Theoretical

Built in Datatypes

What are the built-in types available In Python?

Answer

Common immutable type:

1. numbers: int(), float(), complex()

2. immutable sequences: str(), tuple(), frozenset(), bytes()

Common mutable type (almost everything else):

1. mutable sequences: list(), bytearray()

2. set type: set()

3. mapping type: dict()

4. classes, class instances

5. etc.

You have to understand that Python represents all its data as objects. Some of these objects like lists and dictionaries are mutable, meaning you can change their content without changing their identity. Other objects like integers, floats, strings and tuples are objects that can not be changed.

Lambda

What is Lambda Functions in Python?

Answer

A Lambda Function is a small anonymous function. A lambda function can take any number of arguments but can only have one expression.

x = lambda a : a + 10
print(x(5)) # Output: 15

tuple vs list vs dictionary

When to use a tuple vs list vs dictionary in Python?

Answer

• Use a tuple to store a sequence of items that will not change.

• Use a list to store a sequence of items that may change.

• Use a dictionary when you want to associate pairs of two items.

local vs global

What are the rules for local and global variables in Python?

Answer

While in many or most other programming languages variables are treated as global if not declared otherwise, Python deals with variables the other way around. They are local, if not otherwise declared.

• In Python, variables that are only referenced inside a function are implicitly global.

• If a variable is assigned a value anywhere within the function’s body, it’s assumed to be a local unless explicitly declared as global.

Requiring global for assigned variables provides a bar against unintended side-effects.

Descriptors

What are descriptors?

Answer

Descriptors were introduced to Python way back in version 2.2. They provide the developer with the ability to add managed attributes to objects. The methods needed to create a descriptor are __get__, __set__ and __delete__. If you define any of these methods, then you have created a descriptor.

Descriptors power a lot of the magic of Python’s internals. They are what make properties, methods and even the super function work. They are also used to implement the new style classes that were also introduced in Python 2.2.

switch case

Does Python have a switch-case statement?

Answer

In Python before 3.10, we do not have a switch-case statement. Here, you may write a switch function to use. Else, you may use a set of if-elif-else statements. To implement a function for this, we may use a dictionary.

def switch_demo(argument):
    switcher = {
        1: "January",
        2: "February",
        3: "March",
        4: "April",
        5: "May",
        6: "June",
        7: "July",
        8: "August",
        9: "September",
        10: "October",
        11: "November",
        12: "December"
    }
    print switcher.get(argument, "Invalid month")

Python 3.10 (2021) introduced the match-case statement which provides a first-class implementation of a "switch" for Python. For example:

For example:

def f(x):
    match x:
        case 'a':
            return 1
        case 'b':
            return 2

The match-case statement is considerably more powerful than this simple example.

static methods

Is it possible to have static methods in Python?

Answer (Source)

Static methods in Python are extremely similar to python class level methods, the difference being that a static method is bound to a class rather than the objects for that class. This means that a static method can be called without an object for that class. This also means that static methods cannot modify the state of an object as they are not bound to it. Let’s see how we can create static methods in Python.

Static methods have a very clear use-case. When we need some functionality not w.r.t an Object but w.r.t the complete class, we make a method static. This is pretty much advantageous when we need to create Utility methods as they aren’t tied to an object lifecycle usually. Finally, note that in a static method, we don’t need the self to be passed as the first argument.

range vs xrange

What is the difference between range and xrange functions in Python?

Answer (Source)

• range() – This returns a range object (a type of iterable).

• xrange() – This function returns the generator object that can be used to display numbers only by looping. The only particular range is displayed on demand and hence called “lazy evaluation“.

Pickling and Unpickling

What is Pickling and Unpickling?

Answer

“Pickling” is the process whereby a Python object hierarchy is converted into a byte stream, and “unpickling” is the inverse operation, whereby a byte stream (from a binary file or bytes-like object) is converted back into an object hierarchy.

*args vs **kwargs

What does this stuff mean: *args, **kwargs? Why would we use it?

Answer (Source)

Special Symbols Used for passing arguments:-

• *args (Non-Keyword Arguments)

• **kwargs (Keyword Arguments)

The special syntax *args in function definitions in python is used to pass a variable number of arguments to a function. It is used to pass a non-key worded, variable-length argument list.

The special syntax **kwargs in function definitions in python is used to pass a keyworded, variable-length argument list. We use the name kwargs with the double star. The reason is that the double star allows us to pass through keyword arguments (and any number of them).

• A keyword argument is where you provide a name to the variable as you pass it into the function.

• One can think of the kwargs as being a dictionary that maps each keyword to the value that we pass alongside it. That is why when we iterate over the kwargs there doesn’t seem to be any order in which they were printed out.

eggs vs wheels

What are the Wheels and Eggs? What is the difference?

Answer

Wheel and Egg are both packaging formats that aim to support the use case of needing an install artifact that doesn’t require building or compilation, which can be costly in testing and production workflows.

The Egg format was introduced by setuptools in 2004, whereas the Wheel format was introduced by PEP 427 in 2012.

Egg packages are an older standard, you should ignore them nowadays. Use pip install . instead of ./setup.py install to prevent creating them. (addendum: They are also .zips in disguise, from which Python reads package data — not exactly the most performant solution)

Wheel packages, on the other hand, are the new standard. They allow for creation of portable binary packages for Windows, macOS, and Linux (yes, Linux!). Nowadays, you can just do pip install PyQt5 (as an example) and it will just work, no C++ compiler and Qt libraries required on the system. Everything is pre-compiled and included in the wheel. Non-binary packages also benefit, because it’s safer not to run setup.py (all the metadata is in the wheel). (addendum: those are also .zips, but they are unpacked when installed)

meshgrid

What is meshgrid in Python?

Answer (Source)

In python, meshgrid is a function that creates a rectangular grid out of 2 given 1-dimensional arrays that denotes the Matrix or Cartesian indexing. It is inspired from MATLAB. This meshgrid function is provided by the module numpy. Coordinate matrices are returned from the coordinate vectors.

metaclass

What is a metaclass in Python?

Answer (Source)

A metaclass in Python is a class of a class that defines how a class behaves. A class is itself an instance of a metaclass. A class in Python defines how the instance of the class will behave. In order to understand metaclasses well, one needs to have prior experience working with Python classes.