Fundamentals of Coding

Question 1

What is scientific computing?

Answer 1

Coding for the purpose of science
We want to use coding to:
- Manage large amounts of data
- Apply some math/algorithms
- Visualize our data

Question 2

Computer Scientists

Answer 2

Solving complex problems with math and computations

Question 3

Software Engineers

Answer 3

Design and develop user-friendly software

Question 4

Why can’t we just use Excel

Answer 4

• Highly inefficient
• Greater chance of introducing errors
• No permanent record
• Not reproduceable

Question 5

R

Answer 5

• Developed for statistical computing
• Many statistical libraries
• Used primarily by researchers
• Free to use

Question 6

Python

Answer 6

• General purpose language
• Large user base
• variety of libraries for data
• free to use
• widespread use across industry

Question 7

MatLab

Answer 7

• heavily used in engineering
• excellent for signal processing
• Standard toolboxes
• requires a license

Question 8

Functions

Answer 8

Block of code that only runs when you call it

Question 9

Modules

Answer 9

Grouping of functions for similar tasks

Question 10

Packages/Libraries

Answer 10

Grouping of modules for similar projects

Question 11

Anaconda

Answer 11

A distribution of the Python for scientific computing and data science, that aims to simplify package management and development

Question 12

Google CoLab

Answer 12

• Cloud-based platform for writing and executing python code
• hosted by Google drive, requiring only a Google account
• Provides free access to computational resources

Question 13

Strings

Answer 13

• Variables that contains numbers, letters, or other characters
• CANNOT be used in computations

Question 14

Numbers

Answer 14

Only contain numbers and can be used in computations

Question 15

Floats

Answer 15

Precision numbers that carry decimal places and as such are most commonly used for storing data
- can be converted to an integer using the int command

Question 16

Booleans

Answer 16

Represent true or false evaluation of content

Question 17

Lists

Answer 17

• Single variables that store multiple items
• Defined by square brackets []
• Can store strings, floats, booleans, integers

Question 18

Finding items on a list through index

Answer 18

Add .index() after the name of the list with the item we are looking for in the round brackets

Question 19

Dictionaries

Answer 19

Allows you to store “keys” to pair with values/variables
- defined by curly brackets{}

Question 20

Rules for naming variables

Answer 20

1. Cannot start with a number
2. Cannot use a reserved word as a name
3. Cannot use a special symbol
4. Upper and lowercase characters are read differently

Question 21

Best practices when naming variables

Answer 21

1. Never use the letters I or 0 as a single letter names (easily mistaken for 1 or 0)
2. Don’t make them too general, but also not so descriptive that they become wordy
3. Keep them short, but long enough to be descriptive
4. Variable names should be lowercase with underscores used as a separator
5. A constant can be fully capitalized

Question 22

Control structures

Answer 22

Blocks of code that analyze variables and decide the direction the program takes
- Precondition: state of the variables entering a control structure
- Control structure: the program or algorithm that runs based on the preconditions
- Post condition: stat of the variables after the control structure has run

Question 23

What are the 3 basic types of control structures

Answer 23

1. Sequence: Simply runs 1 line after another like a recipe
2. Selection: Allows for decisions and branching to occur within the block of code
3. Iteration: Used for repeating lines of code

Question 24

How do you combine strings

Answer 24

can use +

Question 25

Coding Iterations

Answer 25

- can code to print directly - use placeholder for each variable in a list - Can code to save in a variable (code empty variable to add to, use temp interation variable and then save the new string into empty variable using empty.append(temp variable))

Question 26

abs()

Answer 26

Returns the absolute value of a number

Question 27

len()

Answer 27

Returns the length of an object

Question 28

max()

Answer 28

Returns the largest item in an object

Question 29

min()

Answer 29

Returns the smallest item in an object

Question 30

Round()

Answer 30

Rounds a number

Question 31

sum()

Answer 31

sums the items of a list

Question 32

NumPy

Answer 32

Allows you to create array objects that are easier to manipulate

Question 33

Pandas

Answer 33

- Pandas allows us to combine numbers, strings, booleans etc. all in the same array if we want - Can add headers - Cleaner application for working with a variety of data

Question 34

concat

Answer 34

Concatenate, meaning joining together in series

Question 35

How to upload data file

Answer 35

pd.read_csv()

Question 36

Creating plots

Answer 36

- import matplotlib.pyplot - define x and y -plt.whatever_type of graph(x,y) -plt.xlabel(), plt.ylabel() -plt.show()

Question 37

What is the difference between a function and library

Answer 37

Function is a block of reusable code that performs a specific task whereas as a library is a collection of modules and functions that provide prewritten code for various tasks

Question 38

Indexing an array

Answer 38

- Print(Array_name[x,y] - For all in a column or row [:,:] - multiple numbers in a row or column [[x,x,x],y]

Question 39

Indexing in Pandas

Answer 39

Grabs a row df.loc[x] in a range: df.loc[x:x]

Question 40

Adding a row to pandas

Answer 40

pd.dataframe([data], columns =[column_names]) pd.concat([old_df,additional_row], axis=0, ignore_index=true

Question 41

Adding a column in pandas

Answer 41

pd.dataframe([new data], columns= column_name new_df = pd.concat([new_df, new_column], axis=1)