Programming in Python

Jupyter Notebook exercises for Python programming

Click “launch binder” above to launch the exercises in Binder, a read-only environment for Jupyter Notebooks. This means that your progress will be erased when the browser tab is closed. Please download the notebook files you wish to keep: right-click on the file and click "Download".

This programming guide for Python beginners is part of a guided lesson package for H2 Computing students, with a greater focus on programming methodology over Python feature coverage.

For exercises with a focus on learning Python features quickly, see Intro to Python.

The exercises are provided here, sans guidance.

Lessons

The following topics are covered:

Python fundamentals

1. Introduction [X]
   • int, float, and arithmetic operators
   • bool and comparison operators
   • str, the concatenation and repetition operators
   • output
2. Abstraction [X]
   • expressions and statements
   • constants
   • defining functions and parameters
   • functions vs procedures
   • variable scoping
3. Selection [X]
   • input
   • if-elif-else
   • logical operators
4. Recursion [X]
   • features of successful recursion
   • random functions for generating pseudorandom numbers
5. Iteration [X]
   • Conditional iteration with while
   • Fixed iteration with for
   • slicing
6. Data structures and mutability [X]
   • Sequences using list
   • Mappings using dict
   • list vs tuple vs str
   • mutable vs immutable objects
   • random functions for working with sequences
7. Debugging [X]
   • trace tables and print() statements
   • the pdb debugger
8. Identity [X]
   • Identity with the id() function
   • == vs is
9. File IO: working with files and directories [X]
   • getting file handles from open()
   • file modes: read, write, and append
10. Error handling with try [X]

Getting things done

11. Handling CSV files with csv [X]
    • reader and writer for CSV without header
    • DictReader and DictWriter for CSV with header
12. Convenience features [X]
    • f-strings
    • tuple unpacking
    • enumerate()
    • zip()
    • sorted()
    • reversed()
    • in-place operators
13. Abstraction with modules [X]
    • importing modules
    • __name__
    • aliasing