History of Python and general maths operations

Question 1

What is a script?

Answer 1

A program that uses an interpreter to execute its instructions, interpreted instructions execute slower because one script instruction can take multiple interpreter instructions

Question 2

What is an interpreter?

Answer 2

A program that reads and executes the instructions from a script

Question 3

What language did python derive from?

Answer 3

ABC,
- Pythons name came from a TV show:
Monty Python

Question 4

Is python open source?

Answer 4

Yes so people can make new interpreters

Question 5

Who created Python and when?

Answer 5

Guido van Rossum in the late 1980s:
Python was first released in 1994

Question 6

What is machine code?

Answer 6

The most basic code for a device, binary
- strings of binary create instructions and these instructions create an executable program

Question 7

What is an assembler?

Answer 7

A program that translates human readable code from an ‘assembly language’ into machine code so it can be executed by the program
- benefits of an assembler allowed us to interpret what we were coding and make more complex programs

Question 8

What are high-level languages?

Answer 8

Similar to assembly languages but on a more extreme scale, they allow us to use formulas and algorithms to write complex code

Question 9

What is a compiler?

Answer 9

Translates high-level language into low-level machine instructions

Question 10

What is RAM?

Answer 10

Volatile storage with faster access usually located off the processor chip

Question 11

What is an operating system?

Answer 11

Manages programs and interfaces with peripherals

Question 12

What is Moore’s law?

Answer 12

The doubling of integrated circuits (IC) transistor capacity roughly every 18months

Question 13

What is cache?

Answer 13

Relatively small, volatile storage located on the processor

Question 14

What is a disk/HDD/SSD?

Answer 14

Non-volatile storage with slower access

Question 15

What is a clock?

Answer 15

Hardware that measures the speed at which a processor executes instructions

Question 16

What is an interactive interpreter?

Answer 16

A program that allows the user to execute the code line by line

Question 17

What is a statment?

Answer 17

A program instruction, usually appears on one line

Question 18

What are expressions?

Answer 18

Code that returns a value when executed

Question 19

What is used to develop code?

Answer 19

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
- Python uses IDLE which provides a basic environment for editing and running programs

Question 20

What is the function of x / y (division)?

Answer 20

Divides x by y
- results in a float

Question 21

what is the function of x // y?

Answer 21

Floor division, rounds down the division of x and y to the nearest whole number
- results in a integer

Question 22

What is the function of x % y?

Answer 22

Modular division, finds the remainder of x / y
- results in an int

Question 23

What is the function of celi(x)?

Answer 23

ceiling function, round up x
- results int

Question 24

What is the function factorial(x)?

Answer 24

The factorial of x…
- results int

Question 25

What is the function of fmod(x,y)?

Answer 25

Remainder of x / y,
- same as % function
- results float

Question 26

What is the function of exp(x)?

Answer 26

e^x
- results float

Question 27

What is the function of pow(x,y)?

Answer 27

x^y
- results in float

Question 28

What is the function of fabs(x) and abs(x)?

Answer 28

absolute value of x
- fabs() results in a float at all times
- abs() results in an int unless necessay

Question 29

What is the function of floor(x)?

Answer 29

Rounds down x to nearest int
- results in int

Question 30

What is the function of sqrt(x)?

Answer 30

Positive square root of x
- results in float

Question 31

What is the function of:
acos(x)
asin(x)
atan(x)
cos(x)
sin(x)
tan(x)

Answer 31

As written
- results in float

Question 32

What is the function of hypot(s1,s2, …sn)

Answer 32

The length of a vector from the origin using multiple existing vector inputs,
- can also be used to find the hypotenuse of a triangle after inputting two vectors/side
- results in float

Question 33

What is the function of radians(x) and degrees(x)

Answer 33

Converts to radians or degrees
- results in float

Question 34

What is the order of operations?

Answer 34

Parentheses
Indices
Positive and negative argument
* / // % (first come first serve)
+ -
< > >= <= != == (first come first serve)
Not
And
Or