Chapter 11 Flashcards
base case
A branch of the conditional statement in a recursive function that does not result in a recursive call.
data structure
An organization of data for the purpose of making it easier to use.
exception
An error that occurs at runtime.
handle an exception
To prevent an exception from terminating a program using the try and except statements.
immutable data type
A data type which cannot be modified. Assignments to elements or slices of immutable types cause a runtime error.
infinite recursion
A function that calls itself recursively without ever reaching the base case. Eventually, an infinite recursion causes a runtime error.
list comprehension
A syntactic construct which enables lists to be generated from other lists using a syntax analogous to the mathematical set-builder notation.
mutable data type
A data type which can be modified. All mutable types are compound types. Lists and dictionaries (see next chapter) are mutable data types; strings and tuples are not.
raise
To signal an exception using the raise statement.
recursion
The process of calling the function that is currently executing.
recursive call
The statement in a recursive function with is a call to itself.
recursive definition
A definition which defines something in terms of itself. To be useful it must include base cases which are not recursive. In this way it differs from a circular definition. Recursive definitions often provide an elegant way to express complex data structures.
tail recursion
A recursive call that occurs as the last statement (at the tail) of a function definition. Tail recursion is considered bad practice in Python programs since a logically equivalent function can be written using iteration which is more efficient
tuple
A data type that contains a sequence of elements of any type, like a list, but is immutable. Tuples can be used wherever an immutable type is required, such as a key in a dictionary
tuple assignment
An assignment to all of the elements in a tuple using a single assignment statement. Tuple assignment occurs in parallel rather than in sequence, making it useful for swapping values.
