Python basics

Question 1

Syntax to import datetime from an external module

extra: & then set datetime to a current_time variable

Answer 1

from datetime import datetime

current_time = datetime.now()

Question 2

What data type does random.choice() (from the module random) take as an argument? What does it return?

Answer 2

random.choice() takes a list as an argument.
It returns an number (from the list passed to it).

Question 3

What does random.randint() take as arguments, and how many?
What does it return?

Answer 3

random.randint() takes two numbers as arguments.
It returns a random number between the two numbers passed as arguments.

Question 4

Call a function from the random module to generate a random number between 1 and 100.

Answer 4

import random

random_number = random.randint(1, 100)

NB includes both limits.

Question 5

What does random.sample(list, int) do?

e.g. here:
my_list = [“apple”, “kiwi”, “lime”]
random.sample(my_list, 2)

Answer 5

Takes a list (first argument) and number (second argument) and returns that number of random items from the list.

Returns 2 random items from the list my_list

Question 6

Syntax to import a module library as an alias

Answer 6

import libraryname as localname

e.g. from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

Question 7

Syntax to import a module library as an alias

Answer 7

import libraryname as alias_name

e.g. from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

Question 8

Best practice place to keep all your imports?

Answer 8

At the top of your file, all together

Question 9

Get unique elements from a list (below) using a set.

numbers = [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4]

Answer 9

numbers = [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4]

set(numbers)

Question 10

Get unique elements from a list (below) using a for loop and returning a list.

numbers = [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4]

Answer 10

numbers = [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4]

def get_unique_numbers(numbers):
unique = [ ]
for number in numbers:
if number not in unique:
unique.append(number)
return unique

Question 11

Get unique elements from a list (below) using a for loop and returning a list.

Question 12

What method merges a given dictionary into an existing dictionary?

Answer 12

.update( )

Question 13

Use .update() to merge a new dictionary into an existing one.

Is the original dictionary modified in-place or a new one created with this method?

Answer 13

existing_dict.update(new_dict)

The original dictionary is modified in place (so inside a function, you’d want to return the original dictionary after updating it, to output the merged dictionary).