Python Programming Fundamentals

by Kent D. Lee

Overview

This easy-to-follow and classroom-tested textbook guides the reader through the fundamentals of programming with Python, an accessible language which can be learned incrementally.

Features: incudes numerous examples and practice exercises throughout the text, with additional exercises, solutions and review questions at the end of each chapter; highlights the patterns which frequently appear when writing programs, reinforcing the application of these patterns for problem-solving through practice exercises; introduces the use of a debugger tool to inspect a program, enabling students to discover for themselves how programs work and enhance their understanding; presents the Tkinter framework for building graphical user interface applications and event-driven programs; provides instructional videos and additional information for students, as well as support materials for instructors, at an associated website.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849965378
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	10/26/2010
Series:	Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Dr. Kent D. Lee is Professor of Computer Science at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, USA. He is the author of the forthcoming Springer textbooks Data Structures and Algorithms with Python and Foundations of Programming Languages.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 The Python Programming Language 2

1.2 Installing Python and Wing IDE 101 3

1.3 Writing Your First Program 7

1.4 What is a Computer? 8

1.5 Binary Number Representation 10

1.6 What is a Programming Language? 13

1.7 Hexadecimal and Octal Representation 15

1.8 Writing Your Second Program 16

1.9 Syntax Errors 18

1.10 Types of Values 19

1.11 The Reference Type and Assignment Statements 20

1.12 Integers and Real Numbers 21

1.13 Strings 24

1.14 Integer to String Conversion and Back Again 25

1.15 Getting Input 26

1.16 Formatting Output 27

1.17 When Things Go Wrong 30

1.18 Review Questions 33

1.19 Exercises 34

1.20 Solutions to Practice Problems 36

2 Decision Making 41

2.1 Finding the Max of Three Integers 45

2.2 The Guess and Check Pattern 47

2.3 Choosing from a List of Alternatives 48

2.4 The Boolean Type 50

2.5 Short Circuit Logic 53

2.6 Comparing Floats for Equality 54

2.7 Exception Handling 55

2.8 Review Questions 57

2.9 Exercises 58

2.10 Solutions to Practice Problems 61

3 Repetitive Tasks 65

3.1 Operators 67

3.2 Iterating Over a Sequence 69

3.3 Lists 71

3.4 The Guess and Check Pattern for Lists 74

3.5 Mutability of Lists 75

3.6 The Accumulator Pattern 79

3.7 Reading from and Writing to a File 80

3.8 Reading Records from a File 82

3.9 Review Questions 85

3.10 Exercises 86

3.11 Solutions to Practice Problems 88

4 Using Objects 93

4.1 Constructors 96

4.2 Accessor Methods 98

4.3 Mutator Methods 98

4.4 Immutable Classes 99

4.5 Object-Oriented Programming 100

4.6 Working with XML Files 100

4.7 Extracting Elements from an XML File 103

4.8 Dictionaries 104

4.9 Getting at the Data in an XML File 105

4.10 Working with Time 107

4.11 Parallel Lists 107

4.12 Visualizing a Workout 108

4.13 Review Questions 110

4.14 Exercises 110

4.15 Solutions to Practice Problems 113

5 Defining Functions 119

5.1 Why Write Functions? 120

5.2 Passing Arguments and Returning a Value 121

5.3 Scope of Variables 122

5.4 The Run-time Stack 126

5.5 Mutable Data and Functions 129

5.6 Predicate Functions 131

5.7 Top-Down Design 133

5.8 Bottom-Up Design 134

5.9 Recursive Functions 134

5.10 The Main Function 136

5.11 Keyword Arguments 139

5.12 Default Values 140

5.13 Functions with Variable Number of Parameters 140

5.14 Dictionary Parameter Passing 141

5.15 Review Questions 142

5.16 Exercises 142

5.17 Solutions to Practice Problems 145

6 Event-Driven Programming 149

6.1 The Root Window 150

6.2 Menus 151

6.3 Frames 152

6.4 The Text Widget 152

6.5 The Button Widget 153

6.6 Creating a Reminder! 154

6.7 Finishing up the Reminder! Application 156

6.8 Label and Entry Widgets 157

6.9 Layout Management 158

6.10 Message Boxes 159

6.11 Review Questions 160

6.12 Exercises 161

6.13 Solutions to Practice Problems 164

7 Defining Classes 167

7.1 Creating an Object 168

7.2 Inheritance 172

7.3 A Bouncing Ball Example 178

7.4 Polymorphism 180

7.5 Getting Hooked on Python 181

7.6 Review Questions 184

7.7 Exercises 184

7.8 Solutions to Practice Problems 190

Appendix A Integer Operators 193

Appendix B Float Operators 195

Appendix C String Operators and Methods 197

Appendix D List Operators and Methods 201

Appendix E Dictionary Operators and Methods 203

Appendix F Turtle Methods 205

Appendix G TurtleScreen Methods 217

Appendix H The Reminder! Program 225

Appendix I The Bouncing Ball Program 227

Glossary 231

References 237

Index 239

Editorial Reviews

The book emphasizes hands-on learning, which makes sense when learning programming. An undergraduate student that has a computer with a Python integrated development environment (IDE) and this book can learn a lot and do some interesting projects. The book is also suitable for high school students interested in programming assignments and projects. A highly readable and compact book, students and beginning programmers will like it.” (Naga Narayanaswamy, Computing Reviews, September, 2015)

“The introduction is well written and enables you to configure the WingIDE within minutes and start using the book. At the end of each chapter, there are programming tasks, most of which are resolved quite well a few pages after. This is a big plus. … if you have passion for easy-to-install scripting languages and you are interested in Python – the book is quite OK for a start!” (Vitosh, Vitosh Academy, vitoshacademy.com, February, 2015)

From the Publisher