Python Flashcards
Algorithms
sequences of instructions, created to operate within the models, manipulate and present information
Hardware
physical components (e.g., memory chip, keyboard, networking cable, smartphone)
Software
nonphysical components (e.g., operating system, network protocols, programming language tools, APIs)
Central processing unit (CPU)
core hardware component where computation occurs, fetches program instructions and data, executes instructions on data
Main memory (RAM)
stores program instructions and data during execution
Bus
Set of wirings that carry instructions and data between the CPU and main memory, connects CPU and main memory to other components
Computer systems
single computer or collection of computers connected to network
Operating system (OS)
Software component that acts as intermediary between hardware and application programs
Computer network
system of computers that can communicate with each other
Internetwork
connection of several networks (Internet)
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
include editor, language translator, automated tools, debugger
Application programming interface (API)
library consisting description of instructions
Computational thinking
processes/tasks understood/described as computational processes
Abstraction
extracting relevant aspects of problem
Model
result of abstraction that represents all relevant aspects of problem
Assignment statements
sets current value of variable
Conditional control structure
executes only if something happens
Iteration control structure
repeating process set number of times
Hard drive
Stores files, retains data even when computer is powered off, larger capacity than main memory
Iteration
repeating a process
Integer/int
values without decimal point
Floating point/float
values with decimal and fractional parts
string
sequence of characters including blanks, punctation, symbols
Indexing operator
access individual characters of string
Index
character’s position in string with respect to first character
** (xy = x**y)
exponentiator operator
a//b
integer quotient when integer a divided by integer b
a%b
remainder when integer a divided by integer b
abs()
absolute value of number
min() & max()
min and max of input values
==
check equality
<=
less than or equal to
> =
greater than or equal to
!=
not equal to
x in s
True if string x is substring of string s, false otherwise
x not in s
False if string x is substring of string s, true otherwise
s + t
Concatenation of string s and t
s * n
Concatenation of n copies of s
s[i]
Character of string s at index i
len(s)
Length of string s
Indexing operator []
access individual characters of string
Index
character’s position in string with respect to first character
List
sequence of objects of any type
Mutable
content of list can be changed
Tuples
immutable lists
append ()
add to lists
Lst.count(item)
Returns number of occurences of item in lst
Lst.index(item)
Returns index of first occurrence of item in lst
Lst.insert(index, item)
Inserts items into list just before index
Lst.pop()
Removes last item from lst
Lst.remove(item)
Removes first occurrence of item from list
Lst.reverse()
Reverses order of items in list
Lst.sort()
Sorts list
Methods
functions that cannot be called on their own (append)
Objects
collection of data (variables) and methods (functions)
Type
indicates what kinds of values object can hold and what kind of operation can be performed on object (int, float, bool, str, list)
Class
types whose values are stored in objects
Constructor
explicitly instantiate integer object (int())
Program
sequence of multiple python statements
Module
file containing python code
User defined Python modules
files we create and save
Escape sequence
sequence of characters starting with \ that defines special character and interpreted by print function
Precision
decimal number that specifies how many digits should be displayed before and after decimal point
File
sequence of bytes stored on secondary memory device (drive)
Text files
sequence of characters encoded using some encoding
Binary file
executable application because sequence of bytes without encoding
File system
component of computer system that organizes files and provides ways to create, access, modify files
Root directory
folder on top of hierarchy
Pathname
useful for locating file efficiently
Absolute pathname
sequence of folders, starting from root directory
Current working directory
folder containing module
Relative pathname
sequence of directories to get to file
Parent folder
folder containing current working directory
Mode
string that specifies how we will interact with opened file
File object
object of Input or Output Stream type that supports methods to read/write characters
Syntax errors
errors that are due to incorrect format of statement
Nested loop
loop statement is contained inside another loop statement
2-d lists
list of list elements, with each list element corresponding to row
Sequence loop pattern
loop is used to generate sequence of numbers until condition is satisfied
Flag
arbitrary value that is chosen to indicate end of input
Dictionary
user defined indexes
Set
store unordered collection of items, no duplicates
ASCII
standard encoding for English characters
