What is Python, and how is it different from other scripting languages? What is the philosophy behind the Python language? Which version of Python is covered in this course?
- [Instructor] Python is a modern, object-oriented scripting language. Python was developed in the late 1980s by Dutch research programmer Guido van Rossum. Guido wrote the first Python interpreter over his Christmas holiday in 1989. He chose the name Python as a reference to Monty Python's Flying Circus. Guido remains Python's principal author to this day, and the Python community affectionately refers to him as BDFL, Benevolent Dictator For Life. There's a core philosophy behind the Python language, which includes the following statements: Beautiful is better than ugly.
It's always a good idea to make your code elegant and readable. Explicit is better than implicit. Don't make your readers guess what your code does, make it obvious. Simple is better than complex. If you can make it simple, do. Complex is better than complicated. If complexity is necessary, don't complicate it. Readability counts. As a casual reader with a good understanding of the Python language, you should be able to understand the code with a minimal amount of effort.
For the complete list, simply type Import This into any Python interpreter. Python 3 is very close to Guido's ideal vision for Python. Code written for Python 2 must be ported for use with Python 3. All data types, including functions and classes, are now built on Python's object model. In Python 2, print was a keyword, and it didn't require parentheses. In Python 3 it is a function, and it does require parentheses.
Python 2 had separate types for integers and long integers. Now there is just one integer type. Python 2 had separate types of strings for Unicode, Ascii, and APID data. All text is now Unicode, and there's a separate APID data type. This course teaches Python 3. There's a lot of legacy code written for Python 2, and it may be important to maintain it for a while. As I record this course, Python 3 has been around almost 10 years, and the amount of legacy code is diminishing.
I strongly recommend that you write new code using Python 3 exclusively. Python is a rich language, and it would be impossible for me to cover all of it in the time allotted for this course. The online documentation is both accessible and exhaustive. I recommend you become familiar with it. Python is a very powerful and versatile programming language. It's supported on virtually all common operating systems and it's easy to learn and to support. In the rest of this course, I'll show you the essentials of Python, so you may develop quick and easy solutions to common problems, as well as larger, more complex interactive systems.
Author
Updated
3/29/2021Released
1/18/2018- Python anatomy
- Types and values
- Conditionals and operators
- Building loops
- Defining functions
- Python data structures: lists, tuples, sets, and more
- Creating classes
- Handling exceptions
- Working with strings
- File input/output (I/O)
- Creating modules
- Integrating a database with Python db-api
Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
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Introduction
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Welcome55s
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Exercise files1m 23s
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About Python 32m 53s
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1. Installation
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2. Language Overview
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Hello world1m 57s
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Python anatomy4m 36s
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Expressions and statements2m 38s
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Whitespace and comments3m 26s
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Using print()3m 56s
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Blocks and scope4m 2s
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Conditionals3m 49s
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Loops3m 7s
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Functions4m 50s
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Objects3m 26s
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3. Types and Values
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Overview of types and values1m 52s
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The string type7m 25s
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Numeric types5m 56s
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The bool type3m 20s
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Sequence types5m 46s
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type() and id()5m 50s
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4. Conditionals
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Conditional syntax2m 26s
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Conditional assignment1m 50s
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5. Operators
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Arithmetic operators2m 32s
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Bitwise operators5m 21s
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Comparison operators2m 17s
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Boolean operators3m 21s
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Operator precedence1m 17s
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6. Loops
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Python loops53s
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The while loop1m 57s
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The for loop1m 20s
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Additional controls6m 33s
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7. Functions
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Defining a function5m 6s
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Function arguments8m 36s
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Argument lists2m 16s
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Keyword arguments1m 45s
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Return values1m 25s
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Generators3m 57s
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Decorators5m 6s
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8. Structured Data
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Basic data structures1m 10s
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Lists and tuples5m 1s
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Dictionaries5m 37s
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Sets2m 31s
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List comprehension4m 31s
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Mixed structures3m 18s
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9. Classes
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Creating a class2m 35s
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Constructing an object5m 3s
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Class methods4m 1s
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Object data4m 56s
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Inheritance4m 26s
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Iterator objects2m 57s
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10. Exceptions
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Handling exceptions5m 40s
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Reporting errors2m 9s
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11. String Objects
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Overview of string objects2m 59s
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Common string methods4m 15s
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Formatting strings6m 16s
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Splitting and joining2m 37s
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12. File I/O
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Opening files2m 48s
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Text vs. binary mode1m 45s
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Text files3m 55s
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Binary files3m 36s
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13. Built-in Functions
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Numeric functions3m 11s
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String functions5m 10s
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Container functions4m 41s
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Object and class functions1m 51s
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14. Modules
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Using standard modules5m 59s
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Creating a module5m 38s
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15. Databases
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Python database API4m 28s
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A database interface10m 44s
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Example: Short URL database10m 53s
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Conclusion
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Wrap up43s
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Video: About Python 3