Python
Cheat Sheet
Code with Mosh
1st Edition
Variables
We use variables to temporarily store data in computer’s memory.
price = 10
rating = 4.9
course_name = ‘Python for Beginners’
is_published = True
In the above example,
• price is an integer (a whole number without a decimal point)
• rating is a float (a number with a decimal point)
• course_name is a string (a sequence of characters)
• is_published is a boolean. Boolean values can be True or False.
Comments
We use comments to add notes to our code. Good comments explain the hows and
whys, not what the code does. That should be reflected in the code itself. Use
comments to add reminders to yourself or other developers, or also explain your
assumptions and the reasons you’ve written code in a certain way.
# This is a comment and it won’t get executed.
# Our comments can be multiple lines.
Receiving Input
We can receive input from the user by calling the input() function.
birth_year = int(input(‘Birth year: ‘))
The input() function always returns data as a string. So, we’re converting the
result into an integer by calling the built-in int() function.
To check if a string contains a character (or a sequence of characters), we use the in
operator:
contains = ‘Python’ in course
Arithmetic Operations
+
/ # returns a float
// # returns an int
% # returns the remainder of division
** # exponentiation - x ** y = x to the power of y
Augmented assignment operator:
x = x + 10
x += 10
Operator precedence:
1. parenthesis
2. exponentiation
3. multiplication / division
4. addition / subtraction
Lists
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
numbers[0] # returns the first item
numbers[1] # returns the second item
numbers[-1] # returns the first item from the end
numbers[-2] # returns the second item from the end
numbers.append(6) # adds 6 to the end
numbers.insert(0, 6) # adds 6 at index position of 0
numbers.remove(6) # removes 6
numbers.pop() # removes the last item
numbers.clear() # removes all the items
numbers.index(8) # returns the index of first occurrence of 8
numbers.sort() # sorts the list
numbers.reverse() # reverses the list
numbers.copy() # returns a copy of the list
Tuples
They are like read-only lists. We use them to store a list of items. But once we
define a tuple, we cannot add or remove items or change the existing items.
coordinates = (1, 2, 3)
We can unpack a list or a tuple into separate variables:
x, y, z = coordinates
Dictionaries
We use dictionaries to store key/value pairs.
customer = {
“name”: “John Smith”,
“age”: 30,
“is_verified”: True
}
Exceptions
Exceptions are errors that crash our programs. They often happen because of bad
input or programming errors. It’s our job to anticipate and handle these exceptions
to prevent our programs from cashing.
try:
age = int(input(‘Age: ‘))
income = 20000
risk = income / age
print(age)
except ValueError:
print(‘Not a valid number’)
except ZeroDivisionError:
print(‘Age cannot be 0’)
Classes
We use classes to define new types.
class Point:
def init (self, x, y):
self.x = x
self.y = y
def move(self):
print(“move”)
When a function is part of a class, we refer to it as a method.
Classes define templates or blueprints for creating objects. An object is an instance
of a class. Every time we create a new instance, that instance follows the structure
we define using the class.
point1 = Point(10, 5)
point2 = Point(2, 4)
init is a special method called constructor. It gets called at the time of
creating new objects. We use it to initialize our objects.
Packages
A package is a directory with init .py in it. It can contain one or more
modules.
# importing the entire sales module
from ecommerce import sales
sales.calc_shipping()
# importing one function in the sales module
from ecommerce.sales import calc_shipping
calc_shipping()
Python Standard Library
Python comes with a huge library of modules for performing common tasks such as
sending emails, working with date/time, generating random values, etc.
Random Module
import random
random.random() # returns a float between 0 to 1
random.randint(1, 6) # returns an int between 1 to 6
members = [‘John’, ‘Bob’, ‘Mary’]
leader = random.choice(members) # randomly picks an item
Pypi
Python Package Index (pypi.org) is a directory of Python packages published by
Python developers around the world. We use pip to install or uninstall these
packages.
pip install openpyxl pip uninstall openpyxl
