Reading 08: Python

Everyone:

Next week, we will transition from programming in C to scripting in Python. The use of a high-level language like Python will allow us to take advantage of native object-oriented programming support along with a wide variety of built-in data structure containers such as: lists, tuples, sets, and dicts. We will use these building blocks to explore more trees and graphs, and learn about new algorithms which utilize these sophisticated data structures.

TL;DR

The focus of this reading is to introduce scripting in Python.

Readings

The readings for this week are:

  1. Scipy Lecture Notes: 1.2. The Python language

  2. A Byte of Python - Data Structures

Optional Resources

Here are some additional resources:

  1. A Byte of Python

  2. Automate The Boring Stuff

Quiz

Once you have completed the readings, answer the following Reading 08 Quiz questions:

Submission

To submit your work, follow the same process outlined in Reading 01:

$ git checkout master                 # Make sure we are in master branch
$ git pull --rebase                   # Make sure we are up-to-date with GitHub

$ git checkout -b reading08           # Create reading08 branch and check it out

$ cd reading08                        # Go into reading08 folder
$ $EDITOR answers.json                # Edit your answers.json file

$ ../.scripts/check.py                # Check reading08 quiz
Checking reading08 quiz ...
      Q1 0.40
      Q2 0.70
      Q3 0.40
      Q4 0.80
      Q5 0.20
      Q6 0.50
   Score 3.00 / 3.00
  Status Success

$ git add answers.json                # Add answers.json to staging area
$ git commit -m "Reading 08: Done"    # Commit work

$ git push -u origin reading08        # Push branch to GitHub

Pull Request

Once you have committed your work and pushed it to GitHub, remember to create a pull request and assign it to the appropriate teaching assistant from the Reading 08 TA List.