Glossary

Quick reference guide to Python. ">>>" The default Python prompt of the interactive shell. Often seen for code examples which can be executed interactively in the interpreter. abs Return the absolute value of a number. argument Extra information which the computer uses to perform commands. argparse Argparse is a parser for command-line options, arguments and subcommands. assert Used during debugging to check for conditions that ought to apply assignment Giving a value to a variable. block Section of code which is grouped together break Used to exit a for loop or a while loop. class A template for creating user-defined objects. compiler Translates a program written in a high-level language into a low-level language. continue Used to skip the current block, and return to the "for" or "while" statement conditional statement Statement that contains an "if" or "if/else". debugging The process of finding and removing programming errors. def Defines a function or method dictionary A mutable associative array (or dictionary) of key and value pairs. Can contain mixed types (keys and values). Keys must be a hashable type. distutils Package included in the Python Standard Library for installing, building and distributing Python code. docstring A docstring is a string literal that occurs as the first statement in a module, function, class, or method definition. __future__ A pseudo-module which programmers can use to enable new language features which are not compatible with the current interpreter. easy_install Easy Install is a python module (easy_install) bundled with setuptools that lets you automatically download, build, install, and manage Python packages. evaluation order Python evaluates expressions from left to right. Notice that while evaluating an assignment, the right-hand side is evaluated before the left-hand side. exceptions Means of breaking out of the normal flow of control of a code block in order to handle errors or other exceptional conditions expression Python code that produces a value. filter filter(function, sequence) returns a sequence consisting of those items from the sequence for which function(item) is true float An immutable floating point number. for Iterates over an iterable object, capturing each element to a local variable for use by the attached block function A parameterized sequence of statements. function call An invocation of the function with arguments. garbage collection The process of freeing memory when it is not used anymore. generators A function which returns an iterator. high level language Designed to be easy for humans to read and write. IDLE Integrated development environment if statement Conditionally executes a block of code, along with else and elif (a contraction of else-if). immutable Cannot be changed after its created. import Used to import modules whose functions or variables can be used in the current program. indentation Python uses white-space indentation, rather than curly braces or keywords, to delimit blocks. int An immutable integer of unlimited magnitude. interactive mode When commands are read from a tty, the interpreter is said to be in interactive mode. interpret Execute a program by translating it one line at a time. IPython Interactive shell for interactive computing. iterable An object capable of returning its members one at a time. lambda They are a shorthand to create anonymous functions. list Mutable list, can contain mixed types. list comprehension A compact way to process all or part of the elements in a sequence and return a list with the results. literals Literals are notations for constant values of some built-in types. map map(function, iterable, ...) Apply function to every item of iterable and return a list of the results. methods A method is like a function, but it runs "on" an object. module The basic unit of code reusability in Python. A block of code imported by some other code. object Any data with state (attributes or value) and defined behavior (methods). object-oriented allows users to manipulate data structures called objects in order to build and execute programs. pass Needed to create an empty code block PEP 8 A set of recommendations how to write Python code. Python Package Index Official repository of third-party software for Python Pythonic An idea or piece of code which closely follows the most common idioms of the Python language, rather than implementing code using concepts common to other languages. reduce reduce(function, sequence) returns a single value constructed by calling the (binary) function on the first two items of the sequence, then on the result and the next item, and so on. set Unordered set, contains no duplicates setuptools Collection of enhancements to the Python distutils that allow you to more easily build and distribute Python packages slice Sub parts of sequences str A character string: an immutable sequence of Unicode codepoints. strings Can include numbers, letters, and various symbols and be enclosed by either double or single quotes, although single quotes are more commonly used. statement A statement is part of a suite (a "block" of code). try Allows exceptions raised in its attached code block to be caught and handled by except clauses. tuple Immutable, can contain mixed types. variables Placeholder for texts and numbers. The equal sign (=) is used to assign values to variables. while Executes a block of code as long as its condition is true. with Encloses a code block within a context manager. yield Returns a value from a generator function. Zen of Python When you type "import this", Python’s philosophy is printed out.

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