Python, No Tears

This edition is updated for Python 3.13.

Preface

This book is an introduction to programming in Python. The examples and recommendations in this edition target Python 3.13. You can follow along with a local Python 3.13 installation, but a Docker image is also available if you want a preconfigured environment with JupyterLab already set up. The diagram below is the book roadmap, showing that the material starts with core syntax, then adds control flow and reusable code, and only after that moves into objects, the standard library, and practice-heavy chapters.

Use that roadmap when jumping around the book: chapters later in the chain assume more vocabulary and more comfort with Python’s built-in tools. To run the Docker image, use the following command.

docker run -it \
 -p 8888:8888 \
 oneoffcoder/book-python-intro

The Docker container starts JupyterLab on port 8888. When the container is running, you can open it at http://localhost:8888.

Contents

• 1. Hello, World!
  • 1.1. Exercises
• 2. Types
  • 2.1. Variable
  • 2.2. Basic types
  • 2.3. String
  • 2.4. List
  • 2.5. Set
  • 2.6. Map
  • 2.7. Tuple
• 3. Operators
  • 3.1. Basic arithmetic operators
  • 3.2. Compound assignment operators
  • 3.3. Bitwise operators
  • 3.4. Relational operators
  • 3.5. Boolean logical operators
  • 3.6. Parentheses
  • 3.7. List unpacking
  • 3.8. Merging dictionaries via unpacking
• 4. Control Statements
  • 4.1. if
  • 4.2. if-else
  • 4.3. if-elif-else
  • 4.4. Multiple comparison in if-else
  • 4.5. Nested if-else
• 5. Structural Pattern Matching
  • 5.1. Basic matching
  • 5.2. Matching structured data
  • 5.3. Matching with guards
  • 5.4. Why this matters
  • 5.5. Exercise
• 6. User Input
  • 6.1. Exercise, Math Calculators
  • 6.2. Exercise, Shape Calculators
• 7. Loops
  • 7.1. while
  • 7.2. for
  • 7.3. Comprehension
• 8. Functions
  • 8.1. Basic function
  • 8.2. Function with one arguments
  • 8.3. Function with two arguments
  • 8.4. Function with three arguments
  • 8.5. Function with a list argument
  • 8.6. Function with default value argument
  • 8.7. Non-keyworded, variable-length argument
  • 8.8. Keyworded, variable-length argument
  • 8.9. Mixed arguments
  • 8.10. Required keyword arguments
  • 8.11. Unpacking tuple return type
  • 8.12. Lambda
  • 8.13. Generators
• 9. Code Documentation
  • 9.1. Basic docstrings
  • 9.2. Documenting parameters and return values
  • 9.3. Sphinx style
  • 9.4. Google style
  • 9.5. Which style should you use?
  • 9.6. What to document
  • 9.7. Exercise
• 10. Built-in Functions and Types
  • 10.1. Types
  • 10.2. Math
  • 10.3. Collections
  • 10.4. Range
  • 10.5. random
  • 10.6. itertools
  • 10.7. datetime
  • 10.8. pathlib
  • 10.9. urllib
• 11. Collections Gems
  • 11.1. Counter
  • 11.2. defaultdict
  • 11.3. deque
  • 11.4. Why these matter
  • 11.5. Exercise
• 12. Functional Programming
  • 12.1. map
  • 12.2. filter
  • 12.3. reduce
• 13. Decorators
  • 13.1. Basic
  • 13.2. Multiple decorators
  • 13.3. Parameterized decorators
  • 13.4. Built-in decorators
• 14. Classes
  • 14.1. Basic
  • 14.2. Constructor
  • 14.3. Instantiation
  • 14.4. Class methods
  • 14.5. Inheritance
  • 14.6. Abstract Classes
  • 14.7. Informal Interface
  • 14.8. Mixin
  • 14.9. Exercise
  • 14.10. Data classes
• 15. Dataclasses
  • 15.1. Basic dataclass
  • 15.2. Default values
  • 15.3. Mutable defaults
  • 15.4. Frozen dataclasses
  • 15.5. Why dataclasses matter
  • 15.6. Exercise
• 16. Enumerations
  • 16.1. Basic enum
  • 16.2. Why enums help
  • 16.3. Using StrEnum
  • 16.4. Looping over enum values
  • 16.5. When to use enums
  • 16.6. Exercise
• 17. Typing
  • 17.1. Basic type hints
  • 17.2. Collection types
  • 17.3. Optional values
  • 17.4. Typed aliases
  • 17.5. Why type hints help
  • 17.6. Exercise
• 18. Libraries
  • 18.1. pip
  • 18.2. Pandas
  • 18.3. Numpy
  • 18.4. Scikit-Learn
  • 18.5. joblib
  • 18.6. Exercise
• 19. JSON
  • 19.1. Encoding JSON
  • 19.2. Decoding JSON
  • 19.3. Pretty printing
  • 19.4. Exercise
• 20. CSV
  • 20.1. Writing CSV
  • 20.2. Reading CSV
  • 20.3. Dictionary rows
  • 20.4. Exercise
• 21. Pathlib
  • 21.1. Creating paths
  • 21.2. Checking files and directories
  • 21.3. Reading and writing text
  • 21.4. Globbing
  • 21.5. Why pathlib matters
  • 21.6. Exercise
• 22. Randomness
  • 22.1. Random numbers
  • 22.2. Picking values
  • 22.3. Shuffling data
  • 22.4. Exercise
• 23. Dates, Times, and Time Zones
  • 23.1. Creating dates and times
  • 23.2. Current time
  • 23.3. Formatting and parsing
  • 23.4. Time zones with zoneinfo
  • 23.5. Why this matters
  • 23.6. Exercise
• 24. TOML Configuration
  • 24.1. Reading TOML
  • 24.2. Nested settings
  • 24.3. Exercise
• 25. Command-Line Arguments
  • 25.1. Basic arguments
  • 25.2. Flags
  • 25.3. Choices
  • 25.4. Exercise
• 26. Running Commands with subprocess
  • 26.1. Running a command
  • 26.2. Capturing output
  • 26.3. Checking failures
  • 26.4. Exercise
• 27. Logging
  • 27.1. Basic logging
  • 27.2. Logging to a file
  • 27.3. Why logging matters
  • 27.4. Exercise
• 28. Exceptions
  • 28.1. Divide by zero
  • 28.2. Accessing invalid index
  • 28.3. Accessing invalid key
  • 28.4. Accessing invalid key
  • 28.5. Raising an exception
  • 28.6. User-defined exceptions
• 29. Context Manager
  • 29.1. Basic
  • 29.2. Functions as context managers
• 30. Threading
  • 30.1. Process
  • 30.2. Pool
  • 30.3. Multiprocessing
  • 30.4. Synchronization
  • 30.5. Exercise
• 31. Input/Output (IO)
  • 31.1. File write and read
  • 31.2. JSON file write and read
  • 31.3. Pickle/unpickle data
  • 31.4. Shelving/unshelfing data
  • 31.5. Creating temporary file and directory
  • 31.6. Exercise
• 32. Testing
  • 32.1. Simple assertions
  • 32.2. Using unittest
  • 32.3. Why testing matters
  • 32.4. Exercise
• 33. Turtle
  • 33.1. Draw a line
  • 33.2. Draw a square
  • 33.3. Draw stars
  • 33.4. Draw rectangular spirals
  • 33.5. Draw polygons
  • 33.6. Draw a spiral helix
  • 33.7. Dots
  • 33.8. Crazy lines
  • 33.9. Bright sun
  • 33.10. Events
  • 33.11. Built-in examples
  • 33.12. Exercise
• 34. Mini Projects
  • 34.1. Project 1: Personal Expense Tracker
  • 34.2. Project 2: File Organizer
  • 34.3. Project 3: Quiz Game
  • 34.4. One complete solution
• 35. Practice, Practice, Practice
  • 35.1. Similarity
  • 35.2. Rock Paper Scissor
  • 35.3. Maze Runner
  • 35.4. Treasure Map
  • 35.5. Music Playlist Shuffle
• 36. Python 3.13 Notes
  • 36.1. What this means in practice
  • 36.2. What this book does not cover

Nifty Libraries

• 1. JMESPath
• 2. python-dateutil
• 3. termtables
• 4. Exercise

About

One-Off Coder is an educational, service and product company. Please visit us online to discover how we may help you achieve life-long success in your personal coding career or with your company’s business goals and objectives.

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Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by One-Off Coder.



The full source code is available on GitHub.

Cite this book as follows.:

@misc{oneoffcoder_python_intro_2019,
title={Python, No Tears},
url={https://learn-python.oneoffcoder.com},
author={One-Off Coder},
year={2019},
month={Oct}}

Author

Jee Vang, Ph.D.

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