Acknowledgements

This project is part of the CS 188 projects created by John DeNero, Dan Klein, Pieter Abbeel, and many others.

Project 0: Unix/Python Tutorial

Introduction

This tutorial covers Unix and Python basics. Use Python >=3.6.

Download Tutorial Files

Table of Contents

Submission

To get you familiarized with the automatic grading system, we will ask you to submit answers for problems 1 (buyLotsOfFruit function) and 2 (shopSmart function). This is a good thing: learning the basics of python now will save you many headaches later in the course.

Please read the submission instructions - they contain important information on how to submit this and all further assignments.
While the tutorial below is to introduce you to a UNIX type system, you could just as easily code on Windows -- using the Terminal app on command line, or using Windows subsystem for linux, or simply using VS Code.

Unix Basics

Here are basic commands to navigate UNIX and edit files.

File/Directory Manipulation

When you open a terminal window, you're placed at a command prompt.

solar%

The prompt shows your username, the host you are logged onto, and your current location in the directory structure (your path). The tilde character is shorthand for your home directory. To make a directory, use the mkdir command. Use cd to change to that directory:

[csci4150 ~]$ mkdir tutorial
[csci4150 ~]$ cd tutorial
[csci4150 ~/tutorial]$

The Python files used in this tutorial reside in the ~csci4150/projects/tutorial directory. To copy them to your directory, use the cp command. The * is a useful way to specify multiple files in a given directory; *.py refers to all filenames that end have the .py ending. Note that . is shorthand for the current directory. Use ls to see a listing of the contents of a directory.

[csci4150 ~]$ cp ~csci4150/projects/tutorial/*.py .
[csci4150 ~]$ ls
buyLotsOfFruit.py
foreach.py
listcomp.py
listcomp2.py
quickSort.py
shop.py
shopSmart.py
shopTest.py

Some other useful Unix commands:
  • rm removes (deletes) a file
  • mv moves a file (ie. cut/paste instead of copy/paste)
  • man displays documentation for a command
  • pwd prints your current path
  • xterm opens a new terminal window
  • firefox opens a web browser
  • Press "Ctrl-c" to kill a running process
  • Append & to a command to run it in the background
  • fg brings a program running in the background to the foreground

The Emacs text editor

Emacs is a customizable text editor which has some nice features specifically tailored for programmers. However, you can use any other text editor that you may prefer (such as vi, pico, or joe on Unix; or Notepad on Windows; or TextWrangler on Macs; and many more). To run Emacs, type emacs at a command prompt:

[csci4150 ~]$ emacs helloWorld.py &
[1] 3262

Here we gave the argument helloWorld.py which will either open that file for editing if it exists, or create it otherwise. Emacs notices that this is a Python source file (because of the .py ending) and enters Python-mode, which is supposed to help you write code. When editing this file you may notice some of that some text becomes automatically colored: this is syntactic highlighting to help you distinguish items such as keywords, variables, strings, and comments. Pressing Enter, Tab, or Backspace may cause the cursor to jump to weird locations: this is because Python is very picky about indentation, and Emacs is predicting the proper tabbing that you should use.

Some basic Emacs editing commands (C- means "while holding the Ctrl-key"):

  • C-x C-s Save the current file
  • C-x C-f Open a file, or create a new file it if doesn't exist
  • C-k Cut a line, add it to the clipboard
  • C-y Paste the contents of the clipboard
  • C-_ Undo
  • C-g Abort a half-entered command

You can also copy and paste using just the mouse. Using the left button, select a region of text to copy. Click the middle button to paste.

There are two ways you can use Emacs to develop Python code. The most straightforward way is to use it just as a text editor: create and edit Python files in Emacs; then run Python to test the code somewhere else, like in a terminal window. Alternatively, you can run Python inside Emacs: see the options under "Python" in the menubar, or type C-c ! to start a Python interpreter in a split screen. (Use C-x o to switch between the split screens, or just click if C-x doesn't work).

If you want to spend some extra set-up time becoming a power user, you can try an IDE like Eclipse (Download the Eclipse Classic package at the bottom). Check out PyDev for Python support in Eclipse.

Python Installation

Many of you may not have Python 3 already installed on your computers. Conda is an easy way to manage many different environments, each with its own Python versions and dependencies. This allows us to avoid conflicts between our preferred Python version and that of other classes. We'll walk through how to set up and use a conda environment.

Prerequisite: Anaconda.

Creating a Conda Environment

Run the following command, and press y to install any missing packages.

[csci4150-ta@nova ~/python_basics]$ conda create --name csci4150 python=3.8

Entering the Environment

To enter the conda environment that we just created, do the following. Note that the Python version within the environment is 3.8, just what we want.

[csci4150-ta@nova ~/python_basics]$ conda activate csci4150
(csci4150) [csci4150-ta@nova ~/python_basics]$ python -V
Python 3.8.5 :: Anaconda, Inc.

Leaving the Environment

Leaving the environment is just as easy.

(csci4150) [csci4150-ta@nova ~/python_basics]$ conda deactivate

Our python version has now returned to whatever the system default is!

Python Basics

The programming assignments in this course will be written in Python, an interpreted, object-oriented language that shares some features with both Java and Scheme. This tutorial will walk through the primary syntactic constructions in Python, using short examples.

You may find the Troubleshooting section helpful if you run into problems. It contains a list of the frequent problems previous csci4150 students have encountered when following this tutorial.

Invoking the Interpeter

Like Scheme, Python can be run in one of two modes. It can either be used interactively, via an interpeter, or it can be called from the command line to execute a script. We will first use the Python interpreter interactively.

You invoke the interpreter by entering python at the Unix command prompt.
Note: you may have to type python3 rather than python, depending on your machine.
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

[csci4150 ~]$ python
Python 3.8.15 (default, Nov 24 2022, 14:38:14) [MSC v.1916 64 bit (AMD64)] :: Anaconda, Inc. on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

Operators

The Python interpeter can be used to evaluate expressions, for example simple arithmetic expressions. If you enter such expressions at the prompt (>>>) they will be evaluated and the result wil be returned on the next line.

>>> 1 + 1
2
>>> 2 * 3
6

Boolean operators also exist in Python to manipulate the primitive True and False values.

>>> 1==0
False
>>> not (1==0)
True
>>> (2==2) and (2==3)
False
>>> (2==2) or (2==3)
True

Strings

Like Java, Python has a built in string type. The + operator is overloaded to do string concatenation on string values.

>>> 'artificial' + "intelligence"
'artificialintelligence'

There are many built-in methods which allow you to manipulate strings.

>>> 'artificial'.upper()
'ARTIFICIAL'
>>> 'HELP'.lower()
'help'
>>> len('Help')
4

Notice that we can use either single quotes ' ' or double quotes " " to surround string. This allows for easy nesting of strings.

We can also store expressions into variables.

>>> s = 'hello world'
>>> print(s)
hello world
>>> s.upper()
'HELLO WORLD'
>>> len(s.upper())
11
>>> num = 8.0
>>> num += 2.5
>>> print(num)
10.5

In Python, you do not have declare variables before you assign to them.

Exercise: Learn about the methods Python provides for strings.

To see what methods Python provides for a datatype, use the dir and help commands:

>>> s = 'abc'

>>> dir(s)
['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__getnewargs__', '__getslice__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__','__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__mod__', '__mul__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__','__repr__', '__rmod__', '__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__str__', 'capitalize', 'center', 'count', 'decode', 'encode', 'endswith', 'expandtabs', 'find', 'index', 'isalnum', 'isalpha', 'isdigit', 'islower', 'isspace', 'istitle', 'isupper', 'join', 'ljust', 'lower', 'lstrip', 'replace', 'rfind','rindex', 'rjust', 'rsplit', 'rstrip', 'split', 'splitlines', 'startswith', 'strip', 'swapcase', 'title', 'translate', 'upper', 'zfill']

>>> help(s.find)
 

Help on built-in function find:

                

                find(...)
                    S.find(sub [,start [,end]]) -> int
                    
                    Return the lowest index in S where substring sub is found,
                    such that sub is contained within s[start,end].  Optional
                    arguments start and end are interpreted as in slice notation.
                    
                    Return -1 on failure.
>> s.find('b')
1

 Try out some of the string functions listed in dir (ignore those with underscores '_' around the method name).

Built-in Data Structures

Python comes equipped with some useful built-in data structures, broadly similar to Java's collections package.

Lists

Lists store a sequence of mutable items:

>>> fruits = ['apple','orange','pear','banana']
>>> fruits[0]
'apple'

 We can use the + operator to do list concatenation:

>>> otherFruits = ['kiwi','strawberry']
>>> fruits + otherFruits
>>> ['apple', 'orange', 'pear', 'banana', 'kiwi', 'strawberry']

 Python also allows negative-indexing from the back of the list. For instance, fruits[-1] will access the last element 'banana':

>>> fruits[-2]
'pear'
>>> fruits.pop()
'banana'
>>> fruits
['apple', 'orange', 'pear']
>>> fruits.append('grapefruit')
>>> fruits
['apple', 'orange', 'pear', 'grapefruit']
>>> fruits[-1] = 'pineapple'
>>> fruits
['apple', 'orange', 'pear', 'pineapple']

We can also index multiple adjacent elements using the slice operator. For instance fruits[1:3] which returns a list containing the elements at position 1 and 2. In general fruits[start:stop] will get the elements in start, start+1, ..., stop-1. We can also do fruits[start:] which returns all elements starting from the start index. Also fruits[:end] will return all elements before the element at position end:

>>> fruits[0:2]
['apple', 'orange']
>>> fruits[:3]
['apple', 'orange', 'pear']
>>> fruits[2:]
['pear', 'pineapple']
>>> len(fruits)
4

The items stored in lists can be any Python data type. So for instance we can have lists of lists:

>>> lstOfLsts = [['a','b','c'],[1,2,3],['one','two','three']]
>>> lstOfLsts[1][2]
3
>>> lstOfLsts[0].pop()
'c'
>>> lstOfLsts
[['a', 'b'],[1, 2, 3],['one', 'two', 'three']]
Exercise: Play with some of the list functions. You can find the methods you can call on an object via the dir and get information about them via the help command:

>>> dir(list)
['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__delitem__',
'__delslice__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__',
'__getitem__', '__getslice__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iadd__', '__imul__',
'__init__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__mul__', '__ne__',
'__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__reversed__',
'__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__setslice__', '__str__',
'append', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse',
'sort']
 
>>> help(list.reverse)
                Help on built-in function reverse:
                
                reverse(...)
                    L.reverse() -- reverse *IN PLACE*
>>> lst = ['a','b','c']
>>> lst.reverse()
>>> ['c','b','a']

 Note: Ignore functions with underscores "_" around the names; these are private helper methods. Press 'q' to back out of a help screen.

Tuples

A data structure similar to the list is the tuple, which is like a list except that it is immutable once it is created (i.e. you cannot change its content once created). Note that tuples are surrounded with parentheses while lists have square brackets.

>>> pair = (3,5)
>>> pair[0]
3
>>> x,y = pair
>>> x
3
>>> y
5
>>> pair[1] = 6
TypeError: object does not support item assignment

 The attempt to modify an immutable structure raised an exception. Exceptions indicate errors: index out of bounds errors, type errors, and so on will all report exceptions in this way.

Sets

A set is another data structure that serves as an unordered list with no duplicate items. Below, we show how to create a set, add things to the set, test if an item is in the set, and perform common set operations (difference, intersection, union):

>>> shapes = ['circle','square','triangle','circle']
>>> setOfShapes = set(shapes)
>>> setOfShapes
set(['circle','square','triangle'])
>>> setOfShapes.add('polygon')
>>> setOfShapes
set(['circle','square','triangle','polygon'])
>>> 'circle' in setOfShapes
True
>>> 'rhombus' in setOfShapes
False
>>> favoriteShapes = ['circle','triangle','hexagon']
>>> setOfFavoriteShapes = set(favoriteShapes)
>>> setOfShapes - setOfFavoriteShapes
set(['square','polyon'])
>>> setOfShapes & setOfFavoriteShapes
set(['circle','triangle'])
>>> setOfShapes | setOfFavoriteShapes
set(['circle','square','triangle','polygon','hexagon'])

Note that the objects in the set are unordered; you cannot assume that their traversal or print order will be the same across machines!

Dictionaries

The last built-in data structure is the dictionary which stores a map from one type of object (the key) to another (the value). The key must be an immutable type (string, number, or tuple). The value can be any Python data type.

Note: In the example below, the printed order of the keys returned by Python could be different than shown below. The reason is that unlike lists which have a fixed ordering, a dictionary is simply a hash table for which there is no fixed ordering of the keys.

>>> studentIds = {'knuth': 42.0, 'turing': 56.0, 'nash': 92.0 }
>>> studentIds['turing']
56.0
>>> studentIds['nash'] = 'ninety-two'
>>> studentIds
{'knuth': 42.0, 'turing': 56.0, 'nash': 'ninety-two'}
>>> del studentIds['knuth']
>>> studentIds
{'turing': 56.0, 'nash': 'ninety-two'}
>>> studentIds['knuth'] = [42.0,'forty-two']
>>> studentIds
{'knuth': [42.0, 'forty-two'], 'turing': 56.0, 'nash': 'ninety-two'}
>>> studentIds.keys()
['knuth', 'turing', 'nash']
>>> studentIds.values()
[[42.0, 'forty-two'], 56.0, 'ninety-two']
>>> studentIds.items()
[('knuth',[42.0, 'forty-two']), ('turing',56.0), ('nash','ninety-two')]
>>> len(studentIds)
3

As with nested lists, you can also create dictionaries of dictionaries.

Exercise: Use dir and help to learn about the functions you can call on dictionaries.

Writing Scripts

Now that you've got a handle on using Python interactively, let's write a simple Python script that demonstrates Python's for loop. Open the file called foreach.py and update it with the following code: 
# This is what a comment looks like 
                fruits = ['apples','oranges','pears','bananas']
                for fruit in fruits:
                    print(fruit + ' for sale')
                
                fruitPrices = {'apples': 2.00, 'oranges': 1.50, 'pears': 1.75}
                for fruit, price in fruitPrices.items():
                    if price < 2.00:
                        print('%s cost %f a pound' % (fruit, price))
                    else:
                        print(fruit + ' are too expensive!')
At the command line, use the following command in the directory containing foreach.py:

[csci4150-tf@solar ~/tutorial]$ python foreach.py
apples for sale
oranges for sale
pears for sale
bananas for sale
oranges cost 1.500000 a pound
pears cost 1.750000 a pound
apples are too expensive!
Remember that the print statements listing the costs may be in a different order on your screen than in this tutorial; that's due to the fact that we're looping over dictionary keys, which are unordered. To learn more about control structures (e.g., if and else) in Python, check out the official Python tutorial section on this topic.

If you like functional programming (like Scheme) you might also like map and filter:

>>> map(lambda x: x * x, [1,2,3])
[1, 4, 9]
>>> filter(lambda x: x > 3, [1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1])
[4, 5, 4]
You can learn more about lambda if you're interested. The next snippet of code demonstrates python's list comprehension construction: 
nums = [1,2,3,4,5,6]
                plusOneNums = [x+1 for x in nums]
                oddNums = [x for x in nums if x % 2 == 1]
                print(oddNums)
                oddNumsPlusOne = [x+1 for x in nums if x % 2 ==1]
                print(oddNumsPlusOne)
This code is in a file called listcomp.py, which you can run:

[csci4150 ~]$ python listcomp.py
[1,3,5]
[2,4,6]

 Those of you familiar with Scheme, will recognize that the list comprehension is similar to the map function. In Scheme, the first list comprehension would be written as: 
(define nums '(1,2,3,4,5,6))
                (map 
                   (lambda (x) (+ x 1))  nums)
Exercise: Write a list comprehension which, from a list, generates a lowercased version of each string that has length greater than five. Solution: listcomp2.py

Beware of Indendation!

Unlike many other languages, Python uses the indentation in the source code for interpretation. So for instance, for the following script: 
if 0 == 1: 
                    print('We are in a world of arithmetic pain')
                print('Thank you for playing')
will output

Thank you for playing

 But if we had written the script as 
if 0 == 1: 
                    print('We are in a world of arithmetic pain')
                    print('Thank you for playing')
there would be no output. The moral of the story: be careful how you indent! It's best to use four spaces for indentation -- that's what the course code uses.

Writing Functions

As in Scheme or Java, in Python you can define your own functions: 
fruitPrices = {'apples':2.00, 'oranges': 1.50, 'pears': 1.75}
                
                def buyFruit(fruit, numPounds):
                    if fruit not in fruitPrices:
                        print("Sorry we don't have %s" % (fruit))
                    else:
                        cost = fruitPrices[fruit] * numPounds
                        print("That'll be %f please" % (cost))
                
                # Main Function
                if __name__ == '__main__':        
                    buyFruit('apples',2.4)
                    buyFruit('coconuts',2)
Rather than having a main function as in Java, the __name__ == '__main__' check is used to delimit expressions which are executed when the file is called as a script from the command line. The code after the main check is thus the same sort of code you would put in a main function in Java.

Save this script as fruit.py and run it:

[csci4150 ~]$ python fruit.py
That'll be 4.800000 please
Sorry we don't have coconuts

 Problem 1 (for submission): Add a buyLotsOfFruit(orderList) function to buyLotsOfFruit.py which takes a list of (fruit,pound) tuples and returns the cost of your list. If there is some fruit in the list which doesn't appear in fruitPrices it should print an error message and return None (which is like nil in Scheme). Please do not change the fruitPrices variable.
Please note that the buyLotsOfFruit link here and others may still contain old Python2 syntax. Please refer to the actual code files included in the tutorial zip file for correct files.

Test Case:We will check your code by testing that the script correctly outputs

Cost of [('apples', 2.0), ('pears', 3.0), ('limes', 4.0)] is 12.25

Advanced Exercise: Write a quickSort function in Python using list comprehensions. Use the first element as the pivot. Solution: quickSort.py

Object Basics

Although this isn't a class in object-oriented programming, you'll have to use some objects in the programming projects, and so it's worth covering the basics of objects in Python. An object encapsulates data and provides functions for interacting with that data.

Defining Classes

Here's an example of defining a class named FruitShop: 
class FruitShop:
                
                    def __init__(self, name, fruitPrices):
                        """
                            name: Name of the fruit shop
                            
                            fruitPrices: Dictionary with keys as fruit 
                            strings and prices for values e.g. 
                            {'apples':2.00, 'oranges': 1.50, 'pears': 1.75} 
                        """
                        self.fruitPrices = fruitPrices
                        self.name = name
                        print('Welcome to the %s fruit shop' % (name))
                        
                    def getCostPerPound(self, fruit):
                        """
                            fruit: Fruit string
                        Returns cost of 'fruit', assuming 'fruit'
                        is in our inventory or None otherwise
                        """
                        if fruit not in self.fruitPrices:
                            print("Sorry we don't have %s" % (fruit))
                            return None
                        return self.fruitPrices[fruit]
                        
                    def getPriceOfOrder(self, orderList):
                        """
                            orderList: List of (fruit, numPounds) tuples
                            
                        Returns cost of orderList. If any of the fruit are  
                        """ 
                        totalCost = 0.0             
                        for fruit, numPounds in orderList:
                            costPerPound = self.getCostPerPound(fruit)
                            if costPerPound != None:
                                totalCost += numPounds * costPerPound
                        return totalCost
                    
                    def getName(self):
                        return self.name

The FruitShop class has some data, the name of the shop and the prices per pound of some fruit, and it provides functions, or methods, on this data. What advantage is there to wrapping this data in a class?

  1. Encapsulating the data prevents it from being altered or used inappropriately,
  2. The abstraction that objects provide make it easier to write general-purpose code.

Using Objects

So how do we make an object and use it? Download the FruitShop implementation in shop.py. We then import the code from this file (making it accessible to other scripts) using import shop, since shop.py is the name of the file. Then, we can create FruitShop objects as follows: 
import shop
                
                shopName = 'the Berkeley Bowl'
                fruitPrices = {'apples': 1.00, 'oranges': 1.50, 'pears': 1.75}
                berkeleyShop = shop.FruitShop(shopName, fruitPrices)
                applePrice = berkeleyShop.getCostPerPound('apples')
                print(applePrice)
                print('Apples cost $%.2f at %s.' % (applePrice, shopName))
                
                otherName = 'the Stanford Mall'
                otherFruitPrices = {'kiwis':6.00, 'apples': 4.50, 'peaches': 8.75}
                otherFruitShop = shop.FruitShop(otherName, otherFruitPrices)
                otherPrice = otherFruitShop.getCostPerPound('apples')
                print(otherPrice)
                print('Apples cost $%.2f at %s.' % (otherPrice, otherName))
                print("My, that's expensive!")
You can download this code in shopTest.py and run it like this: 
[csci4150 ~]$ python shopTest.py
                Welcome to the Berkeley Bowl fruit shop
                1.0
                Apples cost $1.00 at the Berkeley Bowl.
                Welcome to the Stanford Mall fruit shop
                4.5
                Apples cost $4.50 at the Stanford Mall.
                My, that's expensive!
So what just happended? The import shop statement told Python to load all of the functions and classes in shop.py. The line berkeleyShop = shop.FruitShop(shopName, fruitPrices) constructs an instance of the FruitShop class defined in shop.py, by calling the __init__ function in that class. Note that we only passed two arguments in, while __init__ seems to take three arguments: (self, name, fruitPrices). The reason for this is that all methods in a class have self as the first argument. The self variable's value is automatically set to the object itself; when calling a method, you only supply the remaining arguments. The self variable contains all the data (name and fruitPrices) for the current specific instance (similar to this in Java). The print statements use the substitution operator (There are fancier ways to do this, described in the Python docs if you're curious).

Static vs Instance Variables

The following example with illustrate how to use static and instance variables in python.
Create the person_class.py containing the following code:

                class Person:
                    population = 0
                    def __init__(self, myAge):
                        self.age = myAge
                        Person.population += 1
                    def get_population(self):
                        return Person.population
                    def get_age(self):
                        return self.age
We first compile the script:
[csci4150 ~]$ python person_class.py
Now use the class as follows:
>>> import person_class
>>> p1 = person_class.Person(12)
>>> p1.get_population()
1
>>> p2 = person_class.Person(63)
>>> p1.get_population()
2
>>> p2.get_population()
2
>>> p1.get_age()
12
>>> p2.get_age()
63
In the code above, age is an instance variable and population is a static variable. population is shared by all instances of the Person class whereas each instance has its own age variable.

Problem 2 (for submission): Fill in the function shopSmart(orders,shops) in shopSmart.py, which takes an orderList (like the kind passed in to FruitShop.getPriceOfOrder) and a list of FruitShop and returns the FruitShop where your order costs the least amount in total. Don't change the file name or variable names, please. Note that we will provide the shop.py implementation as a "support" file, so you don't need to submit yours.

Test Case:We will check that, with the following variable definitions: 

orders1 = [('apples',1.0), ('oranges',3.0)]
                orders2 = [('apples',3.0)]			 
                dir1 = {'apples': 2.0, 'oranges':1.0}
                shop1 =  shop.FruitShop('shop1',dir1)
                dir2 = {'apples': 1.0, 'oranges': 5.0}
                shop2 = shop.FruitShop('shop2',dir2)
                shops = [shop1, shop2]

The following are true:

shopSmart.shopSmart(orders1, shops).getName() == 'shop1'

and

shopSmart.shopSmart(orders2, shops).getName() == 'shop2'

More Python Tips and Tricks

This tutorial has briefly touched on some major aspects of Python that will be relevant to the course. Here's some more useful tidbits:
  • Use range to generate a sequence of integers, useful for generating traditional indexed for loops: 
    for index in range(3):
                    print(lst[index])
  • After importing a file, if you edit a source file, the changes will not be immediately propagated in the interpreter. For this, use the reload command:

    >>> reload(shop)

Troubleshooting

These are some problems (and their solutions) that new python learners commonly encounter.
  • Problem:
    ImportError: No module named py

    Solution:
    When using import, do not include the ".py" from the filename.
    For example, you should say: import shop
    NOT: import shop.py

  • Problem:
    NameError: name 'MY VARIABLE' is not defined
    Even after importing you may see this.

    Solution:
    To access a member of a module, you have to type MODULE NAME.MEMBER NAME, where MODULE NAME is the name of the .py file, and MEMBER NAME is the name of the variable (or function) you are trying to access.

  • Problem:
    TypeError: 'dict' object is not callable

    Solution:
    Dictionary looks up are done using square brackets: [ and ]. NOT parenthesis: ( and ).

  • Problem:
    ValueError: too many values to unpack

    Solution:
    Make sure the number of variables you are assigning in a for loop matches the number of elements in each item of the list. Similarly for working with tuples.

    For example, if pair is a tuple of two elements (e.g. pair =('apple', 2.0)) then the following code would cause the "too many values to unpack error":
    (a,b,c) = pair

    Here is a problematic scenario involving a for loop:

    pairList = [('apples', 2.00), ('oranges', 1.50), ('pears', 1.75)]
                for fruit, price, color in pairList:
                    print(%s fruit costs %f and is the color %s' % (fruit, price, color))
  • Problem:
    AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'length' (or something similar)

    Solution:
    Finding length of lists is done using len(NAME OF LIST).

  • Problem:
    Changes to a file are not taking effect.

    Solution:

    1. Make sure you are saving all your files after any changes.
    2. If you are editing a file in a window different from the one you are using to execute python, make sure you reload(YOUR_MODULE) to guarantee your changes are being reflected. reload works similar to import.

More References!

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