Acknowledgments xxix
Introduction xxxi
Chapter 1: Programming Basics and Strings1
How Programming Is Different from Using a Computer1
Programming Is Consistency2
Programming Is Control2
Programming Copes with Change2
What All That Means Together3
The First Steps3
Starting codeEditor3
Using codeEditor’s Python Shell4
Try It Out: Starting the Python Shell4
Beginning to Use Python — Strings5
What Is a String?5
Why the Quotes?6
Try It Out: Entering Strings with Different Quotes6
Understanding Different Quotes6
Putting Two Strings Together8
Try It Out: Using + to Combine Strings8
Putting Strings Together in Different Ways9
Try It Out: Using a Format Specifier to Populate a String9
Try It Out: More String Formatting9
Displaying Strings with Print10
Try It Out: Printing Text with Print10
Summary10
Exercises11
Chapter 2: Numbers and Operators13
Different Kinds of Numbers13
Numbers in Python14
Try It Out: Using Type with Different Numbers14
Try It Out: Creating an Imaginary Number15
Contents
Program Files15
Try It Out: Using the Shell with the Editor16
Using the Different Types17
Try It Out Including Different Numbers in Strings18
Try It Out: Escaping the % Sign in Strings18
Basic Math19
Try It Out Doing Basic Math19
Try It Out: Using the Modulus Operation20
Some Surprises20
Try It Out: Printing the Results21
Using Numbers21
Order of Evaluation21
Try It Out: Using Math Operations21
Number Formats22
Try It Out: Using Number Formats22
Mistakes Will Happen23
Try It Out: Making Mistakes23
Some Unusual Cases24
Try It Out: Formatting Numbers as Octal and Hexadecimal24
Summary24
Exercises25
Chapter 3: Variables — Names for Values27
Referring to Data – Using Names for Data27
Try It Out: Assigning Values to Names28
Changing Data Through Names28
Try It Out: Altering Named Values29
Copying Data29
Names You Can’t Use and Some Rules29
Using More Built-in Types30
Tuples — Unchanging Sequences of Data30
Try It Out: Creating and Using a Tuple30
Try It Out: Accessing a Tuple Through Another Tuple31
Lists — Changeable Sequences of Data33
Try It Out Viewing the Elements of a List33
Dictionaries — Groupings of Data Indexed by Name34
Try It Out: Making a Dictionary34
Try It Out: Getting the Keys from a Dictionary35
Treating a String Like a List36
Special Types38
Contents
Other Common Sequence Properties38
Referencing the Last Elements38
Ranges of Sequences39
Try It Out: Slicing Sequences39
Growing Lists by Appending Sequences40
Using Lists to Temporarily Store Data40
Try It Out: Popping Elements from a List40
Summary41
Exercises42
Chapter 4: Making Decisions43
Comparing Values — Are They the Same?43
Try It Out: Comparing Values for Sameness43
Doing the Opposite — Not Equal45
Try It Out: Comparing Values for Difference45
Comparing Values — Which One Is More?45
Try It Out: Comparing Greater Than and Less Than45
More Than or Equal, Less Than or Equal47
Reversing True and False47
Try It Out: Reversing the Outcome of a Test47
Looking for the Results of More Than One Comparison48
How to Get Decisions Made48
Try It Out: Placing Tests within Tests49
Repetition 51
How to Do Something — Again and Again51
Try It Out: Using a while Loop51
Stopping the Repetition52
Try It Out: Using else While Repeating54
Try It Out: Using continue to Keep Repeating54
Handling Errors55
Trying Things Out55
Try It Out: Creating an Exception with Its Explanation56
Summary57
Exercises58
Chapter 5: Functions59
Putting Your Program into Its Own File59
Try It Out: Run a Program with Python -i61

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