Question

Can you please post the most/main important terminologies for Python coding and explain what they mean (e.g. Class - xyz, function - xyz, conductor - xyz, method - xyz, instance variable - xyz, variable - xyz) (Feel free to add anything I may have missed or that you think is also important)?

Answer 1

(NOTE - If you need more information, let me know in the comment box. I have included the basics as mentioned)

PYTHON

It is a high level and general purpose programming language created by Guido van Rossum.

Python is dynamically typed and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming paradigms including structured, object oriented and functional programming.

IDLE

IDLE is short for Integrated Development Environment for Python. It is the editor and interpreter used for building and executing Python programs.

Python uses whitespace indentation , rather than curly brackets or keywords, to delimit blocks. An increase in indentation comes after certain statements; a decrease in indentation signifies the end of the current block. This feature is sometimes termed the off-side rule, which some other languages share, but in most languages indentation doesn't have any semantic meaning.

Classes and Objects

A class is a user-defined blueprint or prototype from which objects are created. Classes provide a means of bundling data and functionality together. Creating a new class creates a new type of object, allowing new instances of that type to be made. Each class instance can have attributes attached to it for maintaining its state. Class instances can also have methods (defined by its class) for modifying its state.

Some important attributes :

1. Classes are created by a keyword named class.
2. Attributes are the variables that belong to class.

An object is nothing but an instance of a class. It is a real entity.

Functions

In Python, a function is a group of related statements that performs a specific task.Functions help break our program into smaller and modular chunks. As our program grows larger and larger, functions make it more organized and manageable.Furthermore, it avoids repetition and makes the code reusable.

1. Keyword def that marks the start of the function header.
2. A function name to uniquely identify the function. Function naming follows the same rules of writing identifiers in Python.
3. Parameters (arguments) through which we pass values to a function. They are optional.
4. A colon (:) to mark the end of the function header.

Constructors

Constructors are generally used for instantiating an object.The task of constructors is to initialize(assign values) to the data members of the class when an object of class is created.In Python the __init__() method is called the constructor and is always called when an object is created.

Syntax :

def __init__(self):
    # body of the constructor

Methods

1. Method is called by its name, but it is associated to an object (dependent).
2. A method is implicitly passed the object on which it is invoked.
3. It may or may not return any data.
4. A method can operate on the data (instance variables) that is contained by the corresponding class.

Syntax :

class class name

def method name () :

#method body

Class variables and Instance variables

Class Variables — Declared inside the class definition (but outside any of the instance methods). They are not tied to any particular object of the class, hence shared across all the objects of the class. Modifying a class variable affects all objects instance at the same time.

Instance Variable — Declared inside the constructor method of class (the __init__ method). They are tied to the particular object instance of the class, hence the contents of an instance variable are completely independent from one object instance to the other.

Example :

class Car :

wheels =4 #class variable

def __init__(self, name) :

self.name = name #instance variable

Libraries

Python's large standard library, commonly cited as one of its greatest strengths, provides tools suited to many tasks. For Internet-facing applications, many standard formats and protocols such as MIME and HTTP are supported. It includes modules for creating graphical user interfaces, connecting to relational databases, generating pseudorandom numbers, arithmetic with arbitrary-precision decimals,manipulating regular expressions, and unit testing.