This document contains notes from a Python class covering functions, lists, strings, and their methods. It discusses built-in functions like len(), range(), and type conversions. It also covers control flow structures like if/else, for loops, exceptions, modules, and functions in more detail including defining functions, parameters, arguments, returning values, docstring, and variable scopes. Assignments include writing functions to process lists and check for palindromes in strings.

1. Functions and (list and string
methods)
Python SIG – PYA
Class 3 – 3/10/15

2. These are things you should know
pretty well by now:
• raw_input, printing
• help(), dir(), online docs, searching the
internet
• The fact that Python is awesome. (No, really,
I’m just being completely objective here.)

3. (Revision of)Useful built-ins
• len()
• range() (and xrange())
• sum(), max(), min()
• int(), float(), str()
• dir() – use it to find list and string methods
• Use help() to find out about them

4. (Revision of)if else elif
if SomethingThatEvaluatesToABoolean:
# code
elif SomethingElseThatEvaluatesToABoolean:
# code
else:
# code

5. (Revision of)String formatting
• What is it? (Immutable)
• %something - %d, %f, %s
– ‘a = %d’ % (a)
• Prefer .format()
• {} sufficient – numbers optional
• More complex things possible

6. (Revision of)Loops
• for – for when you how many iterations
• while - while you don’t know how many
iterations
• while SomethingThatEvaluatesToABoolean:
# code
• for loop syntax in Python
– for iterVar in (x)range(iterNum):
# code

7. (Revision of)for loops can do more!
• What is this ‘in’ anyway? (different time
complexity for different cases)
• for char in string
• for line in text
• for item in sequence
–Example: for i in [1,’a’,3]:
print i
# output: 1nan3

8. And one more thing
Don’t be afraid of these:
Exception EOFError OSError
StopIteration ImportError SyntaxError
SystemExit KeyboardInterrupt IndentationError
StandardError LookupError SystemError
ArithmeticError IndexError SystemExit
OverflowError KeyError TypeError
FloatingPointError NameError ValueError
ZeroDivisonError UnboundLocalError RuntimeError
AssertionError EnvironmentError NotImplementedError
AttributeError IOError SomeRandomError

9. And one more thing
• If nothing, look at what error it is and what
line it is on. And make sure you look above
and below that line.
• Further reading – 16 common runtime errors
Python beginners find:
http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2012/07/0
9/16-common-python-runtime-errors/

10. Obligatory xkcd reference[1]

11. Serious questions:
• What are functions?
• Why are they important?
• What is the difference between a
function and a method? (OOP language
guys should answer)

12. Functions are:
“Functions are reusable pieces of programs.
They allow you to give a name to a block of
statements, allowing you to run that block
using the specified name anywhere in your
program and any number of times. This is
known as calling the function.” - Byte of
Python, Swaroop CH[2]

13. General syntax
• def function_name(param_1, ..., param_n):
# code to do something
[return some_tuple] # square brackets because
# optional
• Why param not arg?
• That is, what is the difference between
arguments and parameters?
• Fact: Functions in Python always return
something. So, in a function that just prints
something, what does it return?

14. More about functions
• Flow of execution – jumping when called,
ending when a return is reached
• Try making a IndentationError or SyntaxError
in your function definition. Is it caught without
calling your function?
• What about other types of errors? That is,
runtime errors.
( dir(__builtins__) lists (yes, LISTs), among
other things, all possible [Something]Error)

15. Docstrings
• Let’s open some random library’s .py files and
look at the code. (Be careful about modifying it,
though.)
• Have you noticed __doc__?
• Ignoring classes (and double underscores) for
now.
• def somefunction(args):
“””This is a docstring and it
describes what the function does
“””

16. Functions that return
• What is the point of this?
• How to receive what the function returns?
• Be careful about number of arguments.
• Idea of local variables.
• Global variables using global statement
(But bad practice!)
• Functional programming – stateless, no side
effects

17. Imported stuff
• Before going to assignments for functions,
let’s take a little detour to the import
statement.
• Modules vs. Libraries – basic difference
• And before going to import, let’s take a little
detour to...

18. Remember import antigravity?
• For those who don’t:

19. (not so) Serious questions:
• Do you think I’m just looking for an excuse to
put xkcd comics in my slides or they actually
have served a purpose in every case (so far)?

20. Why am I talking about that anyway?
• Because whatever we import are usually .py
or .pyc files
• And I found antigravity.py and antigravity.pyc
in C:Python27Lib
• Let’s open both with a text editor.
• What happens when we click on both?
• What happens when we modify the .py file?
• Does is effect the .pyc file? Should it?

21. (Again)Why am I talking about that
anyway?
• To explain better how import works
– The .pyc file is unaffected until we modify, save
and import antigravity again
– Searches everything in sys.path
• Just to give you an idea that Python is not a
complex or rigid as you think it is.
• Open source for the win!

22. Try ‘this’. Literally.
• Try ‘import this’.
• Find “this.py” and try to make sense of it.
• Make a .py file called “this_1.py” and modify it to
print whatever you want.
• Save it in a non C: partition
• Now find a way to run it in a Python session
without navigating to saved location.
• After you’ve finished, read the output of import
this. It’s pretty well written!

23. Make a dice rolling game
Find a module that helps you with pseudorandom
generation of numbers and
use it to create a program to emulate a dice.
Then it should roll the dice until the user gets the
same number three times in a row or m tries,
whichever is earlier. (m is entered by the user at
the beginning)
In case of the former, it prints, “You’re lucky.”
Otherwise it prints “m chances up. ”
It should also print no. of chances remaining at
every roll and display the results of the last 3
rolls.

24. For those who have finished
• Try playing the game to see if you “are lucky”!
How big should your m be to win consistently?
• What is the ideal probability for a random
dice? (1/6th per toss, one doesn’t affect the
other.)
• But here it is pseudorandom.
• Further reading – Blog post by Jeff Atwood:
https://blog.codinghorror.com/computers-
are-lousy-random-number-generators/

25. Default args
• Functions can use a default value as argument
in case it is not passed while calling it.
• “Only those parameters which are at the end
of the parameter list can be given default
argument values ” [2]
• def func_name(param1, param2 = 0):
• NOT def func_name(param1 = 0, param2):

26. *args and **kwargs
• Variable number of arguments
• kwargs – keyword arguments
• def complex_func(*args, **kwargs):
# try this
a = args; b = kwargs
print(a, type(a)); print(b,type(b))

27. *args and **kwargs
• You can use for loops to iterate over the
arguments.
• args is a tuple
• kwargs is a dictionary
• How to call such a function? What is the value
of the dictionary?

28. Other things about functions
• Functions can return multiple values. Use
tuples (if confused, just comma-separate the
variables for now)
• Too many arguments make a function
argumentative. Limit yourself to fewer
arguments per function; and more functions if
required.

29. List and string methods
• Why is this important enough to be a separate
topic?
• What is the main difference between them?
• Hint: This goes back to mutability.
• Hint: Try something on both. What is the
return type

30. List methods
• Do dir([]) and try to guess what each of the
methods might do to a list.
• list.append(element)
• list.extend(list)
• list.remove(element)
• list.pop(index)
• list.reverse()
• list.sort()

31. Assignment
Write a function which takes an input ‘n’.
Then it asks for ‘n’ numbers and makes a list
of Boolean values that are returned by a
function is_greater(arg1, arg2) by comparing
input values in order. That is, when 4 values a,
b, c and d are given. The value of the list is:
[a > b, b > c, c > d]. The program runs until the
user types ‘end’.

32. Assignment
A list containing ints, floats, and strings, when unsorted
looks like this:
Example: l1_unsorted = [[1], 1, 2, 1.0, ‘aa’, ‘a’, ‘b’,
[‘b’], [‘a’]]
Using the default sort gives:
Example: l1_sorted = [1, 1.0, 2, [1], ['a'], ['b'], 'a', 'aa',
'b']
Write a program that returns:
l1_custom_sorted = [[‘a’], [‘b’], ‘b’, ‘aa’, ‘a’, 2, 1,
1.0] . Make sure that no more than 4 lines of code is
outside a function. Functionify you code!

33. String methods
• Do dir(‘’) and try to guess what each of
methods might do to a string.
• string.split(delimiter)
• string.upper() / .lower()
• ‘ ‘.join([list of things to join])
• string.startswith() / .endswith()

34. Palindrome checker
• Write a palindrome checker.
• That’s it. Up to you how complex you make it.

35. Thanks!
Pranav S Bijapur,
ECE, BMSCE, Bangalore
b.pranavshankar@gmail.com
Telegram - @pranavsb

36. References
All (Revision of) slides were taken from the
class2 presentation that was made by me
and used on 29/9/15
1. xkcd – Wisdom of the ancients
https://xkcd.com/979
2. Byte of Python by Swaroop CH, available
online at
http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/python