259269
50% -0.550638
75% 0.145827
max 0.362161
But their indices are more flexible
In [7]: s.index = ['AMZN', 'AAPL', 'MSFT', 'GOOG']

s
Out[7]: AMZN 0.073715

AAPL 0.362161
MSFT -1.512099
GOOG -1.174992
Viewed in this way, Series are like fast, efficient Python dictionaries (with the restriction
that the items in the dictionary all have the same type—in this case, floats).
In fact, you can use much of the same syntax as Python dictionaries
In [8]: s['AMZN']
Out[8]: 0.07371541772276423
In [9]: s['AMZN'] = 0
s
Out[9]: AMZN 0.000000

AAPL 0.362161
MSFT -1.512099
GOOG -1.174992
In [10]: 'AAPL' in s
Out[10]: True
14.4 DataFrames
While a Series is a single column of data, a DataFrame is several columns, one for each
variable.
In essence, a DataFrame in pandas is analogous to a (highly optimized) Excel spreadsheet.
Thus, it is a powerful tool for representing and analyzing data that are naturally organized
into rows and columns, often with descriptive indexes for individual rows and individual
columns.
Let’s look at an example that reads data from the CSV file pandas/data/test_pwt.csv
that can be downloaded here.
Here’s the content of test_pwt.csv
"country","country isocode","year","POP","XRAT","tcgdp","cc","cg"
"Argentina","ARG","2000","37335.653","0.9995","295072.21869","75.716805379","5.5
"Australia","AUS","2000","19053.186","1.72483","541804.6521","67.759025993","6.7
"India","IND","2000","1006300.297","44.9416","1728144.3748","64.575551328","14.0
"Israel","ISR","2000","6114.57","4.07733","129253.89423","64.436450847","10.2666
"Malawi","MWI","2000","11801.505","59.543808333","5026.2217836","74.707624181","
"South Africa","ZAF","2000","45064.098","6.93983","227242.36949","72.718710427",
"United States","USA","2000","282171.957","1","9898700","72.347054303","6.032453
"Uruguay","URY","2000","3219.793","12.099591667","25255.961693","78.978740282","
Supposing you have this data saved as test_pwt.csv in the present working directory
(type %pwd in Jupyter to see what this is), it can be read in as follows:
14.4. DATAFRAMES 185
In [11]: df = pd.read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/QuantEcon/lecture-
source-
py/master/source/_static/lecture_specific/pandas/data/test_pwt.csv')
type(df)
Out[11]: pandas.core.frame.DataFrame
In [12]: df
Out[12]: country country isocode year POP XRAT �

↪tcgdp \
0 Argentina ARG 2000 37335.653 0.999500 2.950722e+05
1 Australia AUS 2000 19053.186 1.724830 5.418047e+05
2 India IND 2000 1006300.297 44.941600 1.728144e+06
3 Israel ISR 2000 6114.570 4.077330 1.292539e+05
4 Malawi MWI 2000 11801.505 59.543808 5.026222e+03
5 South Africa ZAF 2000 45064.098 6.939830 2.272424e+05
6 United States USA 2000 282171.957 1.000000 9.898700e+06
7 Uruguay URY 2000 3219.793 12.099592 2.525596e+04
cc cg
0 75.716805 5.578804
1 67.759026 6.720098
2 64.575551 14.072206
3 64.436451 10.266688
4 74.707624 11.658954
5 72.718710 5.726546
6 72.347054 6.032454
7 78.978740 5.108068
We can select particular rows using standard Python array slicing notation
In [13]: df[2:5]
Out[13]: country country isocode year POP XRAT tcgdp \

2 India IND 2000 1006300.297 44.941600 1.728144e+06
3 Israel ISR 2000 6114.570 4.077330 1.292539e+05
4 Malawi MWI 2000 11801.505 59.543808 5.026222e+03
cc cg
2 64.575551 14.072206
3 64.436451 10.266688
4 74.707624 11.658954
To select columns, we can pass a list containing the names of the desired columns represented
as strings
In [14]: df[['country', 'tcgdp']]
Out[14]: country tcgdp

0 Argentina 2.950722e+05
1 Australia 5.418047e+05
2 India 1.728144e+06
3 Israel 1.292539e+05
4 Malawi 5.026222e+03
5 South Africa 2.272424e+05
6 United States 9.898700e+06
7 Uruguay 2.525596e+04
To select both rows and columns using integers, the iloc attribute should be used with the
format .iloc[rows, columns]
In [15]: df.iloc[2:5, 0:4]
Out[15]: country country isocode year POP

2 India IND 2000 1006300.297
3 Israel ISR 2000 6114.570
4 Malawi MWI 2000 11801.505
To select rows and columns using a mixture of integers and labels, the loc attribute can be
used in a similar way
In [16]: df.loc[df.index[2:5], ['country', 'tcgdp']]
Out[16]: country tcgdp

2 India 1.728144e+06
3 Israel 1.292539e+05
4 Malawi 5.026222e+03
Let’s imagine that we’re only interested in population (POP) and total GDP (tcgdp).
One way to strip the data frame df down to only these variables is to overwrite the
dataframe using the selection method described above
In [17]: df = df[['country', 'POP', 'tcgdp']]

df
Out[17]: country POP tcgdp

0 Argentina 37335.653 2.950722e+05
1 Australia 19053.186 5.418047e+05
2 India 1006300.297 1.728144e+06
3 Israel 6114.570 1.292539e+05
4 Malawi 11801.505 5.026222e+03
5 South Africa 45064.098 2.272424e+05
6 United States 282171.957 9.898700e+06
7 Uruguay 3219.793 2.525596e+04
Here the index 0, 1,..., 7 is redundant because we can use the country names as an in-
dex.
To do this, we set the index to be the country variable in the dataframe
In [18]: df = df.set_index('country')
df
14.4. DATAFRAMES 187
Out[18]: POP tcgdp

country
Argentina 37335.653 2.950722e+05
Australia 19053.186 5.418047e+05
India 1006300.297 1.728144e+06
Israel 6114.570 1.292539e+05
Malawi 11801.505 5.026222e+03
South Africa 45064.098 2.272424e+05
United States 282171.957 9.898700e+06
Uruguay 3219.793 2.525596e+04
Let’s give the columns slightly better names
In [19]: df.columns = 'population', 'total GDP'

df
Out[19]: population total GDP

country
Argentina 37335.653 2.950722e+05
Australia 19053.186 5.418047e+05
India 1006300.297 1.728144e+06
Israel 6114.570 1.292539e+05
Malawi 11801.505 5.026222e+03
South Africa 45064.098 2.272424e+05
United States 282171.957 9.898700e+06
Uruguay 3219.793 2.525596e+04
Population is in thousands, let’s revert to single units
In [20]: df['population'] = df['population'] * 1e3

df
Out[20]: population total GDP

country
Argentina 3.733565e+07 2.950722e+05
Australia 1.905319e+07 5.418047e+05
India 1.006300e+09 1.728144e+06
Israel 6.114570e+06 1.292539e+05
Malawi 1.180150e+07 5.026222e+03
South Africa 4.506410e+07 2.272424e+05
United States 2.821720e+08 9.898700e+06
Uruguay 3.219793e+06 2.525596e+04
Next, we’re going to add a column showing real GDP per capita, multiplying by 1,000,000 as
we go because total GDP is in millions
In [21]: df['GDP percap'] = df['total GDP'] * 1e6 / df['population']

df
Out[21]: population total GDP GDP percap

country
Argentina 3.733565e+07 2.950722e+05 7903.229085
Australia 1.905319e+07 5.418047e+05 28436.433261
India 1.006300e+09 1.728144e+06 1717.324719

Israel 6.114570e+06 1.292539e+05 21138.672749
Malawi 1.180150e+07 5.026222e+03 425.896679
South Africa 4.506410e+07 2.272424e+05 5042.647686
United States 2.821720e+08 9.898700e+06 35080.381854
Uruguay 3.219793e+06 2.525596e+04 7843.970620
One of the nice things about pandas DataFrame and Series objects is that they have
methods for plotting and visualization that work through Matplotlib.
For example, we can easily generate a bar plot of GDP per capita
In [22]: ax = df['GDP percap'].plot(kind='bar')

ax.set_xlabel('country', fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel('GDP per capita', fontsize=12)
plt.show()
At the moment the data frame is ordered alphabetically on the countries—let’s change it to
GDP per capita
In [23]: df = df.sort_values(by='GDP percap', ascending=False)

df
Out[23]: population total GDP GDP percap

country
United States 2.821720e+08 9.898700e+06 35080.381854
14.5. ON-LINE DATA SOURCES 189
Australia 1.905319e+07 5.418047e+05 28436.433261

Israel 6.114570e+06 1.292539e+05 21138.672749
Argentina 3.733565e+07 2.950722e+05 7903.229085
Uruguay 3.219793e+06 2.525596e+04 7843.970620
South Africa 4.506410e+07 2.272424e+05 5042.647686
India 1.006300e+09 1.728144e+06 1717.324719
Malawi 1.180150e+07 5.026222e+03 425.896679
Plotting as before now yields
In [24]: ax = df['GDP percap'].plot(kind='bar')

ax.set_xlabel('country', fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel('GDP per capita', fontsize=12)
plt.show()
14.5 On-Line Data Sources
Python makes it straightforward to query online databases programmatically.

An important database for economists is FRED — a vast collection of time series data main-
tained by the St. Louis Fed.
For example, suppose that we are interested in the unemployment rate.
Via FRED, the entire series for the US civilian unemployment rate can be downloaded di-
rectly by entering this URL into your browser (note that this requires an internet connection)
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE/downloaddata/UNRATE.csv
(Equivalently, click here: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/

UNRATE/downloaddata/UNRATE.csv)
This request returns a CSV file, which will be handled by your default application for this
class of files.
Alternatively, we can access the CSV file from within a Python program.
This can be done with a variety of methods.
We start with a relatively low-level method and then return to pandas.
14.5.1 Accessing Data with requests
One option is to use requests, a standard Python library for requesting data over the Inter-
net.
To begin, try the following code on your computer
In [25]: r = requests.get('http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE/
↪downloaddata/UNRATE
.csv')
If there’s no error message, then the call has succeeded.

If you do get an error, then there are two likely causes
1. You are not connected to the Internet — hopefully, this isn’t the case.
2. Your machine is accessing the Internet through a proxy server, and Python isn’t aware
of this.
In the second case, you can either

• switch to another machine
• solve your proxy problem by reading the documentation
Assuming that all is working, you can now pro-
ceed to use the source object returned by the call
requests.get('http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE/downloaddata/UN
In [26]: url = 'http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE/downloaddata/

↪UNRATE.csv'
source = requests.get(url).content.decode().split("\n")
source[0]
Out[26]: 'DATE,VALUE\r'
In [27]: source[1]
Out[27]: '1948-01-01,3.4\r'
14.5. ON-LINE DATA SOURCES 191
In [28]: source[2]
Out[28]: '1948-02-01,3.8\r'
We could now write some additional code to parse this text and store it as an array.
But this is unnecessary — pandas’ read_csv function can handle the task for us.
We use parse_dates=True so that pandas recognizes our dates column, allowing for simple
date filtering
In [29]: data = pd.read_csv(url, index_col=0, parse_dates=True)
The data has been read into a pandas DataFrame called data that we can now manipulate in
the usual way
In [30]: type(data)
Out[30]: pandas.core.frame.DataFrame
In [31]: data.head() # A useful method to get a quick look at a data frame
Out[31]: VALUE
DATE
1948-01-01 3.4
1948-02-01 3.8
1948-03-01 4.0
1948-04-01 3.9
1948-05-01 3.5
In [32]: pd.set_option('precision', 1)
data.describe() # Your output might differ slightly
Out[32]: VALUE
count 868.0
mean 5.7
std 1.7
min 2.5
25% 4.5
50% 5.5
75% 6.8
max 14.7
We can also plot the unemployment rate from 2006 to 2012 as follows
In [33]: ax = data['2006':'2012'].plot(title='US Unemployment Rate', legend=False)

ax.set_xlabel('year', fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel('%', fontsize=12)
plt.show()
Note that pandas offers many other file type alternatives.

Pandas has a wide variety of top-level methods that we can use to read, excel, json, parquet
or plug straight into a database server.
14.5.2 Using pandas_datareader to Access Data
The maker of pandas has also authored a library called pandas_datareader that gives pro-
grammatic access to many data sources straight from the Jupyter notebook.
While some sources require an access key, many of the most important (e.g., FRED, OECD,
EUROSTAT and the World Bank) are free to use.
For now let’s work through one example of downloading and plotting data — this time from
the World Bank.
The World Bank collects and organizes data on a huge range of indicators.
For example, here’s some data on government debt as a ratio to GDP.
The next code example fetches the data for you and plots time series for the US and Aus-
tralia
In [34]: from pandas_datareader import wb
govt_debt = wb.download(indicator='GC.DOD.TOTL.GD.ZS', country=['US',�

↪ 'AU'], start=2005,
end=2016).stack().unstack(0)
ind = govt_debt.index.droplevel(-1)
govt_debt.index = ind
ax = govt_debt.plot(lw=2)
14.6. EXERCISES 193
ax.set_xlabel('year', fontsize=12)
plt.title("Government Debt to GDP (%)")
plt.show()
The documentation provides more details on how to access various data sources.
14.6 Exercises
14.6.1 Exercise 1
With these imports:
In [35]: import datetime as dt

from pandas_datareader import data
Write a program to calculate the percentage price change over 2019 for the following shares:
In [36]: ticker_list = {'INTC': 'Intel',

'MSFT': 'Microsoft',
'IBM': 'IBM',
'BHP': 'BHP',
'TM': 'Toyota',
'AAPL': 'Apple',
'AMZN': 'Amazon',
'BA': 'Boeing',
'QCOM': 'Qualcomm',
'KO': 'Coca-Cola',
'GOOG': 'Google',
'SNE': 'Sony',
'PTR': 'PetroChina'}
Here’s the first part of the program
In [37]: def read_data(ticker_list,

start=dt.datetime(2019, 1, 2),
end=dt.datetime(2019, 12, 31)):
"""
This function reads in closing price data from Yahoo
for each tick in the ticker_list.
"""
ticker = pd.DataFrame()
for tick in ticker_list:

prices = data.DataReader(tick, 'yahoo', start, end)
closing_prices = prices['Close']
ticker[tick] = closing_prices
return ticker
ticker = read_data(ticker_list)
Complete the program to plot the result as a bar graph like this one:
14.6.2 Exercise 2
Using the method read_data introduced in Exercise 1, write a program to obtain year-on-
year percentage change for the following indices:
14.7. SOLUTIONS 195
In [38]: indices_list = {'^GSPC': 'S&P 500',

'^IXIC': 'NASDAQ',
'^DJI': 'Dow Jones',
'^N225': 'Nikkei'}
Complete the program to show summary statistics and plot the result as a time series graph
like this one:
14.7 Solutions
14.7.1 Exercise 1
There are a few ways to approach this problem using Pandas to calculate the percentage
change.
First, you can extract the data and perform the calculation such as:
In [39]: p1 = ticker.iloc[0] #Get the first set of prices as a Series

p2 = ticker.iloc[-1] #Get the last set of prices as a Series
price_change = (p2 - p1) / p1 * 100
price_change
Out[39]: INTC 27.1

MSFT 56.0
IBM 16.3
BHP 14.3
TM 20.9
AAPL 85.9
AMZN 20.1
BA 0.6
QCOM 53.7
KO 17.9
GOOG 27.8
SNE 39.6
PTR -17.4
dtype: float64
Alternatively you can use an inbuilt method pct_change and configure it to perform the
correct calculation using periods argument.
In [40]: change = ticker.pct_change(periods=len(ticker)-1, axis='rows')*100

price_change = change.iloc[-1]
price_change
Out[40]: INTC 27.1

MSFT 56.0
IBM 16.3
BHP 14.3
TM 20.9
AAPL 85.9
AMZN 20.1
BA 0.6
QCOM 53.7
KO 17.9
GOOG 27.8
SNE 39.6
PTR -17.4
Name: 2019-12-31 00:00:00, dtype: float64
Then to plot the chart
In [41]: price_change.sort_values(inplace=True)
price_change = price_change.rename(index=ticker_list)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10,8))
ax.set_xlabel('stock', fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel('percentage change in price', fontsize=12)
price_change.plot(kind='bar', ax=ax)
plt.show()
14.7. SOLUTIONS 197
14.7.2 Exercise 2
Following the work you did in Exercise 1, you can query the data using read_data by up-
dating the start and end dates accordingly.
In [42]: indices_data = read_data(

indices_list,
start=dt.datetime(1928, 1, 2),
end=dt.datetime(2020, 12, 31)
)
Then, extract the first and last set of prices per year as DataFrames and calculate the yearly
returns such as:
In [43]: yearly_returns = pd.DataFrame()
for index, name in indices_list.items():

p1 = indices_data.groupby(indices_data.index.year)[index].first() #�
↪Get the first
set of returns as a DataFrame

p2 = indices_data.groupby(indices_data.index.year)[index].last() #�
↪Get the last
set of returns as a DataFrame

returns = (p2 - p1) / p1
yearly_returns[name] = returns
yearly_returns
Out[43]: S&P 500 NASDAQ Dow Jones Nikkei

Date
1928 3.7e-01 NaN NaN NaN
1929 -1.4e-01 NaN NaN NaN
… … … … …
1991 2.8e-01 5.8e-01 2.1e-01 -4.5e-02
1992 4.4e-02 1.5e-01 4.1e-02 -2.9e-01
1993 7.1e-02 1.6e-01 1.3e-01 2.5e-02
1994 -1.3e-02 -2.4e-02 2.1e-02 1.4e-01
1995 3.4e-01 4.1e-01 3.3e-01 9.4e-03
1996 1.9e-01 2.2e-01 2.5e-01 -6.1e-02
1997 3.2e-01 2.3e-01 2.3e-01 -2.2e-01
1998 2.6e-01 3.9e-01 1.5e-01 -7.5e-02
1999 2.0e-01 8.4e-01 2.5e-01 4.1e-01
2000 -9.3e-02 -4.0e-01 -5.0e-02 -2.7e-01
2001 -1.1e-01 -1.5e-01 -5.9e-02 -2.3e-01
2002 -2.4e-01 -3.3e-01 -1.7e-01 -2.1e-01
2003 2.2e-01 4.5e-01 2.1e-01 2.3e-01
2004 9.3e-02 8.4e-02 3.6e-02 6.1e-02
2005 3.8e-02 2.5e-02 -1.1e-03 4.0e-01
2006 1.2e-01 7.6e-02 1.5e-01 5.3e-02
2007 3.7e-02 9.5e-02 6.3e-02 -1.0e-01
2008 -3.8e-01 -4.0e-01 -3.3e-01 -4.0e-01
2009 2.0e-01 3.9e-01 1.5e-01 1.7e-01
14.7. SOLUTIONS 199
2010 1.1e-01 1.5e-01 9.4e-02 -4.0e-02

2011 -1.1e-02 -3.2e-02 4.7e-02 -1.9e-01
2012 1.2e-01 1.4e-01 5.7e-02 2.1e-01
2013 2.6e-01 3.4e-01 2.4e-01 5.2e-01
2014 1.2e-01 1.4e-01 8.4e-02 9.7e-02
2015 -6.9e-03 5.9e-02 -2.3e-02 9.3e-02
2016 1.1e-01 9.8e-02 1.5e-01 3.6e-02
2017 1.8e-01 2.7e-01 2.4e-01 1.6e-01
2018 -7.0e-02 -5.3e-02 -6.0e-02 -1.5e-01
2019 2.9e-01 3.5e-01 2.2e-01 2.1e-01
2020 -1.0e-01 3.2e-03 -1.6e-01 -1.3e-01
[93 rows x 4 columns]
Next, you can obtain summary statistics by using the method describe.
In [44]: yearly_returns.describe()
Out[44]: S&P 500 NASDAQ Dow Jones Nikkei

count 9.3e+01 5.0e+01 3.6e+01 5.6e+01
mean 7.4e-02 1.2e-01 9.0e-02 7.5e-02
std 1.9e-01 2.5e-01 1.5e-01 2.4e-01
min -4.9e-01 -4.0e-01 -3.3e-01 -4.0e-01
25% -6.5e-02 -1.7e-02 4.2e-03 -1.0e-01
50% 9.9e-02 1.4e-01 8.9e-02 7.5e-02
75% 2.0e-01 2.7e-01 2.2e-01 2.1e-01
max 4.6e-01 8.4e-01 3.3e-01 9.2e-01
Then, to plot the chart
In [45]: fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2, figsize=(10, 6))
for iter_, ax in enumerate(axes.flatten()): # Flatten 2-D array�

↪to 1-D array
index_name = yearly_returns.columns[iter_] # Get index name�
↪per iteration
ax.plot(yearly_returns[index_name]) # Plot pct change�

↪of yearly
returns per index

ax.set_ylabel("percent change", fontsize = 12)
ax.set_title(index_name)
plt.tight_layout()
Footnotes
[1] Wikipedia defines munging as cleaning data from one raw form into a structured, purged
one.
Part III
Advanced Python Programming
201
Chapter 15
Writing Good Code
15.1 Contents
• Overview 15.2
• An Example of Poor Code 15.3
• Good Coding Practice 15.4
• Revisiting the Example 15.5
• Exercises 15.6
• Solutions 15.7
15.2 Overview
When computer programs are small, poorly written code is not overly costly.
But more data, more sophisticated models, and more computer power are enabling us to take
on more challenging problems that involve writing longer programs.
For such programs, investment in good coding practices will pay high returns.
The main payoffs are higher productivity and faster code.
In this lecture, we review some elements of good coding practice.
We also touch on modern developments in scientific computing — such as just in time compi-
lation — and how they affect good program design.
15.3 An Example of Poor Code
Let’s have a look at some poorly written code.

The job of the code is to generate and plot time series of the simplified Solow model
𝑘𝑡+1 = 𝑠𝑘𝑡𝛼 + (1 − 𝛿)𝑘𝑡 , 𝑡 = 0, 1, 2, … (1)
Here
• 𝑘𝑡 is capital at time 𝑡 and
• 𝑠, 𝛼, 𝛿 are parameters (savings, a productivity parameter and depreciation)
203
204 CHAPTER 15. WRITING GOOD CODE
For each parameterization, the code
1. sets 𝑘0 = 1
2. iterates using (1) to produce a sequence 𝑘0 , 𝑘1 , 𝑘2 … , 𝑘𝑇
3. plots the sequence
The plots will be grouped into three subfigures.

In each subfigure, two parameters are held fixed while another varies

%matplotlib inline
# Allocate memory for time series

k = np.empty(50)
fig, axes = plt.subplots(3, 1, figsize=(6, 14))
# Trajectories with different α

δ = 0.1
s = 0.4
α = (0.25, 0.33, 0.45)
for j in range(3):
k[0] = 1
for t in range(49):
k[t+1] = s * k[t]**α[j] + (1 - δ) * k[t]
axes[0].plot(k, 'o-', label=rf"$\alpha = {α[j]},\; s = {s},\;�
↪\delta={δ}$")
axes[0].grid(lw=0.2)
axes[0].set_ylim(0, 18)
axes[0].set_xlabel('time')
axes[0].set_ylabel('capital')
axes[0].legend(loc='upper left', frameon=True)
# Trajectories with different s

δ = 0.1
α = 0.33
s = (0.3, 0.4, 0.5)
for j in range(3):
k[0] = 1
for t in range(49):
k[t+1] = s[j] * k[t]**α + (1 - δ) * k[t]
axes[1].plot(k, 'o-', label=rf"$\alpha = {α},\; s = {s[j]},\;�
↪\delta={δ}$")
15.3. AN EXAMPLE OF POOR CODE 205
# Trajectories with different δ

δ = (0.05, 0.1, 0.15)
α = 0.33
s = 0.4
for j in range(3):
k[0] = 1
for t in range(49):
k[t+1] = s * k[t]**α + (1 - δ[j]) * k[t]
axes[2].plot(k, 'o-', label=rf"$\alpha = {α},\; s = {s},\;�
↪\delta={δ[j]}$")
plt.show()
15.4. GOOD CODING PRACTICE 207
True, the code more or less follows PEP8.

At the same time, it’s very poorly structured.
Let’s talk about why that’s the case, and what we can do about it.
15.4 Good Coding Practice
There are usually many different ways to write a program that accomplishes a given task.
For small programs, like the one above, the way you write code doesn’t matter too much.
But if you are ambitious and want to produce useful things, you’ll write medium to large pro-
grams too.
In those settings, coding style matters a great deal.
Fortunately, lots of smart people have thought about the best way to write code.
Here are some basic precepts.
15.4.1 Don’t Use Magic Numbers
If you look at the code above, you’ll see numbers like 50 and 49 and 3 scattered through the
code.
These kinds of numeric literals in the body of your code are sometimes called “magic num-
bers”.
This is not a compliment.
While numeric literals are not all evil, the numbers shown in the program above should cer-
tainly be replaced by named constants.
For example, the code above could declare the variable time_series_length = 50.
Then in the loops, 49 should be replaced by time_series_length - 1.
The advantages are:
• the meaning is much clearer throughout
• to alter the time series length, you only need to change one value
15.4.2 Don’t Repeat Yourself
The other mortal sin in the code snippet above is repetition.

Blocks of logic (such as the loop to generate time series) are repeated with only minor
changes.
This violates a fundamental tenet of programming: Don’t repeat yourself (DRY).
• Also called DIE (duplication is evil).
Yes, we realize that you can just cut and paste and change a few symbols.
But as a programmer, your aim should be to automate repetition, not do it yourself.
More importantly, repeating the same logic in different places means that eventually one of
them will likely be wrong.
If you want to know more, read the excellent summary found on this page.
We’ll talk about how to avoid repetition below.
15.4.3 Minimize Global Variables
Sure, global variables (i.e., names assigned to values outside of any function or class) are con-
venient.
Rookie programmers typically use global variables with abandon — as we once did ourselves.
But global variables are dangerous, especially in medium to large size programs, since
• they can affect what happens in any part of your program
• they can be changed by any function
This makes it much harder to be certain about what some small part of a given piece of code
actually commands.
Here’s a useful discussion on the topic.
While the odd global in small scripts is no big deal, we recommend that you teach yourself to
avoid them.
(We’ll discuss how just below).
JIT Compilation
For scientific computing, there is another good reason to avoid global variables.
As we’ve seen in previous lectures, JIT compilation can generate excellent performance for
scripting languages like Python.
But the task of the compiler used for JIT compilation becomes harder when global variables
are present.
Put differently, the type inference required for JIT compilation is safer and more effective
when variables are sandboxed inside a function.
15.4.4 Use Functions or Classes
Fortunately, we can easily avoid the evils of global variables and WET code.
• WET stands for “we enjoy typing” and is the opposite of DRY.
We can do this by making frequent use of functions or classes.
In fact, functions and classes are designed specifically to help us avoid shaming ourselves by
repeating code or excessive use of global variables.
Which One, Functions or Classes?
Both can be useful, and in fact they work well with each other.
15.5. REVISITING THE EXAMPLE 209
We’ll learn more about these topics over time.

(Personal preference is part of the story too)
What’s really important is that you use one or the other or both.
15.5 Revisiting the Example
Here’s some code that reproduces the plot above with better coding style.
In [2]: from itertools import product
def plot_path(ax, αs, s_vals, δs, time_series_length=50):

"""
Add a time series plot to the axes ax for all given parameters.
"""
k = np.empty(time_series_length)
for (α, s, δ) in product(αs, s_vals, δs):

k[0] = 1
for t in range(time_series_length-1):
k[t+1] = s * k[t]**α + (1 - δ) * k[t]
ax.plot(k, 'o-', label=rf"$\alpha = {α},\; s = {s},\; \delta = {δ}$")
ax.set_xlabel('time')
ax.set_ylabel('capital')
ax.set_ylim(0, 18)
ax.legend(loc='upper left', frameon=True)
fig, axes = plt.subplots(3, 1, figsize=(6, 14))
# Parameters (αs, s_vals, δs)

set_one = ([0.25, 0.33, 0.45], [0.4], [0.1])
set_two = ([0.33], [0.3, 0.4, 0.5], [0.1])
set_three = ([0.33], [0.4], [0.05, 0.1, 0.15])
for (ax, params) in zip(axes, (set_one, set_two, set_three)):

αs, s_vals, δs = params
plot_path(ax, αs, s_vals, δs)
plt.show()
15.6. EXERCISES 211
If you inspect this code, you will see that

• it uses a function to avoid repetition.
• Global variables are quarantined by collecting them together at the end, not the start of
the program.
• Magic numbers are avoided.
• The loop at the end where the actual work is done is short and relatively simple.
15.6 Exercises
15.6.1 Exercise 1
Here is some code that needs improving.

It involves a basic supply and demand problem.
Supply is given by
𝑞𝑠 (𝑝) = exp(𝛼𝑝) − 𝛽.
The demand curve is
𝑞𝑑 (𝑝) = 𝛾𝑝−𝛿 .
The values 𝛼, 𝛽, 𝛾 and 𝛿 are parameters

The equilibrium 𝑝∗ is the price such that 𝑞𝑑 (𝑝) = 𝑞𝑠 (𝑝).
We can solve for this equilibrium using a root finding algorithm. Specifically, we will find the
𝑝 such that ℎ(𝑝) = 0, where
ℎ(𝑝) ∶= 𝑞𝑑 (𝑝) − 𝑞𝑠 (𝑝)
This yields the equilibrium price 𝑝∗ . From this we get the equilibrium price by 𝑞 ∗ = 𝑞𝑠 (𝑝∗ )
The parameter values will be
• 𝛼 = 0.1
• 𝛽=1
• 𝛾=1
• 𝛿=1
In [3]: from scipy.optimize import brentq
# Compute equilibrium
def h(p):
return p**(-1) - (np.exp(0.1 * p) - 1) # demand - supply
p_star = brentq(h, 2, 4)
q_star = np.exp(0.1 * p_star) - 1
print(f'Equilibrium price is {p_star: .2f}')

print(f'Equilibrium quantity is {q_star: .2f}')
Equilibrium price is 2.93

Equilibrium quantity is 0.34
Let’s also plot our results.
In [4]: # Now plot

grid = np.linspace(2, 4, 100)
qs = np.exp(0.1 * grid) - 1
qd = grid**(-1)
ax.plot(grid, qd, 'b-', lw=2, label='demand')

ax.plot(grid, qs, 'g-', lw=2, label='supply')
ax.set_xlabel('price')
ax.set_ylabel('quantity')
plt.show()
We also want to consider supply and demand shifts.

For example, let’s see what happens when demand shifts up, with 𝛾 increasing to 1.25:
In [5]: # Compute equilibrium

def h(p):
return 1.25 * p**(-1) - (np.exp(0.1 * p) - 1)
15.6. EXERCISES 213
q_star = np.exp(0.1 * p_star) - 1


In [6]: # Now plot

p_grid = np.linspace(2, 4, 100)
qs = np.exp(0.1 * p_grid) - 1
qd = 1.25 * p_grid**(-1)
ax.plot(grid, qd, 'b-', lw=2, label='demand')

ax.plot(grid, qs, 'g-', lw=2, label='supply')
plt.show()
Now we might consider supply shifts, but you already get the idea that there’s a lot of re-
peated code here.
Refactor and improve clarity in the code above using the principles discussed in this lecture.
15.7 Solutions
15.7.1 Exercise 1
Here’s one solution, that uses a class:
In [7]: class Equilibrium:
def __init__(self, α=0.1, β=1, γ=1, δ=1):

self.α, self.β, self.γ, self.δ = α, β, γ, δ
def qs(self, p):

return np.exp(self.α * p) - self.β
def qd(self, p):

return self.γ * p**(-self.δ)
def compute_equilibrium(self):
def h(p):
return self.qd(p) - self.qs(p)
q_star = np.exp(self.α * p_star) - self.β

def plot_equilibrium(self):
# Now plot
grid = np.linspace(2, 4, 100)
ax.plot(grid, self.qd(grid), 'b-', lw=2, label='demand')

ax.plot(grid, self.qs(grid), 'g-', lw=2, label='supply')
plt.show()
Let’s create an instance at the default parameter values.
In [8]: eq = Equilibrium()
Now we’ll compute the equilibrium and plot it.
In [9]: eq.compute_equilibrium()

In [10]: eq.plot_equilibrium()
15.7. SOLUTIONS 215
One of the nice things about our refactored code is that, when we change parameters, we
don’t need to repeat ourselves:
In [11]: eq.γ = 1.25
In [12]: eq.compute_equilibrium()

In [13]: eq.plot_equilibrium()
Chapter 16
More Language Features
16.1 Contents
• Overview 16.2
• Iterables and Iterators 16.3
• Names and Name Resolution 16.4
• Handling Errors 16.5
• Decorators and Descriptors 16.6
• Generators 16.7
• Recursive Function Calls 16.8
• Exercises 16.9
• Solutions 16.10
16.2 Overview
With this last lecture, our advice is to skip it on first pass, unless you have a burning de-
sire to read it.
It’s here
1. as a reference, so we can link back to it when required, and
2. for those who have worked through a number of applications, and now want to learn
more about the Python language
A variety of topics are treated in the lecture, including generators, exceptions and descriptors.
16.3 Iterables and Iterators
We’ve already said something about iterating in Python.

Now let’s look more closely at how it all works, focusing in Python’s implementation of the
for loop.
217
218 CHAPTER 16. MORE LANGUAGE FEATURES
16.3.1 Iterators
Iterators are a uniform interface to stepping through elements in a collection.

Here we’ll talk about using iterators—later we’ll learn how to build our own.
Formally, an iterator is an object with a __next__ method.
For example, file objects are iterators .
To see this, let’s have another look at the US cities data, which is written to the present
working directory in the following cell
In [1]: %%file us_cities.txt

new york: 8244910
los angeles: 3819702
chicago: 2707120
houston: 2145146
philadelphia: 1536471
phoenix: 1469471
san antonio: 1359758
san diego: 1326179
dallas: 1223229
Writing us_cities.txt
In [2]: f = open('us_cities.txt')
f.__next__()
Out[2]: 'new york: 8244910\n'
In [3]: f.__next__()
Out[3]: 'los angeles: 3819702\n'
We see that file objects do indeed have a __next__ method, and that calling this method
returns the next line in the file.
The next method can also be accessed via the builtin function next(), which directly calls
this method
In [4]: next(f)
Out[4]: 'chicago: 2707120\n'
The objects returned by enumerate() are also iterators
In [5]: e = enumerate(['foo', 'bar'])

next(e)
Out[5]: (0, 'foo')

16.3. ITERABLES AND ITERATORS 219
In [6]: next(e)
Out[6]: (1, 'bar')
as are the reader objects from the csv module .

Let’s create a small csv file that contains data from the NIKKEI index
In [7]: %%file test_table.csv

Date,Open,High,Low,Close,Volume,Adj Close
2009-05-21,9280.35,9286.35,9189.92,9264.15,133200,9264.15
2009-05-20,9372.72,9399.40,9311.61,9344.64,143200,9344.64
2009-05-19,9172.56,9326.75,9166.97,9290.29,167000,9290.29
2009-05-18,9167.05,9167.82,8997.74,9038.69,147800,9038.69
2009-05-15,9150.21,9272.08,9140.90,9265.02,172000,9265.02
2009-05-14,9212.30,9223.77,9052.41,9093.73,169400,9093.73
2009-05-13,9305.79,9379.47,9278.89,9340.49,176000,9340.49
2009-05-12,9358.25,9389.61,9298.61,9298.61,188400,9298.61
2009-05-11,9460.72,9503.91,9342.75,9451.98,230800,9451.98
2009-05-08,9351.40,9464.43,9349.57,9432.83,220200,9432.83
Writing test_table.csv
In [8]: from csv import reader
f = open('test_table.csv', 'r')
nikkei_data = reader(f)
next(nikkei_data)
Out[8]: ['Date', 'Open', 'High', 'Low', 'Close', 'Volume', 'Adj Close']
In [9]: next(nikkei_data)
Out[9]: ['2009-05-21', '9280.35', '9286.35', '9189.92', '9264.15', '133200',�

↪'9264.15']
16.3.2 Iterators in For Loops
All iterators can be placed to the right of the in keyword in for loop statements.
In fact this is how the for loop works: If we write
for x in iterator:
<code block>
then the interpreter

• calls iterator.___next___() and binds x to the result
• executes the code block
• repeats until a StopIteration error occurs
So now you know how this magical looking syntax works
f = open('somefile.txt', 'r')
for line in f:
# do something
The interpreter just keeps
1. calling f.__next__() and binding line to the result
2. executing the body of the loop
This continues until a StopIteration error occurs.
16.3.3 Iterables
You already know that we can put a Python list to the right of in in a for loop
In [10]: for i in ['spam', 'eggs']:

print(i)
spam
eggs
So does that mean that a list is an iterator?

The answer is no
In [11]: x = ['foo', 'bar']

type(x)
Out[11]: list
In [12]: next(x)
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------

↪ recent call last)
<ipython-input-12-92de4e9f6b1e> in <module>
----> 1 next(x)
TypeError: 'list' object is not an iterator

16.3. ITERABLES AND ITERATORS 221
So why can we iterate over a list in a for loop?

The reason is that a list is iterable (as opposed to an iterator).
Formally, an object is iterable if it can be converted to an iterator using the built-in function
iter().
Lists are one such object
In [13]: x = ['foo', 'bar']

type(x)
Out[13]: list
In [14]: y = iter(x)
type(y)
Out[14]: list_iterator
In [15]: next(y)
Out[15]: 'foo'
In [16]: next(y)
Out[16]: 'bar'
In [17]: next(y)
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------
StopIteration Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-17-81b9d2f0f16a> in <module>
----> 1 next(y)
StopIteration:
Many other objects are iterable, such as dictionaries and tuples.

Of course, not all objects are iterable
In [18]: iter(42)
�
↪ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

<ipython-input-18-ef50b48e4398> in <module>
----> 1 iter(42)
TypeError: 'int' object is not iterable
To conclude our discussion of for loops

• for loops work on either iterators or iterables.
• In the second case, the iterable is converted into an iterator before the loop starts.
16.3.4 Iterators and built-ins
Some built-in functions that act on sequences also work with iterables
• max(), min(), sum(), all(), any()
For example
In [19]: x = [10, -10]

max(x)
Out[19]: 10
In [20]: y = iter(x)
type(y)
Out[20]: list_iterator
In [21]: max(y)
Out[21]: 10
One thing to remember about iterators is that they are depleted by use
In [22]: x = [10, -10]

y = iter(x)
max(y)
Out[22]: 10
In [23]: max(y)
16.4. NAMES AND NAME RESOLUTION 223
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-23-062424e6ec08> in <module>
----> 1 max(y)
ValueError: max() arg is an empty sequence
16.4 Names and Name Resolution
16.4.1 Variable Names in Python
Consider the Python statement
In [24]: x = 42
We now know that when this statement is executed, Python creates an object of type int in
your computer’s memory, containing
• the value 42
• some associated attributes
But what is x itself?
In Python, x is called a name, and the statement x = 42 binds the name x to the integer
object we have just discussed.
Under the hood, this process of binding names to objects is implemented as a dictionary—
more about this in a moment.
There is no problem binding two or more names to the one object, regardless of what that
object is
In [25]: def f(string): # Create a function called f

print(string) # that prints any string it's passed
g = f
id(g) == id(f)
Out[25]: True
In [26]: g('test')
test
In the first step, a function object is created, and the name f is bound to it.
After binding the name g to the same object, we can use it anywhere we would use f.
What happens when the number of names bound to an object goes to zero?
Here’s an example of this situation, where the name x is first bound to one object and then
rebound to another
In [27]: x = 'foo'
id(x)
Out[27]: 139893190370168
In [28]: x = 'bar' # No names bound to the first object
What happens here is that the first object is garbage collected.

In other words, the memory slot that stores that object is deallocated, and returned to the
operating system.
16.4.2 Namespaces
Recall from the preceding discussion that the statement
In [29]: x = 42
binds the name x to the integer object on the right-hand side.

We also mentioned that this process of binding x to the correct object is implemented as a
dictionary.
This dictionary is called a namespace.
Definition: A namespace is a symbol table that maps names to objects in memory.
Python uses multiple namespaces, creating them on the fly as necessary .
For example, every time we import a module, Python creates a namespace for that module.
To see this in action, suppose we write a script math2.py with a single line
In [30]: %%file math2.py

pi = 'foobar'
Writing math2.py
Now we start the Python interpreter and import it
In [31]: import math2
Next let’s import the math module from the standard library
Both of these modules have an attribute called pi
In [33]: math.pi
Out[33]: 3.141592653589793
In [34]: math2.pi
Out[34]: 'foobar'
These two different bindings of pi exist in different namespaces, each one implemented as a
dictionary.
We can look at the dictionary directly, using module_name.__dict__
math.__dict__.items()
Out[35]: dict_items([('__name__', 'math'), ('__doc__', 'This module is always�

↪available. It
provides access to the\nmathematical functions defined by the C standard.
↪'),
('__package__', ''), ('__loader__', <_frozen_importlib_external.

↪ExtensionFileLoader
object at 0x7f3b6c739d30>), ('__spec__', ModuleSpec(name='math',

loader=<_frozen_importlib_external.ExtensionFileLoader object at�
↪0x7f3b6c739d30>,
origin='/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload/math.cpython-37m-
x86_64-linux-
gnu.so')), ('acos', <built-in function acos>), ('acosh', <built-in�
↪function acosh>),
('asin', <built-in function asin>), ('asinh', <built-in function asinh>),�

↪('atan',
<built-in function atan>), ('atan2', <built-in function atan2>),�

↪('atanh', <built-in
function atanh>), ('ceil', <built-in function ceil>), ('copysign', <built-

in function
copysign>), ('cos', <built-in function cos>), ('cosh', <built-in function�
↪cosh>),
('degrees', <built-in function degrees>), ('erf', <built-in function�

↪erf>), ('erfc',
<built-in function erfc>), ('exp', <built-in function exp>), ('expm1',�

↪<built-in
function expm1>), ('fabs', <built-in function fabs>), ('factorial',�

↪<built-in function
factorial>), ('floor', <built-in function floor>), ('fmod', <built-in�

↪function fmod>),
('frexp', <built-in function frexp>), ('fsum', <built-in function fsum>),�

↪('gamma',
<built-in function gamma>), ('gcd', <built-in function gcd>), ('hypot',�

↪<built-in
function hypot>), ('isclose', <built-in function isclose>), ('isfinite',�

↪ <built-in
function isfinite>), ('isinf', <built-in function isinf>), ('isnan',�
isnan>), ('ldexp', <built-in function ldexp>), ('lgamma', <built-in�

↪function lgamma>),
('log', <built-in function log>), ('log1p', <built-in function log1p>),�

↪('log10',
<built-in function log10>), ('log2', <built-in function log2>), ('modf',�

↪<built-in
function modf>), ('pow', <built-in function pow>), ('radians', <built-in�

↪function
radians>), ('remainder', <built-in function remainder>), ('sin', <built-

in function
sin>), ('sinh', <built-in function sinh>), ('sqrt', <built-in function�
↪sqrt>), ('tan',
<built-in function tan>), ('tanh', <built-in function tanh>), ('trunc',�

↪<built-in
function trunc>), ('pi', 3.141592653589793), ('e', 2.718281828459045),�

↪('tau',
6.283185307179586), ('inf', inf), ('nan', nan), ('__file__',

'/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload/math.cpython-37m-x86_64-
linux-
gnu.so')])
In [36]: import math2
math2.__dict__.items()
Out[36]: dict_items([('__name__', 'math2'), ('__doc__', None), ('__package__', ''),

('__loader__', <_frozen_importlib_external.SourceFileLoader object at�
↪0x7f3b6821a240>),
('__spec__', ModuleSpec(name='math2',
loader=<_frozen_importlib_external.SourceFileLoader object at�
↪0x7f3b6821a240>,
origin='/home/ubuntu/repos/lecture-python-
programming/_build/jupyterpdf/executed/math2.py')), ('__file__',
'/home/ubuntu/repos/lecture-python-programming/_build/jupyterpdf/executed/
↪math2.py'),
('__cached__', '/home/ubuntu/repos/lecture-python-
programming/_build/jupyterpdf/executed/__pycache__/math2.cpython-37.pyc'),
('__builtins__', {'__name__': 'builtins', '__doc__': "Built-in functions,�
↪exceptions,
and other objects.\n\nNoteworthy: None is the `nil' object; Ellipsis�

↪represents `…' in
slices.", '__package__': '', '__loader__': <class '_frozen_importlib.

↪BuiltinImporter'>,
'__spec__': ModuleSpec(name='builtins', loader=<class

'_frozen_importlib.BuiltinImporter'>), '__build_class__': <built-in�
↪function
__build_class__>, '__import__': <built-in function __import__>, 'abs':�

↪<built-in
function abs>, 'all': <built-in function all>, 'any': <built-in function�

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<built-in function ascii>, 'bin': <built-in function bin>, 'breakpoint':�

↪<built-in
function breakpoint>, 'callable': <built-in function callable>, 'chr':�

↪ <built-in
function chr>, 'compile': <built-in function compile>, 'delattr': <built-
in function
delattr>, 'dir': <built-in function dir>, 'divmod': <built-in function�
↪divmod>, 'eval':
<built-in function eval>, 'exec': <built-in function exec>, 'format':�

format>, 'getattr': <built-in function getattr>, 'globals': <built-in�

↪function globals>,
'hasattr': <built-in function hasattr>, 'hash': <built-in function hash>,�

↪'hex': <built-
in function hex>, 'id': <built-in function id>, 'input': <bound method�

↪Kernel.raw_input
of <ipykernel.ipkernel.IPythonKernel object at 0x7f3b6a385780>>,�

↪'isinstance': <built-in
function isinstance>, 'issubclass': <built-in function issubclass>,�

↪'iter': <built-in
function iter>, 'len': <built-in function len>, 'locals': <built-in�

↪function locals>,
'max': <built-in function max>, 'min': <built-in function min>, 'next':�

↪<built-in
function next>, 'oct': <built-in function oct>, 'ord': <built-in function�

↪ord>, 'pow':
<built-in function pow>, 'print': <built-in function print>, 'repr':�

repr>, 'round': <built-in function round>, 'setattr': <built-in function�

↪setattr>,
'sorted': <built-in function sorted>, 'sum': <built-in function sum>,�

↪'vars': <built-in
function vars>, 'None': None, 'Ellipsis': Ellipsis, 'NotImplemented':�

↪NotImplemented,
'False': False, 'True': True, 'bool': <class 'bool'>, 'memoryview': <class

'memoryview'>, 'bytearray': <class 'bytearray'>, 'bytes': <class 'bytes'>,
'classmethod': <class 'classmethod'>, 'complex': <class 'complex'>,�
↪'dict': <class
'dict'>, 'enumerate': <class 'enumerate'>, 'filter': <class 'filter'>,�

↪'float': <class
'float'>, 'frozenset': <class 'frozenset'>, 'property': <class�

↪'property'>, 'int':
<class 'int'>, 'list': <class 'list'>, 'map': <class 'map'>, 'object':�

↪<class 'object'>,
'range': <class 'range'>, 'reversed': <class 'reversed'>, 'set': <class�

↪'set'>, 'slice':
<class 'slice'>, 'staticmethod': <class 'staticmethod'>, 'str': <class�

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'__debug__': True, 'BaseException': <class 'BaseException'>, 'Exception':�

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↪'GeneratorExit': <class
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↪ <class
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↪'ModuleNotFoundError':
<class 'ModuleNotFoundError'>, 'OSError': <class 'OSError'>,�
↪'EnvironmentError': <class
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'RuntimeError': <class 'RuntimeError'>, 'RecursionError': <class�
↪'RecursionError'>,
'NotImplementedError': <class 'NotImplementedError'>, 'NameError': <class�

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'AttributeError'>, 'SyntaxError': <class 'SyntaxError'>,�
↪'IndentationError': <class
'IndentationError'>, 'TabError': <class 'TabError'>, 'LookupError': <class

'LookupError'>, 'IndexError': <class 'IndexError'>, 'KeyError': <class�
↪'KeyError'>,
'ValueError': <class 'ValueError'>, 'UnicodeError': <class 'UnicodeError'>,

'UnicodeEncodeError': <class 'UnicodeEncodeError'>, 'UnicodeDecodeError':�
↪<class
'UnicodeDecodeError'>, 'UnicodeTranslateError': <class�

↪'UnicodeTranslateError'>,
'AssertionError': <class 'AssertionError'>, 'ArithmeticError': <class

'ArithmeticError'>, 'FloatingPointError': <class 'FloatingPointError'>,�
↪'OverflowError':
<class 'OverflowError'>, 'ZeroDivisionError': <class 'ZeroDivisionError'>,

'SystemError': <class 'SystemError'>, 'ReferenceError': <class�
↪'ReferenceError'>,
'MemoryError': <class 'MemoryError'>, 'BufferError': <class�

↪'BufferError'>, 'Warning':
<class 'Warning'>, 'UserWarning': <class 'UserWarning'>,�

↪'DeprecationWarning': <class
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↪'PendingDeprecationWarning'>,
'SyntaxWarning': <class 'SyntaxWarning'>, 'RuntimeWarning': <class�

↪'RuntimeWarning'>,
'FutureWarning': <class 'FutureWarning'>, 'ImportWarning': <class�

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'UnicodeWarning': <class 'UnicodeWarning'>, 'BytesWarning': <class�

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↪'BrokenPipeError':
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↪'ChildProcessError'>,
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↪'ConnectionRefusedError':
<class 'ConnectionRefusedError'>, 'ConnectionResetError': <class

'ConnectionResetError'>, 'FileExistsError': <class 'FileExistsError'>,
'FileNotFoundError': <class 'FileNotFoundError'>, 'IsADirectoryError':�
↪<class
'IsADirectoryError'>, 'NotADirectoryError': <class 'NotADirectoryError'>,

'InterruptedError': <class 'InterruptedError'>, 'PermissionError': <class
'PermissionError'>, 'ProcessLookupError': <class 'ProcessLookupError'>,�
↪'TimeoutError':
<class 'TimeoutError'>, 'open': <built-in function open>, 'copyright':�

↪Copyright (c)
2001-2019 Python Software Foundation.

All Rights Reserved.
Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.

Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.

Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam.

All Rights Reserved., 'credits': Thanks to CWI, CNRI, BeOpen.com,�
↪Zope Corporation
and a cast of thousands

for supporting Python development. See www.python.org for more�
↪information.,
'license': Type license() to see the full license text, 'help': Type�
↪help() for
interactive help, or help(object) for help about object., '__IPYTHON__':�

↪True,
'display': <function display at 0x7f3b6c603d08>, 'get_ipython': <bound�

↪method
InteractiveShell.get_ipython of <ipykernel.zmqshell.ZMQInteractiveShell�
↪object at
0x7f3b6a3e99e8>>}), ('pi', 'foobar')])
As you know, we access elements of the namespace using the dotted attribute notation
In [37]: math.pi
Out[37]: 3.141592653589793
In fact this is entirely equivalent to math.__dict__['pi']
In [38]: math.__dict__['pi'] == math.pi
Out[38]: True
16.4.3 Viewing Namespaces
As we saw above, the math namespace can be printed by typing math.__dict__.

Another way to see its contents is to type vars(math)
In [39]: vars(math).items()
Out[39]: dict_items([('__name__', 'math'), ('__doc__', 'This module is always�

↪available. It
provides access to the\nmathematical functions defined by the C standard.
↪'),
('__package__', ''), ('__loader__', <_frozen_importlib_external.

↪ExtensionFileLoader
object at 0x7f3b6c739d30>), ('__spec__', ModuleSpec(name='math',

loader=<_frozen_importlib_external.ExtensionFileLoader object at�
↪0x7f3b6c739d30>,
origin='/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload/math.cpython-37m-
x86_64-linux-
gnu.so')), ('acos', <built-in function acos>), ('acosh', <built-in�
↪function acosh>),
('asin', <built-in function asin>), ('asinh', <built-in function asinh>),�

↪('atan',
<built-in function atan>), ('atan2', <built-in function atan2>),�

↪('atanh', <built-in
function atanh>), ('ceil', <built-in function ceil>), ('copysign', <built-

in function
copysign>), ('cos', <built-in function cos>), ('cosh', <built-in function�
↪cosh>),
('degrees', <built-in function degrees>), ('erf', <built-in function�

↪erf>), ('erfc',
<built-in function erfc>), ('exp', <built-in function exp>), ('expm1',�

↪<built-in
function expm1>), ('fabs', <built-in function fabs>), ('factorial',�

factorial>), ('floor', <built-in function floor>), ('fmod', <built-in�

↪function fmod>),
('frexp', <built-in function frexp>), ('fsum', <built-in function fsum>),�

↪('gamma',
<built-in function gamma>), ('gcd', <built-in function gcd>), ('hypot',�

↪<built-in
function hypot>), ('isclose', <built-in function isclose>), ('isfinite',�

↪<built-in
function isfinite>), ('isinf', <built-in function isinf>), ('isnan',�

isnan>), ('ldexp', <built-in function ldexp>), ('lgamma', <built-in�

↪function lgamma>),
('log', <built-in function log>), ('log1p', <built-in function log1p>),�

↪('log10',
<built-in function log10>), ('log2', <built-in function log2>), ('modf',�

↪<built-in
function modf>), ('pow', <built-in function pow>), ('radians', <built-in�

↪function
radians>), ('remainder', <built-in function remainder>), ('sin', <built-

in function
sin>), ('sinh', <built-in function sinh>), ('sqrt', <built-in function�
↪sqrt>), ('tan',
<built-in function tan>), ('tanh', <built-in function tanh>), ('trunc',�

↪<built-in
function trunc>), ('pi', 3.141592653589793), ('e', 2.718281828459045),�

↪('tau',
6.283185307179586), ('inf', inf), ('nan', nan), ('__file__',

'/home/ubuntu/anaconda3/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload/math.cpython-37m-x86_64-
linux-
gnu.so')])
If you just want to see the names, you can type
In [40]: dir(math)[0:10]
Out[40]: ['__doc__',
'__file__',
'__loader__',
'__name__',
'__package__',
'__spec__',
'acos',
'acosh',
'asin',
'asinh']
Notice the special names __doc__ and __name__.

These are initialized in the namespace when any module is imported
• __doc__ is the doc string of the module
• __name__ is the name of the module
In [41]: print(math.__doc__)
This module is always available. It provides access to the

mathematical functions defined by the C standard.
In [42]: math.__name__
Out[42]: 'math'
16.4.4 Interactive Sessions
In Python, all code executed by the interpreter runs in some module.

What about commands typed at the prompt?
These are also regarded as being executed within a module — in this case, a module called
__main__.
To check this, we can look at the current module name via the value of __name__ given at
the prompt
In [43]: print(__name__)
__main__
When we run a script using IPython’s run command, the contents of the file are executed as
part of __main__ too.
To see this, let’s create a file mod.py that prints its own __name__ attribute
In [44]: %%file mod.py

print(__name__)
Writing mod.py
Now let’s look at two different ways of running it in IPython
In [45]: import mod # Standard import
mod
In [46]: %run mod.py # Run interactively
__main__
In the second case, the code is executed as part of __main__, so __name__ is equal to
__main__.
To see the contents of the namespace of __main__ we use vars() rather than
vars(__main__) .
If you do this in IPython, you will see a whole lot of variables that IPython needs, and has
initialized when you started up your session.
If you prefer to see only the variables you have initialized, use whos
In [47]: x = 2
y = 3
import numpy as np
%whos
Variable Type Data/Info

-----------------------------------------------------
e enumerate <enumerate object at 0x7f3b6820fc18>
f function <function f at 0x7f3b68180d08>
g function <function f at 0x7f3b68180d08>
i str eggs
math module <module 'math' from
'/hom<…>37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'>
math2 module <module 'math2' from
'/ho<…>erpdf/executed/math2.py'>
mod module <module 'mod' from
'/home<…>yterpdf/executed/mod.py'>
nikkei_data reader <_csv.reader object at 0x7f3b68294f98>
np module <module 'numpy' from
'/ho<…>kages/numpy/__init__.py'>
reader builtin_function_or_method <built-in function reader>
x int 2
y int 3
16.4.5 The Global Namespace
Python documentation often makes reference to the “global namespace”.

The global namespace is the namespace of the module currently being executed.
For example, suppose that we start the interpreter and begin making assignments .
We are now working in the module __main__, and hence the namespace for __main__ is
the global namespace.
Next, we import a module called amodule
import amodule
At this point, the interpreter creates a namespace for the module amodule and starts exe-
cuting commands in the module.
While this occurs, the namespace amodule.__dict__ is the global namespace.
Once execution of the module finishes, the interpreter returns to the module from where the
import statement was made.
In this case it’s __main__, so the namespace of __main__ again becomes the global names-
pace.
16.4.6 Local Namespaces
Important fact: When we call a function, the interpreter creates a local namespace for that
function, and registers the variables in that namespace.
The reason for this will be explained in just a moment.
Variables in the local namespace are called local variables.
After the function returns, the namespace is deallocated and lost.
While the function is executing, we can view the contents of the local namespace with
locals().
For example, consider
In [48]: def f(x):

a = 2
print(locals())
return a * x
Now let’s call the function
In [49]: f(1)
{'x': 1, 'a': 2}
Out[49]: 2
You can see the local namespace of f before it is destroyed.
16.4.7 The __builtins__ Namespace
We have been using various built-in functions, such as max(), dir(), str(), list(),
len(), range(), type(), etc.
How does access to these names work?
• These definitions are stored in a module called __builtin__.

• They have there own namespace called __builtins__.
In [50]: dir()[0:10]
Out[50]: ['In', 'Out', '_', '_11', '_13', '_14', '_15', '_16', '_19', '_2']
In [51]: dir(__builtins__)[0:10]
Out[51]: ['ArithmeticError',
'AssertionError',
'AttributeError',
'BaseException',
'BlockingIOError',
'BrokenPipeError',
'BufferError',
'BytesWarning',
'ChildProcessError',
'ConnectionAbortedError']
We can access elements of the namespace as follows
In [52]: __builtins__.max
Out[52]: <function max>
But __builtins__ is special, because we can always access them directly as well
In [53]: max
Out[53]: <function max>
In [54]: __builtins__.max == max
Out[54]: True
The next section explains how this works …
16.4.8 Name Resolution
Namespaces are great because they help us organize variable names.

(Type import this at the prompt and look at the last item that’s printed)
However, we do need to understand how the Python interpreter works with multiple names-
paces .
At any point of execution, there are in fact at least two namespaces that can be accessed di-
rectly.
(“Accessed directly” means without using a dot, as in pi rather than math.pi)
These namespaces are
• The global namespace (of the module being executed)

• The builtin namespace
If the interpreter is executing a function, then the directly accessible namespaces are
• The local namespace of the function
• The global namespace (of the module being executed)
• The builtin namespace
Sometimes functions are defined within other functions, like so
In [55]: def f():

a = 2
def g():
b = 4
print(a * b)
g()
Here f is the enclosing function for g, and each function gets its own namespaces.
Now we can give the rule for how namespace resolution works:
The order in which the interpreter searches for names is
1. the local namespace (if it exists)
2. the hierarchy of enclosing namespaces (if they exist)
3. the global namespace
4. the builtin namespace
If the name is not in any of these namespaces, the interpreter raises a NameError.
This is called the LEGB rule (local, enclosing, global, builtin).
Here’s an example that helps to illustrate .
Consider a script test.py that looks as follows
In [56]: %%file test.py

def g(x):
a = 1
x = x + a
return x
a = 0
y = g(10)
print("a = ", a, "y = ", y)
Writing test.py
What happens when we run this script?
In [57]: %run test.py

a = 0 y = 11
In [58]: x
Out[58]: 2
First,
• The global namespace {} is created.
• The function object is created, and g is bound to it within the global namespace.
• The name a is bound to 0, again in the global namespace.
Next g is called via y = g(10), leading to the following sequence of actions
• The local namespace for the function is created.
• Local names x and a are bound, so that the local namespace becomes {'x': 10,
'a': 1}.
• Statement x = x + a uses the local a and local x to compute x + a, and binds local
name x to the result.
• This value is returned, and y is bound to it in the global namespace.
• Local x and a are discarded (and the local namespace is deallocated).
Note that the global a was not affected by the local a.
16.4.9 Mutable Versus Immutable Parameters
This is a good time to say a little more about mutable vs immutable objects.
Consider the code segment
In [59]: def f(x):

x = x + 1
return x
x = 1
print(f(x), x)
2 1
We now understand what will happen here: The code prints 2 as the value of f(x) and 1 as
the value of x.
First f and x are registered in the global namespace.
The call f(x) creates a local namespace and adds x to it, bound to 1.
Next, this local x is rebound to the new integer object 2, and this value is returned.
None of this affects the global x.
However, it’s a different story when we use a mutable data type such as a list
In [60]: def f(x):

x[0] = x[0] + 1
16.5. HANDLING ERRORS 237
return x
x = [1]
print(f(x), x)
[2] [2]
This prints [2] as the value of f(x) and same for x.

Here’s what happens
• f is registered as a function in the global namespace
• x bound to [1] in the global namespace
• The call f(x)
– Creates a local namespace
– Adds x to local namespace, bound to [1]
– The list [1] is modified to [2]
– Returns the list [2]
– The local namespace is deallocated, and local x is lost
• Global x has been modified
16.5 Handling Errors
Sometimes it’s possible to anticipate errors as we’re writing code.

For example, the unbiased sample variance of sample 𝑦1 , … , 𝑦𝑛 is defined as
𝑛
1
𝑠2 ∶= ∑(𝑦𝑖 − 𝑦)̄ 2 𝑦 ̄ = sample mean
𝑛 − 1 𝑖=1
This can be calculated in NumPy using np.var.

But if you were writing a function to handle such a calculation, you might anticipate a divide-
by-zero error when the sample size is one.
One possible action is to do nothing — the program will just crash, and spit out an error
message.
But sometimes it’s worth writing your code in a way that anticipates and deals with runtime
errors that you think might arise.
Why?
• Because the debugging information provided by the interpreter is often less useful than
the information on possible errors you have in your head when writing code.
• Because errors causing execution to stop are frustrating if you’re in the middle of a
large computation.
• Because it’s reduces confidence in your code on the part of your users (if you are writing
for others).
16.5.1 Assertions
A relatively easy way to handle checks is with the assert keyword.

For example, pretend for a moment that the np.var function doesn’t exist and we need to
write our own
In [61]: def var(y):

n = len(y)
assert n > 1, 'Sample size must be greater than one.'
return np.sum((y - y.mean())**2) / float(n-1)
If we run this with an array of length one, the program will terminate and print our error
message
In [62]: var([1])
�
↪ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AssertionError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-62-8419b6ab38ec> in <module>
----> 1 var([1])
<ipython-input-61-e6ffb16a7098> in var(y)
1 def var(y):
2 n = len(y)
----> 3 assert n > 1, 'Sample size must be greater than one.'
4 return np.sum((y - y.mean())**2) / float(n-1)
AssertionError: Sample size must be greater than one.
The advantage is that we can

• fail early, as soon as we know there will be a problem
• supply specific information on why a program is failing
16.5.2 Handling Errors During Runtime
The approach used above is a bit limited, because it always leads to termination.
Sometimes we can handle errors more gracefully, by treating special cases.
Let’s look at how this is done.
Exceptions
Here’s an example of a common error type

In [63]: def f:
File "<ipython-input-63-262a7e387ba5>", line 1

def f:
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
Since illegal syntax cannot be executed, a syntax error terminates execution of the program.
Here’s a different kind of error, unrelated to syntax
In [64]: 1 / 0
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZeroDivisionError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-64-bc757c3fda29> in <module>
----> 1 1 / 0
ZeroDivisionError: division by zero
Here’s another
In [65]: x1 = y1
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NameError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-65-a7b8d65e9e45> in <module>
----> 1 x1 = y1
NameError: name 'y1' is not defined
And another
In [66]: 'foo' + 6
�
↪ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

<ipython-input-66-216809d6e6fe> in <module>
----> 1 'foo' + 6
TypeError: can only concatenate str (not "int") to str
And another
In [67]: X = []
x = X[0]
�
↪ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IndexError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-67-082a18d7a0aa> in <module>
1 X = []
----> 2 x = X[0]
IndexError: list index out of range
On each occasion, the interpreter informs us of the error type

• NameError, TypeError, IndexError, ZeroDivisionError, etc.
In Python, these errors are called exceptions.
Catching Exceptions
We can catch and deal with exceptions using try – except blocks.
Here’s a simple example
In [68]: def f(x):

try:
return 1.0 / x
except ZeroDivisionError:
print('Error: division by zero. Returned None')
return None
When we call f we get the following output
In [69]: f(2)
Out[69]: 0.5
In [70]: f(0)
Error: division by zero. Returned None
In [71]: f(0.0)
Error: division by zero. Returned None
The error is caught and execution of the program is not terminated.

Note that other error types are not caught.
If we are worried the user might pass in a string, we can catch that error too
In [72]: def f(x):

try:
return 1.0 / x
except ZeroDivisionError:
print('Error: Division by zero. Returned None')
except TypeError:
print('Error: Unsupported operation. Returned None')
return None
In [73]: f(2)
Out[73]: 0.5
In [74]: f(0)
Error: Division by zero. Returned None
In [75]: f('foo')
Error: Unsupported operation. Returned None

If we feel lazy we can catch these errors together
In [76]: def f(x):

try:
return 1.0 / x
except (TypeError, ZeroDivisionError):
print('Error: Unsupported operation. Returned None')
return None
In [77]: f(2)
Out[77]: 0.5
In [78]: f(0)
In [79]: f('foo')
If we feel extra lazy we can catch all error types as follows
In [80]: def f(x):

try:
return 1.0 / x
except:
print('Error. Returned None')
return None
In general it’s better to be specific.
16.6 Decorators and Descriptors
Let’s look at some special syntax elements that are routinely used by Python developers.
You might not need the following concepts immediately, but you will see them in other peo-
ple’s code.
Hence you need to understand them at some stage of your Python education.
16.6.1 Decorators
Decorators are a bit of syntactic sugar that, while easily avoided, have turned out to be popu-
lar.
It’s very easy to say what decorators do.
On the other hand it takes a bit of effort to explain why you might use them.
16.6. DECORATORS AND DESCRIPTORS 243
An Example
Suppose we are working on a program that looks something like this
def f(x):
return np.log(np.log(x))
def g(x):
return np.sqrt(42 * x)
# Program continues with various calculations using f and g
Now suppose there’s a problem: occasionally negative numbers get fed to f and g in the cal-
culations that follow.
If you try it, you’ll see that when these functions are called with negative numbers they re-
turn a NumPy object called nan .
This stands for “not a number” (and indicates that you are trying to evaluate a mathematical
function at a point where it is not defined).
Perhaps this isn’t what we want, because it causes other problems that are hard to pick up
later on.
Suppose that instead we want the program to terminate whenever this happens, with a sensi-
ble error message.
This change is easy enough to implement
def f(x):
assert x >= 0, "Argument must be nonnegative"
def g(x):
Notice however that there is some repetition here, in the form of two identical lines of code.
Repetition makes our code longer and harder to maintain, and hence is something we try
hard to avoid.
Here it’s not a big deal, but imagine now that instead of just f and g, we have 20 such func-
tions that we need to modify in exactly the same way.
This means we need to repeat the test logic (i.e., the assert line testing nonnegativity) 20
times.
The situation is still worse if the test logic is longer and more complicated.
In this kind of scenario the following approach would be neater
def check_nonneg(func):
def safe_function(x):
return func(x)
return safe_function
def f(x):
def g(x):
f = check_nonneg(f)
g = check_nonneg(g)
This looks complicated so let’s work through it slowly.

To unravel the logic, consider what happens when we say f = check_nonneg(f).
This calls the function check_nonneg with parameter func set equal to f.
Now check_nonneg creates a new function called safe_function that verifies x as non-
negative and then calls func on it (which is the same as f).
Finally, the global name f is then set equal to safe_function.
Now the behavior of f is as we desire, and the same is true of g.
At the same time, the test logic is written only once.
Enter Decorators
The last version of our code is still not ideal.

For example, if someone is reading our code and wants to know how f works, they will be
looking for the function definition, which is
In [84]: def f(x):

They may well miss the line f = check_nonneg(f).

For this and other reasons, decorators were introduced to Python.
With decorators, we can replace the lines
In [85]: def f(x):

def g(x):
f = check_nonneg(f)
g = check_nonneg(g)
with
In [86]: @check_nonneg
def f(x):
@check_nonneg
def g(x):
These two pieces of code do exactly the same thing.

If they do the same thing, do we really need decorator syntax?
Well, notice that the decorators sit right on top of the function definitions.
Hence anyone looking at the definition of the function will see them and be aware that the
function is modified.
In the opinion of many people, this makes the decorator syntax a significant improvement to
the language.
16.6.2 Descriptors
Descriptors solve a common problem regarding management of variables.

To understand the issue, consider a Car class, that simulates a car.
Suppose that this class defines the variables miles and kms, which give the distance traveled
in miles and kilometers respectively.
A highly simplified version of the class might look as follows
In [87]: class Car:
def __init__(self, miles=1000):

self.miles = miles
self.kms = miles * 1.61
# Some other functionality, details omitted
One potential problem we might have here is that a user alters one of these variables but not
the other
In [88]: car = Car()

car.miles
Out[88]: 1000
In [89]: car.kms
Out[89]: 1610.0
In [90]: car.miles = 6000

car.kms
Out[90]: 1610.0
In the last two lines we see that miles and kms are out of sync.
What we really want is some mechanism whereby each time a user sets one of these variables,
the other is automatically updated.
A Solution
In Python, this issue is solved using descriptors.

A descriptor is just a Python object that implements certain methods.
These methods are triggered when the object is accessed through dotted attribute notation.
The best way to understand this is to see it in action.
Consider this alternative version of the Car class
In [91]: class Car:

self._miles = miles
self._kms = miles * 1.61
def set_miles(self, value):

self._miles = value
self._kms = value * 1.61
def set_kms(self, value):

self._kms = value
self._miles = value / 1.61
def get_miles(self):
return self._miles
def get_kms(self):
return self._kms
miles = property(get_miles, set_miles)

kms = property(get_kms, set_kms)
First let’s check that we get the desired behavior
In [92]: car = Car()

car.miles
Out[92]: 1000
In [93]: car.miles = 6000

car.kms
Out[93]: 9660.0
Yep, that’s what we want — car.kms is automatically updated.

How it Works
The names _miles and _kms are arbitrary names we are using to store the values of the
variables.
The objects miles and kms are properties, a common kind of descriptor.
The methods get_miles, set_miles, get_kms and set_kms define what happens when
you get (i.e. access) or set (bind) these variables
• So-called “getter” and “setter” methods.
The builtin Python function property takes getter and setter methods and creates a prop-
erty.
For example, after car is created as an instance of Car, the object car.miles is a property.
Being a property, when we set its value via car.miles = 6000 its setter method is trig-
gered — in this case set_miles.
Decorators and Properties
These days its very common to see the property function used via a decorator.
Here’s another version of our Car class that works as before but now uses decorators to set
up the properties
In [94]: class Car:

self._miles = miles
self._kms = miles * 1.61
@property
def miles(self):
return self._miles
@property
def kms(self):
return self._kms
@miles.setter
def miles(self, value):
self._miles = value
self._kms = value * 1.61
@kms.setter
def kms(self, value):
self._kms = value
self._miles = value / 1.61
We won’t go through all the details here.

For further information you can refer to the descriptor documentation.
16.7 Generators
A generator is a kind of iterator (i.e., it works with a next function).

We will study two ways to build generators: generator expressions and generator functions.
16.7.1 Generator Expressions
The easiest way to build generators is using generator expressions.

Just like a list comprehension, but with round brackets.
Here is the list comprehension:
In [95]: singular = ('dog', 'cat', 'bird')

type(singular)
Out[95]: tuple
In [96]: plural = [string + 's' for string in singular]

plural
Out[96]: ['dogs', 'cats', 'birds']
In [97]: type(plural)
Out[97]: list
And here is the generator expression
In [98]: singular = ('dog', 'cat', 'bird')

plural = (string + 's' for string in singular)
type(plural)
Out[98]: generator
In [99]: next(plural)
Out[99]: 'dogs'
Out[100]: 'cats'
Out[101]: 'birds'
Since sum() can be called on iterators, we can do this

16.7. GENERATORS 249
In [102]: sum((x * x for x in range(10)))
Out[102]: 285
The function sum() calls next() to get the items, adds successive terms.
In fact, we can omit the outer brackets in this case
In [103]: sum(x * x for x in range(10))
Out[103]: 285
16.7.2 Generator Functions
The most flexible way to create generator objects is to use generator functions.
Let’s look at some examples.
Example 1
Here’s a very simple example of a generator function
In [104]: def f():

yield 'start'
yield 'middle'
yield 'end'
It looks like a function, but uses a keyword yield that we haven’t met before.
Let’s see how it works after running this code
In [105]: type(f)
Out[105]: function
In [106]: gen = f()

gen
Out[106]: <generator object f at 0x7f3b681225e8>
In [107]: next(gen)
Out[107]: 'start'
In [108]: next(gen)
Out[108]: 'middle'
In [109]: next(gen)
Out[109]: 'end'
In [110]: next(gen)
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------

<ipython-input-110-6e72e47198db> in <module>
----> 1 next(gen)
StopIteration:
The generator function f() is used to create generator objects (in this case gen).
Generators are iterators, because they support a next method.
The first call to next(gen)
• Executes code in the body of f() until it meets a yield statement.
• Returns that value to the caller of next(gen).
The second call to next(gen) starts executing from the next line
In [ ]: def f():
yield 'start'
yield 'middle' # This line!
yield 'end'
and continues until the next yield statement.

At that point it returns the value following yield to the caller of next(gen), and so on.
When the code block ends, the generator throws a StopIteration error.
Example 2
Our next example receives an argument x from the caller
In [111]: def g(x):

while x < 100:
yield x
x = x * x
Let’s see how it works
In [112]: g
16.7. GENERATORS 251
Out[112]: <function __main__.g(x)>
In [113]: gen = g(2)

type(gen)
Out[113]: generator
In [114]: next(gen)
Out[114]: 2
In [115]: next(gen)
Out[115]: 4
In [116]: next(gen)
Out[116]: 16
In [117]: next(gen)
�
↪---------------------------------------------------------------------------

<ipython-input-117-6e72e47198db> in <module>
----> 1 next(gen)
StopIteration:
The call gen = g(2) binds gen to a generator.

Inside the generator, the name x is bound to 2.
When we call next(gen)
• The body of g() executes until the line yield x, and the value of x is returned.
Note that value of x is retained inside the generator.
When we call next(gen) again, execution continues from where it left off
In [ ]: def g(x):
while x < 100:
yield x
x = x * x # execution continues from here
When x < 100 fails, the generator throws a StopIteration error.

Incidentally, the loop inside the generator can be infinite
In [118]: def g(x):

while 1:
yield x
x = x * x
16.7.3 Advantages of Iterators
What’s the advantage of using an iterator here?

Suppose we want to sample a binomial(n,0.5).
One way to do it is as follows
In [119]: import random

n = 10000000
draws = [random.uniform(0, 1) < 0.5 for i in range(n)]
sum(draws)
Out[119]: 4998994
But we are creating two huge lists here, range(n) and draws.
This uses lots of memory and is very slow.
If we make n even bigger then this happens
In [120]: n = 100000000
draws = [random.uniform(0, 1) < 0.5 for i in range(n)]
We can avoid these problems using iterators.

Here is the generator function
In [121]: def f(n):

i = 1
while i <= n:
yield random.uniform(0, 1) < 0.5
i += 1
Now let’s do the sum
In [122]: n = 10000000
draws = f(n)
draws
Out[122]: <generator object f at 0x7f3b68271ed0>
In [123]: sum(draws)
16.8. RECURSIVE FUNCTION CALLS 253
Out[123]: 5001057
In summary, iterables
• avoid the need to create big lists/tuples, and
• provide a uniform interface to iteration that can be used transparently in for loops
16.8 Recursive Function Calls
This is not something that you will use every day, but it is still useful — you should learn it
at some stage.
Basically, a recursive function is a function that calls itself.
For example, consider the problem of computing 𝑥𝑡 for some t when
𝑥𝑡+1 = 2𝑥𝑡 , 𝑥0 = 1 (1)
Obviously the answer is 2𝑡 .

We can compute this easily enough with a loop
In [124]: def x_loop(t):

x = 1
for i in range(t):
x = 2 * x
return x
We can also use a recursive solution, as follows
In [125]: def x(t):

if t == 0:
return 1
else:
return 2 * x(t-1)
What happens here is that each successive call uses it’s own frame in the stack
• a frame is where the local variables of a given function call are held
• stack is memory used to process function calls
– a First In Last Out (FILO) queue
This example is somewhat contrived, since the first (iterative) solution would usually be pre-
ferred to the recursive solution.
We’ll meet less contrived applications of recursion later on.
16.9 Exercises
16.9.1 Exercise 1
The Fibonacci numbers are defined by

𝑥𝑡+1 = 𝑥𝑡 + 𝑥𝑡−1 , 𝑥0 = 0, 𝑥1 = 1 (2)
The first few numbers in the sequence are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55.
Write a function to recursively compute the 𝑡-th Fibonacci number for any 𝑡.
16.9.2 Exercise 2
Complete the following code, and test it using this csv file, which we assume that you’ve put
in your current working directory
def column_iterator(target_file, column_number):

"""A generator function for CSV files.
When called with a file name target_file (string) and column number
column_number (integer), the generator function returns a generator
that steps through the elements of column column_number in file
target_file.
"""
# put your code here
dates = column_iterator('test_table.csv', 1)
for date in dates:

print(date)
16.9.3 Exercise 3
Suppose we have a text file numbers.txt containing the following lines
prices
3
8
7
21
Using try – except, write a program to read in the contents of the file and sum the num-
bers, ignoring lines without numbers.
16.10 Solutions
16.10.1 Exercise 1
Here’s the standard solution
In [126]: def x(t):

if t == 0:
16.10. SOLUTIONS 255
return 0
if t == 1:
return 1
else:
return x(t-1) + x(t-2)
Let’s test it
In [127]: print([x(i) for i in range(10)])
[0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34]
16.10.2 Exercise 2
One solution is as follows
In [128]: def column_iterator(target_file, column_number):

"""A generator function for CSV files.
When called with a file name target_file (string) and column number
column_number (integer), the generator function returns a generator
which steps through the elements of column column_number in file
target_file.
"""
f = open(target_file, 'r')
for line in f:
yield line.split(',')[column_number - 1]
f.close()
dates = column_iterator('test_table.csv', 1)
i = 1
for date in dates:
print(date)
if i == 10:
break
i += 1
Date
2009-05-21
2009-05-20
2009-05-19
2009-05-18
2009-05-15
2009-05-14
2009-05-13
2009-05-12
2009-05-11
16.10.3 Exercise 3
Let’s save the data first

In [129]: %%file numbers.txt

prices
3
8
7
21
Writing numbers.txt
In [130]: f = open('numbers.txt')
total = 0.0
for line in f:
try:
total += float(line)
except ValueError:
pass
f.close()
print(total)
39.0
Chapter 17
Debugging
17.1 Contents
• Overview 17.2
• Debugging 17.3
• Other Useful Magics 17.4
“Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if
you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough
to debug it.” – Brian Kernighan
17.2 Overview
Are you one of those programmers who fills their code with print statements when trying to
debug their programs?
Hey, we all used to do that.
(OK, sometimes we still do that…)
But once you start writing larger programs you’ll need a better system.
Debugging tools for Python vary across platforms, IDEs and editors.
Here we’ll focus on Jupyter and leave you to explore other settings.
We’ll need the following imports

%matplotlib inline
17.3 Debugging
17.3.1 The debug Magic
Let’s consider a simple (and rather contrived) example
257
258 CHAPTER 17. DEBUGGING
In [2]: def plot_log():

fig, ax = plt.subplots(2, 1)
ax.plot(x, np.log(x))
plt.show()
plot_log() # Call the function, generate plot
�
↪ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-2-c32a2280f47b> in <module>
5 plt.show()
6
----> 7 plot_log() # Call the function, generate plot
<ipython-input-2-c32a2280f47b> in plot_log()
2 fig, ax = plt.subplots(2, 1)
3 x = np.linspace(1, 2, 10)
----> 4 ax.plot(x, np.log(x))
5 plt.show()
6
AttributeError: 'numpy.ndarray' object has no attribute 'plot'

17.3. DEBUGGING 259
This code is intended to plot the log function over the interval [1, 2].
But there’s an error here: plt.subplots(2, 1) should be just plt.subplots().
(The call plt.subplots(2, 1) returns a NumPy array containing two axes objects, suit-
able for having two subplots on the same figure)
The traceback shows that the error occurs at the method call ax.plot(x, np.log(x)).
The error occurs because we have mistakenly made ax a NumPy array, and a NumPy array
has no plot method.
But let’s pretend that we don’t understand this for the moment.
We might suspect there’s something wrong with ax but when we try to investigate this ob-
ject, we get the following exception:
In [3]: ax
�
↪ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NameError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-3-b00e77935981> in <module>
----> 1 ax
NameError: name 'ax' is not defined
The problem is that ax was defined inside plot_log(), and the name is lost once that func-
tion terminates.
Let’s try doing it a different way.
We run the first cell block again, generating the same error

fig, ax = plt.subplots(2, 1)
plt.show()
plot_log() # Call the function, generate plot
�
↪ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError Traceback (most�

<ipython-input-4-c32a2280f47b> in <module>
5 plt.show()
6
----> 7 plot_log() # Call the function, generate plot
<ipython-input-4-c32a2280f47b> in plot_log()
2 fig, ax = plt.subplots(2, 1)
3 x = np.linspace(1, 2, 10)
----> 4 ax.plot(x, np.log(x))
5 plt.show()
6
AttributeError: 'numpy.ndarray' object has no attribute 'plot'
But this time we type in the following cell block
%debug
You should be dropped into a new prompt that looks something like this
ipdb>
(You might see pdb> instead)

Now we can investigate the value of our variables at this point in the program, step forward
through the code, etc.
17.3. DEBUGGING 261
For example, here we simply type the name ax to see what’s happening with this object:
ipdb> ax
array([<matplotlib.axes.AxesSubplot object at 0x290f5d0>,
<matplotlib.axes.AxesSubplot object at 0x2930810>], dtype=object)
It’s now very clear that ax is an array, which clarifies the source of the problem.
To find out what else you can do from inside ipdb (or pdb), use the online help
ipdb> h
Documented commands (type help <topic>):

========================================
EOF bt cont enable jump pdef r tbreak w
a c continue exit l pdoc restart u whatis
alias cl d h list pinfo return unalias where
args clear debug help n pp run unt
b commands disable ignore next q s until
break condition down j p quit step up
Miscellaneous help topics:

==========================
exec pdb
Undocumented commands:
======================
retval rv
ipdb> h c
c(ont(inue))
Continue execution, only stop when a breakpoint is encountered.
17.3.2 Setting a Break Point
The preceding approach is handy but sometimes insufficient.

Consider the following modified version of our function above

x = np.logspace(1, 2, 10)
plt.show()
plot_log()
Here the original problem is fixed, but we’ve accidentally written np.logspace(1, 2,
10) instead of np.linspace(1, 2, 10).
Now there won’t be any exception, but the plot won’t look right.
To investigate, it would be helpful if we could inspect variables like x during execution of the
function.
To this end, we add a “break point” by inserting breakpoint() inside the function code
block
def plot_log():
breakpoint()
x = np.logspace(1, 2, 10)
plt.show()
plot_log()
Now let’s run the script, and investigate via the debugger
> <ipython-input-6-a188074383b7>(6)plot_log()
-> fig, ax = plt.subplots()
(Pdb) n
-> x = np.logspace(1, 2, 10)
(Pdb) n
-> ax.plot(x, np.log(x))
(Pdb) x
17.4. OTHER USEFUL MAGICS 263
array([ 10. , 12.91549665, 16.68100537, 21.5443469 ,

27.82559402, 35.93813664, 46.41588834, 59.94842503,
77.42636827, 100. ])
We used n twice to step forward through the code (one line at a time).
Then we printed the value of x to see what was happening with that variable.
To exit from the debugger, use q.
17.4 Other Useful Magics
In this lecture, we used the %debug IPython magic.

There are many other useful magics:
• %precision 4 sets printed precision for floats to 4 decimal places
• %whos gives a list of variables and their values
• %quickref gives a list of magics
The full list of magics is here.

Python Programming For Economics Finance

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Python Programming For Economics Finance

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Python Programming for Economics

Thomas J. Sargent and John Stachurski

May 10, 2020

2 Setting up Your Python Environment 13

6 OOP I: Introduction to Object Oriented Programming 79

7 OOP II: Building Classes 85

II The Scientific Libraries 103

8 Python for Scientific Computing 105

III Advanced Python Programming 201

15 Writing Good Code 203

16 More Language Features 217

In this lecture we will

1.3 What’s Python?

Python is a general-purpose programming language conceived in 1989 by Dutch programmer

1.3.1 Common Uses

Python is a general-purpose language used in almost all application domains such as

1.3.2 Relative Popularity

Python is a high-level language suitable for rapid development.

1.3.4 Syntax and Design

1.4 Scientific Programming

Python has become one of the core languages of scientific computing.

1.4.1 Numerical Programming

In [1]: import numpy as np # Load the library

a = np.linspace(-np.pi, np.pi, 100) # Create even grid from -π to π

Now let’s take the inner product

In [3]: from scipy.stats import norm

SciPy includes many of the standard routines used in

• plots, histograms, contour images, 3D graphs, bar charts etc.

Example contour plot

More examples can be found in the Matplotlib thumbnail gallery.

1.4.3 Symbolic Algebra

It’s useful to be able to manipulate symbolic expressions, as in Mathematica or Maple.

In [4]: from sympy import Symbol

x, y = Symbol('x'), Symbol('y') # Treat 'x' and 'y' as algebraic symbols

We can manipulate expressions

In [5]: expression = (x + y)**2

In [6]: from sympy import solve

Out[6]: [-1/2 - sqrt(7)*I/2, -1/2 + sqrt(7)*I/2]

and calculate limits, derivatives and integrals

In [7]: from sympy import limit, sin, diff

Out[9]: cos (𝑥)

In [10]: import pandas as pd

data = np.random.randn(5, 2) # 5x2 matrix of N(0, 1) random draws

df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=('price', 'weight'), index=dates)

Out[11]: price 0.411768

Other Useful Statistics Libraries

• statsmodels — various statistical routines

1.4.5 Networks and Graphs

Python has many libraries for studying graphs.

In [12]: import networkx as nx

# Generate a random graph

# Find node nearest the center point (0.5, 0.5)

# Plot graph, coloring by path length from central node

1.4.6 Cloud Computing

1.4.7 Parallel Processing

• Parallel computing through IPython clusters.

1.4.8 Other Developments

1.5 Learn More

• Browse some Python projects on GitHub.

Setting up Your Python

In this lecture, you will learn how to

1. get a Python environment up and running

2. execute simple Python commands

3. run a sample program

4. install the code libraries that underpin these lectures

1. the core Python language and

2. compatible versions of the most popular scientific libraries.

The best such distribution is Anaconda.

2.3.1 Installing Anaconda

To install Anaconda, download the binary and follow the instructions.

2.3.2 Updating Anaconda

2. Type conda update anaconda

For more information on conda, type conda help in a terminal.

2.4 Jupyter Notebooks

2.4.1 Starting the Jupyter Notebook

the previous line.

Out[6]: [-1/2 - sqrt(7)I/2, -1/2 + sqrt(7)I/2]