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Learn Python by Building Data Science Applications

You're reading from   Learn Python by Building Data Science Applications A fun, project-based guide to learning Python 3 while building real-world apps

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Product type Paperback
Published in Aug 2019
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781789535365
Length 482 pages
Edition 1st Edition
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Authors (2):
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Philipp Kats Philipp Kats
Author Profile Icon Philipp Kats
Philipp Kats
David Katz David Katz
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David Katz
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Table of Contents (26) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Section 1: Getting Started with Python
2. Preparing the Workspace FREE CHAPTER 3. First Steps in Coding - Variables and Data Types 4. Functions 5. Data Structures 6. Loops and Other Compound Statements 7. First Script – Geocoding with Web APIs 8. Scraping Data from the Web with Beautiful Soup 4 9. Simulation with Classes and Inheritance 10. Shell, Git, Conda, and More – at Your Command 11. Section 2: Hands-On with Data
12. Python for Data Applications 13. Data Cleaning and Manipulation 14. Data Exploration and Visualization 15. Training a Machine Learning Model 16. Improving Your Model – Pipelines and Experiments 17. Section 3: Moving to Production
18. Packaging and Testing with Poetry and PyTest 19. Data Pipelines with Luigi 20. Let's Build a Dashboard 21. Serving Models with a RESTful API 22. Serverless API Using Chalice 23. Best Practices and Python Performance 24. Assessments 25. Other Books You May Enjoy

Chapter 3

What are functions, and when should we use them?

In programming, a function is the named section of the code that encapsulates a specific task and can be used relatively independently from the surrounding code.

How can data be provided to functions?

Conceptually, code in a function can access data from outside. The best way to pass the data, however, is via arguments—special temporary variables used exactly for that.

What does indentation mean? Is it required?

Yes; in Python, indentation is required and defines the grouping of code.

What should be covered in the docstring function? How can I read the docstring function?

Ideally, every module, function, and class should have a docstring. In all those cases, a docstring can be shown using the help function, or accessed programmatically via the __doc__ attribute.

When could it be useful to use type annotations...

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