Coding 101

Apr 10th 2014

Coding 101 12

Lists[Python]

This week we check out your viewer submissions and we continue in Python with Lists.

Although the show is no longer in production, you can enjoy episodes from the TWiT Archives.
Guests: Dale Chase
Category: Help & How To

Welcome to Coding 101 - It's the TWiT show that gives YOU the knowledge to live in the wonderful world of the programmer. This week we are introducing our newest module, Python with Code Warrior Dale Chase!

Snubs Compiled

Recap how to download Python on your machine.

  1. Go to: Python.org
  2. Download Python 2.7.6 MSI Installer and Program Database.

(This is important... 3.4.0 is NOT compatible with our lessons)

How to Open a script

  1. You can download the ZIP file of all the Python programs on our github.
  2. Double click the script to make it run.
  3. Right click to edit in IDLE.
  4. To start your own code: Open Notepad, write your code and save as a .py. OR, open IDLE, create a NEW FILE, write your code, then save it as a .py.

User Submissions

To see all the code used in today's episode, go to Our Github Repository for Module 2

Ivory Tower

Structured Data in Python

  • Data Structures are important because they allow us to not only store data, but to make correlations between sets of data.
  • Correlated data is an important piece in being able to break down the world into a computer language

One of the most basic data structures in Python is the LIST

  • A list is a sequence of variables connected to one another
  • The Syntax for a list is:

NameOfList = [value1, value2, value3, value4];
The name of your list = [values];

To access the values contained within the list, you use the syntax:

NameOfList[index]

where "index" is a number between 0 and the number of values in your list-1

Example:

c101 = ['PadreSJ', 'Snubs', 'Dale Chase', 'Cranky_Hippo'];

will create a list named "c101" with entries 0-3 with the values of "PadreSJ", "Snubs", "Dale Chase", and "Cranky_Hippo"

If we wanted to access that list, we could write: print "The Following are members of the Coding 101 team:", c101[0], c101[1], c101[2], c101[3]

I could also update the values in the list by using the name of the list and the index I want to change:

Example:

c101[3] = "Bryan Burnett"

will change the value of the 4th element from "Cranky_Hippo" to "Bryan Burnett"

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