Introduction

You’ve already gotten acquainted with dictionaries, but just like the other data structures Python supports, there are methods and more powerful ways to use them. There aren’t as many methods for working with dictionaries as there are for lists, but that’s because dictionaries just don’t need them. Plus, many of the ones that do exist, work to break down dictionaries into lists and tuples to make them easier to manage. So, those list methods can be used in conjunction with the dictionary ones to create an efficient machine for handling data.

Dictionary Methods

Items, Keys, and Values

These methods work to break down dictionaries into other data structures to make working with them much more manageable. Doing so also gives access to the methods of those data structures. Through these combinations of methods and loops, you can access and manipulate data with ease.

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Introduction

Code would quickly become an ugly and unruly mess if there wasn’t a way to easily repeat and reuse it. You’ve already seen some of that with loops. They’re great for repeating the same task multiple times right away. What if you wanted to reuse a block of code whenever you wanted? Well, that’s where functions come in.

Here’s another trip back to math class. If you remember, functions took in a number, did something to it, then outputted the new value. They were often represented in tables with the input on one side and the output on the other. Functions in programming are similar. Sometimes they take input. Sometimes they don’t. Much of the time they return a value as well, but they don’t always have to. In every case, they are used to repeat an operation whenever they are used, and that’s the greatest similarity with the math concept.

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Introduction

Classes are the cornerstone of Object Oriented Programming. They are the blueprints used to create objects. And, as the name suggests, all of Object Oriented Programming centers around the use of objects to build programs.

You don’t write objects, not really. They are created, or instantiated, in a program using a class as their basis. So, you design objects by writing classes. That means that the most important part of understanding Object Oriented Programming is understanding what classes are and how they work.

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Introduction

By now, you should be familiar with the way basic classes work in Python. If classes were just what you’ve seen, they’d be fairly rigid and not all that useful.

Thankfully, classes are much more than just that. They are designed to be much more adaptable and can take in information to shape the way they look initially. Not every car starts off exactly the same, and neither should classes. After all, how awful would it be if every car was an orange 71′ Ford Pinto? That’s not a good situation.

Writing A Class

Start off by setting up a class like the one in the last guide. This class will evolve over the course of this guide. It will move from being a rigid, photocopy-like, situation to a template that can generate multiple unique objects within the outline of the class.

Write the first line of the class, defining it as a class and naming it. This guide is going to stick with the car analogy from before. Don’t forget to pass your class object so that it extends the base object class.

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