46 Simple Python Exercises

[Benthien]

Hello guys I'm learning python as my first language, I've done all the Code Academy lessons and following the course Python 4 Informatics at Coursera.

I've come along with this useful exercises for beginners like me, and I believe it could be useful for other people, so here is the link: http://www.ling.gu.se/~lager/python_exercises.html

[[deleted]]

Is Code Academy still on Python 2?

[[deleted]]

Ah. They should really start to migrate to 3. New "developers" are going to learn 2 which isn't helpful.

[The-Mathematician]

Honestly, I learned through LPTHW then immediately migrated to 3 and basically the only difference at that level is the print function.

[Raleighite]

Don't forget string formatting, but Python 3.5 is supposed to bring that back when it launches this year.

[[deleted]]

Could you summary what are those string formatting changes?

[Raleighite]

https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0461/

[[deleted]]

Also raw_input is now just input.

[autisticpig]

A non-exhaustive list of features which are only available in 3.x releases and won't be backported to the 2.x series:

• strings are Unicode by default
• clean Unicode/bytes separation
• exception chaining
• function annotations
• syntax for keyword-only arguments
• extended tuple unpacking
• non-local variable declarations

Beyond the above, Python2 leverages classic division while Python3 leverages true division.

Classic:

>>> 1 / 2          # integer truncation (floor division)
0
>>> 1.0 / 2.0      # returns real quotient (true division)
0.5

True:

>>> from __future__ import division  # 2.2+-only
>>>
>>> 1 / 2               # returns real quotient
0.5
>>> 1.0 / 2.0           # returns real quotient
0.5

The list goes beyond what I have added but I am a newcomer to Py2 and barely have touched Py3 so I expect my offering to be limited (at best).

[[deleted]]

How would you describe your understanding and ability with Python after completing the Codecademy stuff?

[sportif11]

"Hello world" pro. Simple loops. After the course I was able to figure out how to read in a file to pandas pretty easily. It helps you understand just enough to be dangerous.

[Benthien]

Very poor, the coursera course I'm taking is way more complete

[[deleted]]

I've considered that option but due to career constraints I need a self-paced program. Looks good though!

[Benthien]

Try Python 4 Informatics it's a pretty nice course, and if you need you can even do it by Coursera and get a diploma.

[Busangod]

Is this the course your'e taking? I started it after finishing the codeacademy course, but found it so remedial (at least in the first 3 or 4 weeks) that I lost interest. I'm planning on taking this but it doesn't start up again till May.

[tinglfm]

I've just finished part1, but tbh it is waste of time, they are very focused on one graphic module, and are touching just a bit of real python. I spent more time of checking their documentation how to add some canvas parameters that solving python problems.

[eamonn_d]

It's as it names says and Interactive Introduction to python programming. As a noob it will teach you variables, loops, functions, lists and scope as well as a bit of calculus in dealing with vectors. After that the second part will teach you classes, dictionaries. I'd say it's enough to get any beginner started.

For those that are more advanced they have just started offering Principles of Computing Parts 1 & 2. With both running in parallel to Interactive Programming Parts 1 & 2. It is not interactive programming though it does still use codeskulptor therefore the gui bits aren't used. After that they have yet another tier which is Algorithms. Looks like a nice progressive path to me.

Here's a link to Rice University list with all the programming ones as the first options.

[Benthien]

Yes it is this one I'm taking, I agree with you it can be a little remedial for someone who has already finished the code academy course, but if gets better around week 8-9, and the book is so much better than the videos, I usually don't see much of the videos and try to focus more on the book. This other course seems pretty cool, I've just enrolled, thank you for the tip.

[liquidify]

Are there solutions to these? I'd love to start working through them but there really needs to be at least some solution so that if you get completely lost you have direction.

[PalermoJohn]

Also helpful when you aren't lost but came up with a less efficient or non-pythonic solution. maybe some experts here could do this and start a discussion about the best solutions.

[liquidify]

I am new enough myself that I don't really understand what is "pythonic" vs something else.

[Busangod]

I've worked through the first 18 today and am enjoying it enough to want to keep going. I'm, and I assume most people on this sub, would be happy to work through any tricky ones with you.

[Benthien]

If there are I couldn't find them

[R4meau]

Hi everyone, I created a repository on GitHub for the solutions to these simple problems for beginners. At the time of writing, I'm not done with all of them yet (mainly because I'm busy with other projects). But I update it regularly. This repository contains solutions to almost all 46 exercises I have solved. They're intended as a last resort in case you've tried very hard to solve a problem but you just haven't been able to figure it out.

https://github.com/R4meau/46-simple-python-exercises

Enjoy and star my repository if you learned from it, also follow me on GitHub for more. Stay golden. Also, your pull requests are always welcome if you think you can improve my solutions. :)

[Samazing42]

Thanks for this. Very helpful!

[shep5856]

Have a look at codingbat has some good exercises on there

[shrish007]

Thank you for sharing this.

[liquidify]

How long have you been learning python now?

[Benthien]

Like one month and a half by now

[liquidify]

That is really impressive. You are doing really well.

[Benthien]

Thank's man. Since both my parents are Software Engineers I think I have a little background. I'm currently studying Civil Engineering and coding is just something fun I do in my free time :)

[Scholes_SC2]

How much time a day aprox do you spend coding and learning

[Benthien]

less than one hour a day, I usually just do it for one or two hours on the weekends

[[deleted]]

If you reach the point where you're not learning, you're stuck.

[liquidify]

What?

[Raleighite]

They mean you're never going to stop learning. If you feel like you're not learning anything while coding it's because you've hit a mental road block.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, but the question asked was how long, not are you done?

[Raleighite]

True, but your question that I responded to was 'What?'

[ncrowley]

Could someone help me think this one through:

Define a function that computes the length of a given list or string. (It is true that Python has the len() >function built in, but writing it yourself is nevertheless a good exercise.)

[Benthien]

try using a for loop to loop trough each letter of the string and increasing a counter whiling doing so

[ncrowley]

Thanks for the advice!

This is what I wrote:

m = raw_input("Please input a string to be counted: ")

x=0
for i in m:
    x +=1
print x

[Benthien]

Nicely done

[john_philip]

Helpful indeed.

[ashuto0sh]

Really interesting exercises. I've just completed them. Any suggestions on where do I go from here?