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Getting Started with Python

You're reading from   Getting Started with Python Understand key data structures and use Python in object-oriented programming

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Product type Course
Published in Feb 2019
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781838551919
Length 722 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Languages
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Authors (3):
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Benjamin Baka Benjamin Baka
Author Profile Icon Benjamin Baka
Benjamin Baka
Fabrizio Romano Fabrizio Romano
Author Profile Icon Fabrizio Romano
Fabrizio Romano
Dusty Phillips Dusty Phillips
Author Profile Icon Dusty Phillips
Dusty Phillips
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Table of Contents (31) Chapters Close

Title Page
Copyright and Credits
About Packt
Contributors
Preface
1. A Gentle Introduction to Python FREE CHAPTER 2. Built-in Data Types 3. Iterating and Making Decisions 4. Functions, the Building Blocks of Code 5. Files and Data Persistence 6. Principles of Algorithm Design 7. Lists and Pointer Structures 8. Stacks and Queues 9. Trees 10. Hashing and Symbol Tables 11. Graphs and Other Algorithms 12. Searching 13. Sorting 14. Selection Algorithms 15. Object-Oriented Design 16. Objects in Python 17. When Objects Are Alike 18. Expecting the Unexpected 19. When to Use Object-Oriented Programming 20. Python Object-Oriented Shortcuts 21. The Iterator Pattern 22. Python Design Patterns I 23. Python Design Patterns II 24. Testing Object-Oriented Programs 1. Other Books You May Enjoy Index

Functions are objects too


Programming languages that overemphasize object-oriented principles tend to frown on functions that are not methods. In such languages, you're expected to create an object to sort of wrap the single method involved. There are numerous situations where we'd like to pass around a small object that is simply called to perform an action. This is most frequently done in event-driven programming, such as graphical toolkits or asynchronous servers; we'll see some design patterns that use it in Chapter 22, Python Design Patterns I, and Chapter 23, Python Design Patterns II.

In Python, we don't need to wrap such methods in an object because functions already are objects! We can set attributes on functions (though this isn't a common activity), and we can pass them around to be called at a later date. They even have a few special properties that can be accessed directly. Here's yet another contrived example:

def my_function():
    print("The Function Was Called")


my_function...
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