Starting Out With Python, Fifth Edition
By Tony Gaddis
Contents:
Preface xiii
Chapter 1 Introduction to Computers and Programming 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Hardware and Software 2
1.3 How Computers Store Data 7
1.4 How a Program Works 12
1.5 Using Python 20
Review Questions 24
Chapter 2 Input, Processing, and Output 31
2.1 Designing a Program 31
2.2 Input, Processing, and Output 35
2.3 Displaying Output with the print Function 36
2.4 Comments 39
2.5 Variables 40
2.6 Reading Input from the Keyboard 49
2.7 Performing Calculations 53
2.8 String Concatenation 65
2.9 More About the print Function 67
2.10 Displaying Formatted Output with F-strings 70
2.11 Named Constants 80
2.12 Introduction to Turtle Graphics 81
Review Questions 109
Programming Exercises 114
Chapter 3 Decision Structures and Boolean Logic 119
3.1 The if Statement 119
3.2 The if-else Statement 128
3.3 Comparing Strings 131
3.4 Nested Decision Structures and the if-elif-else Statement 135
3.5 Logical Operators 143
3.6 Boolean Variables 149
3.7 Turtle Graphics: Determining the State of the Turtle 150
Review Questions 158
Programming Exercises 161
Chapter 4 Repetition Structures 169
4.1 Introduction to Repetition Structures 169
4.2 The while Loop: A Condition-Controlled Loop 170
4.3 The for Loop: A Count-Controlled Loop 178
4.4 Calculating a Running Total 189
4.5 Sentinels 192
4.6 Input Validation Loops 195
4.7 Nested Loops 200
4.8 Turtle Graphics: Using Loops to Draw Designs 207
Review Questions 211
Programming Exercises 213
Chapter 5 Functions 219
5.1 Introduction to Functions 219
5.2 Defining and Calling a Void Function 222
5.3 Designing a Program to Use Functions 227
5.4 Local Variables 233
5.5 Passing Arguments to Functions 236
5.6 Global Variables and Global Constants 246
5.7 Introduction to Value-Returning Functions: Generating Random Numbers 250
5.8 Writing Your Own Value-Returning Functions 261
5.9 The math Module 274
5.10 Storing Functions in Modules 277
5.11 Turtle Graphics: Modularizing Code with Functions 283
Review Questions 289
Programming Exercises 294
Chapter 6 Files and Exceptions 303
6.1 Introduction to File Input and Output 303
6.2 Using Loops to Process Files 321
6.3 Processing Records 328
6.4 Exceptions 341
Review Questions 354
Programming Exercises 358
Chapter 7 Lists and Tuples 361
7.1 Sequences 361
7.2 Introduction to Lists 361
7.3 List Slicing 370
7.4 Finding Items in Lists with the in Operator 373
7.5 List Methods and Useful Built-in Functions 375
7.6 Copying Lists 382
7.7 Processing Lists 383
7.8 List Comprehensions 397
7.9 Two-Dimensional Lists 399
7.10 Tuples 404
7.11 Plotting List Data with the matplotlib Package 406
Review Questions 423
Programming Exercises 426
Chapter 8 More About Strings 431
8.1 Basic String Operations 431
8.2 String Slicing 439
8.3 Testing, Searching, and Manipulating Strings 443
Review Questions 459
Programming Exercises 462
Chapter 9 Dictionaries and Sets 467
9.1 Dictionaries 467
9.2 Sets 493
9.3 Serializing Objects 506
Review Questions 512
Programming Exercises 517
Chapter 10 Classes and Object-Oriented Programming 521
10.1 Procedural and Object-Oriented Programming 521
10.2 Classes 525
10.3 Working with Instances 542
10.4 Techniques for Designing Classe 564
Review Questions 575
Programming Exercises 578
Chapter 11 Inheritance 583
11.1 Introduction to Inheritance 583
11.2 Polymorphism 598
Review Questions 604
Programming Exercises 606
Chapter 12 Recursion 609
12.1 Introduction to Recursion 609
12.2 Problem Solving with Recursion 612
12.3 Examples of Recursive Algorithms 616
Review Questions 624
Programming Exercises 626
Chapter 13 GUI Programming 629
13.1 Graphical User Interfaces 629
13.2 Using the tkinter Module 631
13.3 Displaying Text with Label Widgets 635
13.4 Organizing Widgets with Frames 645
13.5 Button Widgets and Info Dialog Boxes 647
13.6 Getting Input with the Entry Widget 651
13.7 Using Labels as Output Fields 654
13.8 Radio Buttons and Check Buttons 661
13.9 Listbox Widgets 668
13.10 Drawing Shapes with the Canvas Widget 687
Review Questions 710
Programming Exercises 713
Chapter 14 Database Programming 717
14.1 Database Management Systems 717
14.2 Tables, Rows, and Columns 719
14.3 Opening and Closing a Database Connection with SQLite 723
14.4 Creating and Deleting Tables 726
14.5 Adding Data to a Table 731
14.6 Querying Data With the SQL SELECT Statement 738
14.7 Updating and Deleting Existing Rows 753
14.8 More About Primary Keys 760
14.9 Handling Database Exceptions 763
14.10 CRUD Operations 766
14.11 Relational Data 774
Review Questions 790
Programming Exercises 796
Appendix A Installing Python 799
Appendix B Introduction to IDLE 803
Appendix C The ASCII Character Set 811
Appendix D Predefined Named Colors 813
Appendix E More About the import Statement 819
Appendix F Formatting Numeric Output with the format() Function 823
Appendix G Installing Modules with the pip Utility 829
Appendix H Answers to Checkpoints 831
Index 853
Credits 869
Preface:
Welcome to Starting Out with Python, Fifth Edition. This book uses the Python language to teach programming concepts and problem-solving skills, without assuming any previous programming experience. With easy-to-understand examples, pseudocode, flowcharts, and other tools, the student learns how to design the logic of programs then implement those programs using Python. This book is ideal for an introductory programming course or a programming logic and design course using Python as the language.
As with all the books in the Starting Out With series, the hallmark of this text is its clear, friendly, and easy-to-understand writing. In addition, it is rich in example programs that are concise and practical. The programs in this book include short examples that highlight specific programming topics, as well as more involved examples that focus on problem solving. Each chapter provides one or more case studies that provide step-by-step analysis of a specific problem and shows the student how to solve it.
Control Structures First, Then Classes:
Python is a fully object-oriented programming language, but students do not have to understand object-oriented concepts to start programming in Python. This text first introduces the student to the fundamentals of data storage, input and output, control structures, functions, sequences and lists, file I/O, and objects that are created from standard library classes. Then the student learns to write classes, explores the topics of inheritance and polymorphism, and learns to write recursive functions. Finally, the student learns to develop simple event-driven GUI applications.
Changes in the Fifth Edition:
This book’s clear writing style remains the same as in the previous edition. However, many additions and improvements have been made, which are summarized here:
1. Database Programming – This edition adds a new chapter on database programming. Chapter 14 introduces the student to SQL and Python database programming with SQLite.
2. Comprehension Expressions – This edition introduces and explains list comprehensions, dictionary comprehensions, and set comprehensions.
3. Updated String Topics – Several new string topics have been added, including:
- Throughout the text, this edition uses f-strings, which were introduced in Python 3.6, to display formatted output. F-strings use a concise and intuitive syntax and are easier to learn than the format function. The previous material on the format function has been moved to Appendix F.
- A new discussion of string tokens has been added to Chapter 8.
- A new example of reading and parsing CSV files has been added to Chapter 8.
- The discussion of string concatenation in Chapter 2 has been expanded to include implicit concatenation of adjacent strings.
4. GUI Programming – Several new GUI programming topics have been added to Chapter 13, including:
- Adding borders to widgets
- Internal and external padding
- Listbox widgets and scrollbars
5. Turtle Graphics: Two commands for reading user input with dialog boxes have been introduced:
- turtle.numinput
- turtle.textinput
6. Random List Element Selection – The random.choice() function is introduced in Chapter 7 as a way to randomly select list elements.
7. New Function Topics – Several new topics have been added to chapter 5, including:
- The pass keyword is introduced
- Expanded discussion of the value None, and why a function might return None.
- This edition adopts the standard practice of conditionally executing the main function.