Python

10. Glossary

dictionary

A collection of key-value pairs that maps from keys to values. The keys can be any immutable type, and the values can be any type.

key

A value that is used to look up an entry in a dictionary.

key-value pair

One of the items in a dictionary.

method

A kind of function that is called with a different syntax and invoked "on" an object.

invoke

To call a method.

hint

Temporary storage of a precomputed value to avoid redundant computation.

overflow

A numerical result that is too large to be represented in a numerical format.

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11. Glossary

file

A named entity, usually stored on a hard drive, floppy disk, or CD-ROM, that contains a stream of characters.

directory

A named collection of files, also called a folder.

path

A sequence of directory names that specifies the exact location of a file.

text file

A file that contains printable characters organized into lines separated by newline characters.

break statement

A statement that causes the flow of execution to exit a loop.

continue statement

A statement that causes the current iteration of a loop to end. The flow of execution goes to the top of the loop, evaluates the condition, and proceeds accordingly.

format operator

The % operator takes a format string and a tuple of expressions and yields a string that includes the expressions, formatted according to the format string.

format string

A string that contains printable characters and format sequences that indicate how to format values.

format sequence

A sequence of characters beginning with % that indicates how to format a value.

pickle

To write a data value in a file along with its type information so that it can be reconstituted later.

exception

An error that occurs at runtime.

handle

To prevent an exception from terminating a program using the try and except statements.

raise

To signal an exception using the raise statement.

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12. Glossary

class

A user-defined compound type. A class can also be thought of as a template for the objects that are instances of it.

instantiate

To create an instance of a class.

instance

An object that belongs to a class.

object

A compound data type that is often used to model a thing or concept in the real world.

constructor

A method used to create new objects.

attribute

One of the named data items that makes up an instance.

shallow equality

Equality of references, or two references that point to the same object.

deep equality

Equality of values, or two references that point to objects that have the same value.

shallow copy

To copy the contents of an object, including any references to embedded objects; implemented by the copy function in the copy module.

deep copy

To copy the contents of an object as well as any embedded objects, and any objects embedded in them, and so on; implemented by the deepcopy function in the copy module.

 

 

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