On these pages, I have collected a bit of information
about the Python programming language, along with
a bunch of examples. These might be useful if you
want to see some of the features without actually
learning the language itself.
You don't have to read through all of this in order.
Just pick the pages which look most interesting to you.
The topics are fairly independent from each other and
don't require any existing knowledge about Python.
Note: Some of the examples might require
at least Python 2.3.
- Small code examples
-
This page contains a few small code snippets,
to give you an impression how the programming
language looks like.
- Lambda functions
-
Several useful concepts of Python have been borrowed
from functional languages. One of these is the
concept of lambda functions.
- Dynamic typing
-
In Python, everything has a well-defined type, and
these types can be handled completely at runtime
in a dynamic and self-inspective fashion.
This page explains the advantages and disadvantages.
- Structured types
-
As a high-level language, Python supports extensible
structured types without the need to resort to workarounds
like pointers and references, or even worse things like
type-casts.
- List comprehensions
-
Another functional element of the Python language are
so-called list comprehensions. They enable the
descriptive construction of lists in a very compact,
yet easily readable way.
- Block indentation
-
Python uses indentation to specify the block structure
of source code, instead of bracketing with keywords or
braces like most other languages. This unusual concept
often causes misunderstandings among people who don't
really know the language. Therefore, this page tries
to clear some of the myths and prejudices.
If you really want to start learning Python, I recommend
the following links.
I have also compiled a list of the most
important pages of the Python documentations. I think you
will find that helpful. I use those pages a lot myself.
Finally, I have collected a bunch of tricks
and hints (small code snippets) that helped me along during
my use of Python.
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