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The document provides information about various Python eBooks available for download, including 'Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures' and 'Data Structures & Algorithms in Python.' It includes links to access these eBooks and emphasizes the importance of the content while noting copyright restrictions. Additionally, it outlines the structure and topics covered in the 'Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures' textbook.

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70 views76 pages

Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures 2nd Edition Kenneth A. Lambert - Ebook PDF Instant Download

The document provides information about various Python eBooks available for download, including 'Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures' and 'Data Structures & Algorithms in Python.' It includes links to access these eBooks and emphasizes the importance of the content while noting copyright restrictions. Additionally, it outlines the structure and topics covered in the 'Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures' textbook.

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second Edition

Fundamentals of Python:
Data STRUCTURES

Kenneth A. Lambert

Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States

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Table of Contents
iii

Pref ace �������������������������������������������������� xi

CHAPTER 1 B as ic Pyt h o n Programmi ng ��������������������������� 1


Basic Program Elements ��������������������������������������������������� 2
Programs and Modules��������������������������������������������������� 2
An Example Python Program: Guessing a Number��������������� 2
Editing, Compiling, and Running Python Programs��������������� 3
Program Comments ������������������������������������������������������� 4
Lexical Elements������������������������������������������������������������ 4
Spelling and Naming Conventions ������������������������������������ 4
Syntactic Elements��������������������������������������������������������� 5
Literals ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 5
Operators and Expressions ��������������������������������������������� 6
Function Calls ��������������������������������������������������������������� 7
The print Function������������������������������������������������������� 7
The input Function ��������������������������������������������������������� 7
Type Conversion Functions and Mixed-Mode Operations ������ 7
Optional and Keyword Function Arguments ������������������������ 7
Variables and Assignment Statements ������������������������������ 8
Python Data Typing��������������������������������������������������������� 9
import Statements ������������������������������������������������������� 9
Getting Help on Program Components ������������������������������ 9
Control Statements ���������������������������������������������������������10
Conditional Statements��������������������������������������������������10
Using if __name__ == "__main__"�����������������������������11
Loop Statements�����������������������������������������������������������12
Strings and Their Operations ��������������������������������������������12
Operators��������������������������������������������������������������������13
Formatting Strings for Output�����������������������������������������14
Objects and Method Calls�����������������������������������������������15
Built-In Python Collections and Their Operations��������������������16
Lists ��������������������������������������������������������������������������16
Tuples ������������������������������������������������������������������������17

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Loops Over Sequences��������������������������������������������������17


Dictionaries �����������������������������������������������������������������18
Searching for a Value�����������������������������������������������������18
Pattern Matching with Collections �����������������������������������18
Creating New Functions ���������������������������������������������������19
iv Function Definitions ������������������������������������������������������19
Recursive Functions������������������������������������������������������20
Nested Function Definitions��������������������������������������������22
Higher-Order Functions��������������������������������������������������23
Creating Anonymous Functions with lambda ���������������������24
Catching Exceptions ��������������������������������������������������������24
Files and Their Operations ������������������������������������������������25
Text File Output������������������������������������������������������������26
Writing Numbers to a Text File ���������������������������������������26
Reading Text from a Text File �����������������������������������������27
Reading Numbers from a File �����������������������������������������28
Reading and Writing Objects with pickle ������������������������29
Creating New Classes ������������������������������������������������������30

CHAPTER 2 An Over view o f Col l ecti ons ������������������������� 37


Collection Types��������������������������������������������������������������38
Linear Collections ��������������������������������������������������������38
Hierarchical Collections��������������������������������������������������39
Graph Collections ���������������������������������������������������������39
Unordered Collections���������������������������������������������������40
Sorted Collections��������������������������������������������������������40
A Taxonomy of Collection Types��������������������������������������40
Operations on Collections��������������������������������������������������41
Fundamental Operations on All Collection Types�����������������41
Type Conversion�����������������������������������������������������������43
Cloning and Equality �����������������������������������������������������43
Iterators and Higher-Order Functions�����������������������������������44
Implementations of Collections������������������������������������������44

CHAPTER 3 Search in g , ­S o r ti ng, and Compl ex i ty Anal y si s��� 49


Measuring the Efficiency of Algorithms��������������������������������50
Measuring the Run Time of an Algorithm ��������������������������50
Counting Instructions�����������������������������������������������������53
Measuring the Memory Used by an Algorithm��������������������55
Complexity Analysis ���������������������������������������������������������55
Orders of Complexity�����������������������������������������������������56
Big-O Notation��������������������������������������������������������������57
The Role of the Constant of Proportionality�����������������������58
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
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Search Algorithms �����������������������������������������������������������59


Search for the Minimum ������������������������������������������������59
Sequential Search of a List ��������������������������������������������60
Best-Case, Worst-Case, and Average-Case Performance�����60
Binary Search of a Sorted List ���������������������������������������61
Comparing Data Items ��������������������������������������������������62 v
Basic Sort Algorithms ������������������������������������������������������64
Selection Sort��������������������������������������������������������������64
Bubble Sort �����������������������������������������������������������������65
Insertion Sort ��������������������������������������������������������������67
Best-Case, Worst-Case, and Average-Case Performance
Revisited��������������������������������������������������������������������68
Faster Sorting��������������������������������������������������������������69
Overview of Quicksort ���������������������������������������������������70
Merge Sort������������������������������������������������������������������74
An Exponential Algorithm: Recursive Fibonacci ��������������������77
Converting Fibonacci to a Linear Algorithm�����������������������78

CHAPTER 4 Ar r ays an d Linked Structures ���������������������� 89


The Array Data Structure��������������������������������������������������90
Random Access and Contiguous Memory��������������������������92
Static Memory and Dynamic Memory��������������������������������93
Physical Size and Logical Size ���������������������������������������94
Operations on Arrays��������������������������������������������������������94
Increasing the Size of an Array���������������������������������������95
Decreasing the Size of an Array��������������������������������������95
Inserting an Item into an Array That Grows �����������������������96
Removing an Item from an Array��������������������������������������97
Complexity Trade-Off: Time, Space, and Arrays�����������������98
Two-Dimensional Arrays (Grids) �����������������������������������������99
Processing a Grid������������������������������������������������������� 100
Creating and Initializing a Grid��������������������������������������� 100
Defining a Grid Class��������������������������������������������������� 101
Ragged Grids and Multidimensional Arrays ��������������������� 101
Linked Structures ���������������������������������������������������������� 102
Singly Linked Structures and Doubly Linked Structures ���� 103
Noncontiguous Memory and Nodes ������������������������������� 104
Defining a Singly Linked Node Class������������������������������ 106
Using the Singly Linked Node Class ������������������������������ 106
Operations on Singly Linked Structures ���������������������������� 108
Traversal ������������������������������������������������������������������ 108
Searching������������������������������������������������������������������ 109
Replacement ������������������������������������������������������������� 110
Inserting at the Beginning��������������������������������������������� 111
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Inserting at the End ���������������������������������������������������� 111


Removing at the Beginning ������������������������������������������ 112
Removing at the End��������������������������������������������������� 113
Inserting at Any Position���������������������������������������������� 114
Removing at Any Position��������������������������������������������� 116
vi Complexity Trade-Off: Time, Space, and Singly Linked
Structures ��������������������������������������������������������������� 116
Variations on a Link ������������������������������������������������������� 118
A Circular Linked Structure with a Dummy Header Node��� 118
Doubly Linked Structures��������������������������������������������� 119

CHAPTER 5  In t er f aces , ­I m pl ementati ons,


an d Po lym o r phi sm���������������������������������� 126
Developing an Interface ������������������������������������������������� 127
Designing the Bag Interface������������������������������������������ 127
Specifying Arguments and Return Values������������������������ 129
Constructors and Implementing Classes ��������������������������� 130
Preconditions, Postconditions, Exceptions,
and Documentation ��������������������������������������������������� 131
Coding an Interface in Python��������������������������������������� 132
Developing an Array-Based Implementation������������������������ 134
Choose and Initialize the Data Structures������������������������ 134
Complete the Easy Methods First ��������������������������������� 135
Complete the Iterator ������������������������������������������������� 136
Complete the Methods That Use the Iterator ������������������ 137
The in Operator and the __contains__ Method������������ 137
Complete the remove Method��������������������������������������� 138
Developing a Link-Based Implementation��������������������������� 139
Initialize the Data Structures ���������������������������������������� 139
Complete the Iterator ������������������������������������������������� 140
Complete the Methods clear and add��������������������������� 140
Complete the Method remove��������������������������������������� 141
Run-Time Performance of the Two Bag Implementations ������ 142
Testing the Two Bag Implementations ������������������������������� 142
Diagramming the Bag Resource with UML ������������������������� 144

CHAPTER 6 In h er it an ce an d Abstract Cl asses��������������� 148


Using Inheritance to Customize an Existing Class��������������� 149
Subclassing an Existing Class��������������������������������������� 150
Revising the __init__ Method ������������������������������������ 150
Adding a New __contains__ Method ��������������������������� 152
Modifying the Existing add Method ������������������������������� 152
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Modifying the Existing __add__ Method ������������������������ 153


Run-Time Performance of ArraySortedBag ������������������ 153
A Note on Class Hierarchies in Python ��������������������������� 154
Using Abstract Classes to Eliminate Redundant Code ��������� 155
Designing an AbstractBag Class��������������������������������� 155
Redoing the __init__ Method in AbstractBag ������������ 157 vii
Modifying the Subclasses of AbstractBag��������������������� 157
Generalizing the __add__ Method in AbstractBag��������� 158
An Abstract Class for All Collections��������������������������������� 159
Integrating AbstractCollection into the Collection
Hierarchy ���������������������������������������������������������������� 159
Using Two Iterators in the __eq__ Method ��������������������� 161
A Professional-Quality Framework of Collections ���������������� 162

CHAPTER 7 St ack s ������������������������������������������������� 167


Overview of Stacks��������������������������������������������������������� 168
Using a Stack ��������������������������������������������������������������� 169
The Stack Interface ���������������������������������������������������� 169
Instantiating a Stack ��������������������������������������������������� 170
Example Application: Matching Parentheses ������������������� 171
Three Applications of Stacks������������������������������������������� 174
Evaluating Arithmetic Expressions��������������������������������� 174
Evaluating Postfix Expressions ������������������������������������� 175
Converting Infix to Postfix ������������������������������������������� 176
Backtracking ������������������������������������������������������������� 179
Memory Management��������������������������������������������������� 181
Implementations of Stacks ��������������������������������������������� 184
Test Driver ���������������������������������������������������������������� 184
Adding Stacks to the Collection Hierarchy���������������������� 185
Array Implementation��������������������������������������������������� 186
Linked Implementation ������������������������������������������������ 187
The Role of the Abstract Stack Class ���������������������������� 190
Time and Space Analysis of the Two Implementations ������ 191

C HAPTER 8 Qu eu es ������������������������������������������������� 205


Overview of Queues ������������������������������������������������������� 206
The Queue Interface and Its Use��������������������������������������� 207
Two Applications of Queues��������������������������������������������� 210
Simulations ��������������������������������������������������������������� 210
Round-Robin CPU Scheduling ��������������������������������������� 212
Implementations of Queues��������������������������������������������� 213
A Linked Implementation of Queues������������������������������� 213
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contents 

An Array Implementation ��������������������������������������������� 215


Time and Space Analysis for the Two Implementations������ 217
Priority Queues ������������������������������������������������������������� 226

CHAPTER 9 Lis t s ���������������������������������������������������� 239


viii Overview of Lists ���������������������������������������������������������� 240
Using Lists ������������������������������������������������������������������� 240
Index-Based Operations������������������������������������������������ 241
Content-Based Operations ������������������������������������������� 242
Position-Based Operations ������������������������������������������� 242
Interfaces for Lists������������������������������������������������������ 247
Applications of Lists ������������������������������������������������������ 249
Heap-Storage Management ������������������������������������������ 249
Organization of Files on a Disk ������������������������������������� 250
Implementation of Other Collections������������������������������ 252
List Implementations������������������������������������������������������ 252
The Role of the AbstractList Class ��������������������������� 252
An Array-Based Implementation ������������������������������������ 254
A Linked Implementation ��������������������������������������������� 255
Time and Space Analysis for the Two Implementations������ 258
Implementing a List Iterator��������������������������������������������� 260
Role and Responsibilities of a List Iterator ��������������������� 260
Setting Up and Instantiating a List Iterator Class������������� 261
The Navigational Methods in the List Iterator ������������������ 262
The Mutator Methods in the List Iterator ������������������������ 263
Design of a List Iterator for a Linked List������������������������ 264
Time and Space Analysis of List Iterator
Implementations ������������������������������������������������������� 265
Recursive List Processing ���������������������������������������������� 270
Basic Operations on a Lisp-Like List������������������������������ 271
Recursive Traversals of a Lisp-Like List ������������������������� 272
Building a Lisp-Like List������������������������������������������������ 273
The Internal Structure of a Lisp-Like List������������������������ 275
Printing Lisp-Like Lists in IDLE with __repr__���������������� 276
Lists and Functional Programming��������������������������������� 277

CHAPTER 10 Trees ���������������������������������������������������� 282


An Overview of Trees������������������������������������������������������ 283
Tree Terminology�������������������������������������������������������� 283
General Trees and Binary Trees ������������������������������������ 284
Recursive Definitions of Trees��������������������������������������� 285
Why Use a Tree?������������������������������������������������������������ 286
The Shape of Binary Trees ���������������������������������������������� 288

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 contents

Binary Tree Traversals ��������������������������������������������������� 291


Preorder Traversal������������������������������������������������������ 291
Inorder Traversal��������������������������������������������������������� 291
Postorder Traversal ���������������������������������������������������� 292
Level Order Traversal��������������������������������������������������� 292
Three Common Applications of Binary Trees ���������������������� 293 ix
Heaps����������������������������������������������������������������������� 293
Binary Search Trees ��������������������������������������������������� 293
Expression Trees��������������������������������������������������������� 295
Developing a Binary Search Tree ������������������������������������� 297
The Binary Search Tree Interface ���������������������������������� 297
Data Structure for the Linked Implementation������������������ 299
Complexity Analysis of Binary Search Trees ������������������� 304
Recursive Descent Parsing and Programming
Languages������������������������������������������������������������������ 304
Introduction to Grammars��������������������������������������������� 305
Recognizing, Parsing, and Interpreting Sentences
in a Language ���������������������������������������������������������� 306
Lexical Analysis and the Scanner ���������������������������������� 307
Parsing Strategies������������������������������������������������������ 307
An Array Implementation of Binary Trees��������������������������� 313
Implementing Heaps ������������������������������������������������������ 315

CHAPTER 11 Set s an d Dict ionari es������������������������������� 322


Using Sets ������������������������������������������������������������������� 323
The Python Set Class������������������������������������������������������ 324
A Sample Session with Sets������������������������������������������ 325
Applications of Sets ��������������������������������������������������� 325
Relationship Between Sets and Bags������������������������������ 325
Relationship Between Sets and Dictionaries ������������������� 326
Implementations of Sets���������������������������������������������� 326
Array-Based and Linked Implementations of Sets ��������������� 326
The AbstractSet Class ��������������������������������������������� 327
The ArraySet Class��������������������������������������������������� 328
Using Dictionaries ��������������������������������������������������������� 329
Array-Based and Linked Implementations of Dictionaries������ 330
The Entry Class��������������������������������������������������������� 330
The AbstractDict Class ������������������������������������������� 331
The ArrayDict Class������������������������������������������������� 333
Complexity Analysis of the Array-Based and Linked
Implementations of Sets and Dictionaries��������������������� 334
Hashing Strategies��������������������������������������������������������� 335

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contents 

The Relationship of Collisions to Density������������������������ 336


Hashing with Nonnumeric Keys ������������������������������������� 337
Linear Probing������������������������������������������������������������ 339
Quadratic Probing ������������������������������������������������������ 340
Chaining ������������������������������������������������������������������� 341
x Complexity Analysis ���������������������������������������������������� 342
Hashing Implementation of Sets��������������������������������������� 349
Hashing Implementation of Dictionaries ���������������������������� 352
Sorted Sets and Dictionaries ������������������������������������������ 354

CHAPTER 12 Gr aph s ������������������������������������������������� 359


Why Use Graphs? ���������������������������������������������������������� 360
Graph Terminology��������������������������������������������������������� 360
Representations of Graphs ��������������������������������������������� 364
Adjacency Matrix��������������������������������������������������������� 365
Adjacency List������������������������������������������������������������ 366
Analysis of the Two Representations������������������������������ 367
Further Run-Time Considerations ���������������������������������� 368
Graph Traversals������������������������������������������������������������ 369
A Generic Traversal Algorithm��������������������������������������� 369
Breadth-First and Depth-First Traversals������������������������� 370
Graph Components������������������������������������������������������ 372
Trees Within Graphs������������������������������������������������������� 373
Spanning Trees and Forests������������������������������������������ 373
Minimum Spanning Tree����������������������������������������������� 373
Algorithms for Minimum Spanning Trees ������������������������ 373
Topological Sort������������������������������������������������������������ 376
The Shortest-Path Problem ��������������������������������������������� 377
Dijkstra’s Algorithm ���������������������������������������������������� 377
The Initialization Step ������������������������������������������������� 377
The Computation Step ������������������������������������������������ 379
Representing and Working with Infinity��������������������������� 380
Analysis��������������������������������������������������������������������� 380
Floyd’s Algorithm ������������������������������������������������������� 380
Analysis��������������������������������������������������������������������� 382
Developing a Graph Collection ���������������������������������������� 382
Example Use of the Graph Collection����������������������������� 383
The Class LinkedDirectedGraph������������������������������� 384
The Class LinkedVertex ������������������������������������������� 388
The Class LinkedEdge������������������������������������������������ 390

Glo s s ar y �����������������������������������������������������401

In dex ���������������������������������������������������� 410


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Preface
xi

Welcome to Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures, 2nd Edition. This text is intended
for a second semester course in programming and problem solving with data structures. It
covers the material taught in a typical Computer Science 2 course (CS2) at the undergradu-
ate level. Although this book uses the Python programming language, you need only have a
basic knowledge of programming in a high-level programming language before beginning
Chapter 1.

What You’ll Learn


The book covers four major aspects of computing:
1. Programming basics—Data types, control structures, algorithm development,
and program design with functions are basic ideas that you need to master to solve
problems with computers. You’ll review these core topics in the Python program-
ming language and employ your understanding of them to solve a wide range of
problems.
2. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)—Object-Oriented Programming is the
dominant programming paradigm used to develop large software systems. You’ll
be introduced to the fundamental principles of OOP so that you can apply them
­successfully. Unlike other textbooks, this book helps you develop a professional-
quality framework of collection classes to illustrate these principles.
3. Data structures—Most useful programs rely on data structures to solve prob-
lems. At the most concrete level, data structures include arrays and various types
of linked structures. You’ll use these data structures to implement various types of
collection structures, such as stacks, queues, lists, trees, bags, sets, dictionaries, and
graphs. You’ll also learn to use complexity analysis to evaluate the space/time trade-
offs of different implementations of these collections.
4. Software development life cycle—Rather than isolate software development tech-
niques in one or two chapters, this book deals with them throughout in the context
of numerous case studies. Among other things, you’ll learn that coding a program
is often not the most difficult or challenging aspect of problem solving and software
development.

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Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
P r e fa c e Why Python?

Why Python?
Computer technology and applications have become increasingly more sophisticated over
the past three decades, and so has the computer science curriculum, especially at the intro-
ductory level. Today’s students learn a bit of programming and problem solving and are
then expected to move quickly into topics like software development, complexity analysis,
xii
and data structures that, 30 years ago, were relegated to advanced courses. In addition,
the ascent of object-oriented programming as the dominant paradigm has led instructors
and textbook authors to bring powerful, industrial-strength programming languages such
as C++ and Java into the introductory curriculum. As a result, instead of experiencing the
rewards and excitement of solving problems with computers, beginning computer science
students often become overwhelmed by the combined tasks of mastering advanced con-
cepts as well as the syntax of a programming language.
This book uses the Python programming language as a way of making the second course
in computer science more manageable and attractive for students and instructors alike.
Python has the following pedagogical benefits:
•• Python has simple, conventional syntax. Python statements are very close to those of
pseudocode algorithms, and Python expressions use the conventional notation found
in algebra. Thus, you can spend less time dealing with the syntax of a programming
­language and more time learning to solve interesting problems.
•• Python has safe semantics. Any expression or statement whose meaning violates the
definition of the language produces an error message.
•• Python scales well. It is easy for beginners to write simple programs in Python. Python
also includes all the advanced features of a modern programming language, such as
­support for data structures and object-oriented software development, for use when
they become necessary, especially in the second course in computer science
•• Python is highly interactive. You can enter expressions and statements at an interpreter’s
prompts to try out experimental code and receive immediate feedback. You can also
compose longer code segments and save them in script files to be loaded and run as
modules or stand-alone applications.
•• Python is general purpose. In today’s context, this means that the language includes
resources for contemporary applications, including media computing and web
services.
•• Python is free and is in widespread use in the industry. You can download Python to run
on a variety of devices. There is a large Python user community, and expertise in Python
programming has great resume value.
To summarize these benefits, Python is a comfortable and flexible vehicle for ­expressing
ideas about computation, both for beginners and for experts. If you learn these ideas well
in the first year, you should have no problems making a quick transition to other lan-
guages needed for courses later in the curriculum. Most importantly, you will spend less
time staring at a computer screen and more time thinking about interesting problems
to solve.
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Organization of this Book P r e fa c e

Organization of this Book


The approach in this book is easygoing, with each new concept introduced only when it is
needed.
Chapter 1 provides a review of the features of Python programming that are needed to begin
a second course in programming and problem solving in Python. The content of this chapter xiii
is organized so that you can skim it quickly if you have experience in Python programming,
or you can dig a bit deeper to get up to speed in the language if you are new to Python.
Chapters 2 through 12 covers the major topics in a typical CS2 course, especially the specifica-
tion, implementation, and application of abstract data types, with the collection types as the
primary vehicle and focus. Along the way, you will be thoroughly exposed to object-oriented
programming techniques and the elements of good software design. Other important CS2 topics
include recursive processing of data, search and sort algorithms, and the tools used in software
development, such as complexity analysis and graphical notations (UML) to document designs.
Chapter 2 introduces the concept of an abstract data type (ADT) and provides an overview
of various categories of collection ADTs.
Chapters 3 and 4 explore the data structures used to implement most collections and the
tools for analyzing their performance trade-offs. Chapter 3 introduces complexity analysis
with big-O notation. Enough material is presented to enable you to perform simple analyses
of the running time and memory usage of algorithms and data structures, using search and
sort algorithms as examples. Chapter 4 covers the details of processing arrays and linear
linked structures, the concrete data structures used to implement most collections. You’ll
learn the underlying models of computer memory that support arrays and linked structures
and the time/space trade-offs that they entail.
Chapters 5 and 6 shift the focus to the principles of object-oriented design. These principles
are used to organize a professional-quality framework of collection classes that will be cov-
ered in detail in later chapters.
Chapter 5 is concerned with the critical difference between interface and implementation.
A single interface and several implementations of a bag collection are developed as a first
example. Emphasis is placed on the inclusion of conventional methods in an interface, to
allow different types of collections to collaborate in applications. For example, one such
method creates an iterator, which allows you to traverse any collection with a simple loop.
Other topics covered in this chapter include polymorphism and information hiding, which
directly stem from the difference between interface and implementation.
Chapter 6 shows how class hierarchies can reduce the amount of redundant code in an object-
oriented software system. The related concepts of inheritance, dynamic binding of method
calls, and abstract classes are introduced here and used throughout the remaining chapters.
Armed with these concepts and principles, you’ll then be ready to consider the other major
collection ADTs, which form the subject of Chapters 7 through 12.
Chapters 7 through 9 present the linear collections, stacks, queues, and lists. Each collec-
tion is viewed first from the perspective of its users, who are aware only of an interface and
a set of performance characteristics possessed by a chosen implementation. The use of each
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
P r e fa c e Special Features

collection is illustrated with one or more applications, and then several implementations
are developed, and their performance trade-offs are analyzed.
Chapters 10 through 12 present advanced data structures and algorithms as a transition to
later courses in computer science. Chapter 10 discusses various tree structures, including
binary search trees, heaps, and expression trees. Chapter 11 examines the ­implementation
xiv of the unordered collections, bags, sets, and dictionaries, using hashing strategies.
­Chapter 12 introduces graphs and graph-processing algorithms.
As mentioned earlier, this book is unique in presenting a professional-quality framework of
collection types. Instead of encountering a series of apparently unrelated collections, you
will explore the place of each collection in an integrated whole. This approach allows you
to see what the collection types have in common as well as what makes each one unique.
At the same time, you will be exposed to a realistic use of inheritance and class hierarchies,
topics in object-oriented software design that are difficult to motivate and exemplify at this
level of the curriculum.

Special Features
This book explains and develops concepts carefully, using frequent examples and diagrams.
New concepts are then applied in complete programs to show how they aid in solving prob-
lems. The chapters place an early and consistent emphasis on good writing habits and neat,
readable documentation.
The book includes several other important features:
•• Case studies—These present complete Python programs ranging from the simple to the
substantial. To emphasize the importance and usefulness of the software development life
cycle, case studies are discussed in the framework of a user request, followed by analysis,
design, implementation, and suggestions for testing, with well-defined tasks performed at
each stage. Some case studies are extended in end-of-chapter programming projects.
•• Chapter summaries—Each chapter after the first one ends with a summary of the
major concepts covered in the chapter.
•• Key terms—When a new term is introduced in the text, it appears in bold face.
­Definitions of the key terms are also collected in a glossary.
•• Exercises—Most major sections of each chapter after the first one end with exercise
questions that reinforce the reading by asking basic questions about the material in the
section. After Chapter 2, each chapter ends with review questions.
•• Programming projects—Each chapter ends with a set of programming projects of
varying difficulty.

New in this Edition


The most obvious change in this edition is the addition of full color. All program examples
include the color coding used in Python’s IDLE, so students can easily identify program
elements such as keywords, comments, and function, method, and class names. Learning
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Instructor Resources P r e fa c e

objectives have been added to the beginning of each chapter. Several new figures have been
added to illustrate concepts, and many programming projects have been added or reworked.
A new section on iterators and higher-order functions has been added to Chapter 2. Finally,
a new section on Lisp-like lists, recursive list processing, and functional programming has
been added to Chapter 9.
xv
Instructor Resources
MindTap
MindTap activities for Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures are designed to help stu-
dents master the skills they need in today's workforce. Research shows employers need
critical thinkers, troubleshooters, and creative problem-solvers to stay relevant in our
fast-paced, technology-driven world. MindTap helps you achieve this with assignments
and activities that provide hands-on practice and real-life relevance. Students are guided
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Instructor Companion Site


The following teaching tools are available for download at the Companion Site for this text.
Go to instructor.cengage.com and sign in to the instructor account. Search for the textbook
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P r e fa c e Dedication

•• Solutions: Solutions to all programming exercises are available. If an input file is


needed to run a programming exercise, it is included with the solution file.
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needed to run a program, it is included with the source code.

xvi

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We Appreciate Your Feedback


We have tried to produce a high-quality text, but should you encounter any errors, please report
them to lambertk@wlu.edu. A listing of errata, should they be found, as well as other informa-
tion about the book, will be posted on the website http://home.wlu.edu/~lambertk/python/.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my friend, Martin Osborne, for many years of advice, friendly
­criticism, and encouragement on several of my book projects.
I would also like to thank my students in Computer Science 112 at Washington and Lee
University for classroom testing this book over several semesters.
Finally, I would like to thank Kristin McNary, Product Team Manager; Chris Shortt, Product
Manager; Maria Garguilo and Kate Mason, Learning Designers; Magesh Rajagopalan, Senior
Project Manager; Danielle Shaw, Tech Editor; and especially Michelle Ruelos Cannistraci,
Senior Content Manager, for ­handling all the details of producing this edition of the book.

About the Author


Kenneth A. Lambert is a professor of computer science and the chair of that department
at Washington and Lee University. He has taught introductory programming courses for
over 30 years and has been an active researcher in computer science education. Lambert
has authored or coauthored a total of 28 textbooks, including a series of introductory C++
­textbooks with Douglas Nance and Thomas Naps, a series of introductory Java textbooks
with Martin Osborne, and a series of introductory Python textbooks.

Dedication
To Brenda Wilson, with love and admiration.
Kenneth A.­Lambert
Lexington, VA
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Chapter 1
Basic Python
Programming

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

Write a simple Python program using its basic structure


Perform simple input and output operations
Perform operations with numbers such as arithmetic and
comparisons
Perform operations with Boolean values
Implement an algorithm using the basic constructs of
sequences of statements, selection statements, and loops
Define functions to structure code
Use built-in data structures such as strings, files, lists,
tuples, and dictionaries
Define classes to represent new types of objects
Structure programs in terms of cooperating functions,
data structures, classes, and modules

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

This chapter gives a quick overview of Python programming. It is intended to bring those
new to or rusty in Python up to speed, but it does not pretend to be a thorough introduc-
tion to computer science or the Python programming language. For a more detailed treat-
ment of programming in Python, see my book Fundamentals of Python: First Programs,
Second Edition (Cengage Learning, 2019). For documentation on the Python programming
2
language, visit www.python.org.
If your computer already has Python, check the version number by running the python
or python3 command at a terminal prompt. (Linux and Mac users first open a terminal
­window, and Windows users first open a DOS window.) You are best off using the most
current version of Python available. Check for that at www.python.org, and download and
install the latest version if necessary. You will need Python 3.0 or higher to run the pro-
grams presented in this book.

Basic Program Elements


Like all contemporary programming languages, Python has a vast array of features and
constructs. However, Python is among the few languages whose basic program ele-
ments are quite simple. This section discusses the essentials to get you started in Python
programming.

Programs and Modules


A Python program consists of one or more modules. A module is just a file of Python code,
which can include statements, function definitions, and class definitions. A short Python
program, also called a script, can be contained in one module. Longer, more complex pro-
grams typically include one main module and one or more supporting modules. The main
module contains the starting point of program execution. Supporting modules contain
function and class definitions.

An Example Python Program: Guessing a Number


Next, you’ll see a complete Python program that plays a game of guess-the-number with
the user. The computer asks the user to enter the lower and upper bounds of a range of
numbers. The computer then “thinks” of a random number in that range and repeatedly
asks the user to guess this number until the user enters a correct guess. The computer gives
a hint to the user after each guess and displays the total number of guesses at the end of the
process. The program includes several of the types of Python statements to be discussed
later in this chapter, such as input statements, output statements, assignment statements,
loops, and conditional statements. The program also includes a single function definition.
Here is the code for the program, in the file numberguess.py:
"""
Author: Ken Lambert
Plays a game of guess the number with the user.
"""

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Basic Program Elements

import random

def main():
"""Inputs the bounds of the range of numbers
and lets the user guess the computer’s number until
the guess is correct."""
smaller = int(input("Enter the smaller number: ")) 3
larger = int(input("Enter the larger number: "))
myNumber = random.randint(smaller, larger)
count = 0
while True:
count += 1
userNumber = int(input("Enter your guess: "))
if userNumber < myNumber:
print("Too small")
elif userNumber > myNumber:
print("Too large")
else:
print("You’ve got it in", count, "tries!")
break

if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

Here is a trace of a user’s interaction with the program:


Enter the smaller number: 1
Enter the larger number: 32
Enter your guess: 16
Too small
Enter your guess: 24
Too large
Enter your guess: 20
You’ve got it in 3 tries!

Note that the code and its trace appear in the colors black, blue, orange, and green. Python’s
IDLE uses color coding to help the reader recognize various types of program elements.
The role of each color will be explained shortly.

Editing, Compiling, and Running Python Programs


You can run complete Python programs, including most of the examples presented, by
entering a command in a terminal window. For example, to run the program contained in
the file numberguess.py, enter the following command in most terminal windows:
python3 numberguess.py

To create or edit a Python module, try using Python’s IDLE (short for Integrated
­DeveLopment Environment). To start IDLE, enter the idle or idle3 command at a terminal
prompt or launch its icon if it is available. You can also launch IDLE by double-clicking on
a Python source code file (any file with a .py extension) or by right-clicking on the file and

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

selecting Open or Edit with IDLE. Make sure that your system is set to open IDLE when
files of this type are launched (this is the default on macOS but not on Windows).
IDLE gives you a shell window for interactively running Python expressions and statements.
Using IDLE, you can move back and forth between editor windows and the shell window to
develop and run complete programs. IDLE also formats your code and color-codes it.
4
When you open an existing Python file with IDLE, the file appears in an editor window, and
the shell pops up in a separate window. To run a program, move the cursor into the editor
window and press the F5 (function-5) key. Python compiles the code in the editor window
and runs it in the shell window.
If a Python program appears to hang or not quit normally, you can exit by pressing Ctrl+C
or closing the shell window.

Program Comments
A program comment is text ignored by the Python compiler but valuable to the reader as
documentation. An end-of-line comment in Python begins with a # symbol and extends to
the end of the current line. It is color-coded in red. For example:
# This is an end-of-line comment.

A multiline comment is a string enclosed in triple single quotes or triple double quotes.
Such comments, which are colored green, are also called docstrings, to indicate that they
can document major constructs within a program. The numberguess program shown
­earlier includes two doc strings. The first one, at the top of the program file, serves as a
comment for the entire numberguess module. The second one, just below the header of the
main function, describes what this function does. As we shall see shortly, docstrings play a
critical role in giving help to a programmer within the Python shell.

Lexical Elements
The lexical elements in a language are the types of words or symbols used to construct
­sentences. As in all high-level programming languages, some of Python’s basic symbols are
keywords, such as if, while, and def, which are colored orange. Also included among lexical
items are identifiers (names), literals (numbers, strings, and other built-in data structures),
operators, and delimiters (quotation marks, commas, parentheses, square brackets, and
braces). Among the identifiers are the names of built-in functions, which are colored purple.

Spelling and Naming Conventions


Python keywords and names are case-sensitive. Thus, while is a keyword, whereas While
is a programmer-defined name. Python keywords are spelled in lowercase letters and are
color-coded in orange in an IDLE window.

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Basic Program Elements

All Python names, other than those of built-in functions, are color-coded in black, except
when they are introduced as function, class, or method names, in which case they appear
in blue. A name can begin with a letter or an underscore (_), followed by any number of
­letters, underscores, or digits.
In this book, the names of modules, variables, functions, and methods are spelled in lower-
case letters. With the exception of modules, when one of these names contains one or more 5
embedded words, the embedded words are capitalized. The names of classes follow the
same conventions but begin with a capital letter. When a variable names a constant, all the
letters are uppercase, and an underscore separates any embedded words. Table 1-1 shows
examples of these naming conventions.

Type of Name Examples


Variable salary, hoursWorked, isAbsent

Constant ABSOLUTE_ZERO, INTEREST_RATE

Function or method printResults, cubeRoot, input

Class BankAccount, SortedSet

Table 1-1 Examples of Python Naming Conventions

Use names that describe their role in a program. In general, variable names should
be nouns or adjectives (if they denote Boolean values), whereas function and method
names should be verbs if they denote actions, or nouns or adjectives if they denote values
returned.

Syntactic Elements
The syntactic elements in a language are the types of sentences (expressions, statements,
definitions, and other constructs) composed from the lexical elements. Unlike most high-
level languages, Python uses white space (spaces, tabs, or line breaks) to mark the syntax
of many types of sentences. This means that indentation and line breaks are significant in
Python code. A smart editor like Python’s IDLE can help indent code correctly. The pro-
grammer need not worry about separating sentences with semicolons and marking blocks
of sentences with braces. In this book, I use an indentation width of four spaces in all
Python code.

Literals
Numbers (integers or floating-point numbers) are written as they are in other program-
ming languages. The Boolean values True and False are keywords. Some data structures,
such as strings, tuples, lists, and dictionaries, also have literals, as you will see shortly.

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

String Literals
You can enclose strings in single quotes, double quotes, or sets of three double quotes or
three single quotes. The last notation is useful for a string containing multiple lines of text.
Character values are single-character strings. The \ character is used to escape nongraphic
characters such as the newline (\n) and the tab (\t), or the \ character itself. The next code
6 segment, followed by the output, illustrates the possibilities.
print("Using double quotes")
print('Using single quotes')
print("Mentioning the word ‘Python’ by quoting it")
print("Embedding a\nline break with \\n")
print("""Embedding a
line break with triple quotes""")

Output:
Using double quotes
Using single quotes
Mentioning the word 'Python' by quoting it
Embedding a
line break with \n
Embedding a
line break with triple quotes

Operators and Expressions


Arithmetic expressions use the standard operators (+, –, *, /, %) and infix notation. The
/ operator produces a floating-point result with any numeric operands, whereas the //
­operator produces an integer quotient. The + operator means concatenation when used
with collections, such as strings and lists. The ** operator is used for exponentiation.
The comparison operators <, <=, >, >=, ==, and != work with numbers and strings.
The == operator compares the internal contents of data structures, such as two lists, for
structural equivalence, whereas the is operator compares two values for object identity.
Comparisons return True or False.
The logical operators and, or, and not treat several values, such as 0, None, the empty string,
and the empty list, as False. In contrast, most other Python values count as True.
The subscript operator, [], used with collection objects, will be examined shortly.
The selector operator, ‘ ’, is used to refer to a named item in a module, class, or object.

The operators have the standard precedence (selector, function call, subscript, arithmetic,
comparison, logical, assignment). Parentheses are used in the usual manner, to group sub-
expressions for earlier evaluation.
The ** and = operators are right associative, whereas the others are left associative.

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Basic Program Elements

Function Calls
Functions are called in the usual manner, with the function’s name followed by a parenthe-
sized list of arguments. For example:
min(5, 2) # Returns 2

Python includes a few standard functions, such as abs and round. Many other functions are 7
available by import from modules, as you will see shortly.

The print Function


The standard output function print displays its arguments on the console. This function
allows a variable number of arguments. Python automatically runs the str function on each
argument to obtain its string representation and separates each string with a space before
output. By default, print terminates its output with a newline.

The input Function


The standard input function input waits for the user to enter text at the keyboard. When the
user presses the Enter key, the function returns a string containing the characters entered.
This function takes an optional string as an argument and prints this string, ­without a line
break, to prompt the user for the input.

Type Conversion Functions and Mixed-Mode Operations


You can use some data type names as type conversion functions. For example, when the
user enters a number at the keyboard, the input function returns a string of digits, not a
numeric value. The program must convert this string to an int or a float before numeric
processing. The next code segment inputs the radius of a circle, converts this string to a
float, and computes and outputs the circle’s area:

radius = float(input("Radius: "))


print("The area is", 3.14 * radius ** 2)

Like most other languages, Python allows operands of different numeric types in arithmetic
expressions. In those cases, the result type is the same type as the most general operand
type. For example, the addition of an int and a float produces a float as the result.

Optional and Keyword Function Arguments


Functions may allow optional arguments, which can be named with keywords when the
function is called. For example, the print function by default outputs a newline after

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

its arguments are displayed. To prevent this from happening, you can give the optional
­argument end a value of the empty string, as follows:
print("The cursor will stay on this line, at the end", end = "")

Required arguments have no default values. Optional arguments have default values and
can appear in any order when their keywords are used, as long as they come after the
8
required arguments.
For example, the standard function round expects one required argument, a rounded num-
ber, and a second, optional argument, the number of figures of precision. When the second
argument is omitted, the function returns the nearest whole number (an int). When the
second argument is included, the function returns a float. Here are some examples:
>>> round(3.15)
3

>>> round(3.15, 1)
3.2

In general, the number of arguments passed to a function when it is called must be at least
the same number as its required arguments.
Standard functions and Python’s library functions check the types of their arguments when
the function is called. Programmer-defined functions can receive arguments of any type,
including functions and types themselves.

Variables and Assignment Statements


A Python variable is introduced with an assignment statement. For example:
PI = 3.1416

sets PI to the value 3.1416. The syntax of a simple assignment statement is:
<identifier> = <expression>

Several variables can be introduced in the same assignment statement, as follows:


minValue, maxValue = 1, 100

To swap the values of the variables a and b, you write:


a, b = b, a

Assignment statements must appear on a single line of code, unless the line is broken after
a comma, parenthesis, curly brace, or square bracket. When these options are unavailable,
another means of breaking a line within a statement is to end it with the escape symbol \.
You typically place this symbol before or after an operator in an expression. Here are some
admittedly unrealistic examples:
minValue = min(100,
200)
product = max(100, 200) \
* 30
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Basic Program Elements

When you press Enter after a comma or the escape symbol, IDLE automatically indents the
next line of code.

Python Data Typing


9
In Python, any variable can name a value of any type. Variables are not declared to have a
type, as they are in many other languages; they are simply assigned a value.
Consequently, data type names almost never appear in Python programs. However, all
­values or objects have types. The types of operands in expressions are checked at run time,
so type errors do not go undetected; however, the programmer does not have to worry
about mentioning data types when writing code.

import Statements
The import statement makes visible to a program the identifiers from another module.
These identifiers might name objects, functions, or classes. There are several ways to
express an import statement. The simplest is to import the module name, as in:
import math

This makes any name defined in the math module available to the current module, by using
the syntax math.<name>. Thus, math.sqrt(2) would return the square root of 2.
A second style of importing brings in a name itself, which you can use directly without the
module name as a prefix:
from math import sqrt
print(sqrt(2))

You can import several individual names by listing them:


from math import pi, sqrt
print(sqrt(2) * pi)

You can import all names from a module using the * operator, but that is not usually
­considered good programming practice.

Getting Help on Program Components


Although the Python website at www.python.org has complete documentation for the
Python language, help on most language components is also readily available within
the Python shell. To access such help, just enter the function call help(<component>) at the
shell prompt, where <component> is the name of a module, data type, function, or method.
For example, help(abs) and help(math.sqrt) display documentation for the abs and
math.sqrt functions, respectively. Calls of dir(int) and dir(math) list all the operations
in the int type and math module, respectively. You can then run help to get help on one of
these operations.
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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

Note that if a module is not the built-in module that Python loads when the shell starts, the
programmer must first import that module before asking for help on it. For example, the
following session with the shell displays the documentation for the numberguess program
discussed earlier in this chapter:
>>> import numberguess
10 >>> help(numberguess)
Help on module numberguess:
NAME
numberguess
DESCRIPTION
Author: Ken Lambert
Plays a game of guess the number with the user.
FUNCTIONS
main()
Inputs the bounds of the range of numbers,
and lets the user guess the computer’s number until
the guess is correct.
FILE
/Users/ken/Documents/CS2Python/Chapters/Chapter1/numberguess.py

Control Statements
Python includes the usual array of control statements for sequencing, conditional execu-
tion, and iteration. A sequence of statements is a set of statements written one after the
other. Each statement in a sequence must begin in the same column. This section examines
the control statements for conditional execution and iteration.

Conditional Statements
The structure of Python’s conditional statements is similar to that of other languages. The
keywords if, elif, and else are significant, as is the colon character and indentation.
The syntax of the one-way if statement is:
if <Boolean expression>:
<sequence of statements>

A Boolean expression is any Python value; as mentioned earlier, some of these count as
False, and the others count as True. If the Boolean expression is True, the sequence of
statements is run; otherwise, nothing happens. The sequence of (one or more) statements
must be indented and aligned at least one space or tab (typically four spaces). The colon
character is the only separator; if there is only one statement in the sequence, it may imme-
diately follow the colon on the same line.
The syntax of the two-way if statement is:
if <Boolean expression>:
<sequence of statements>
else:
<sequence of statements>
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Control Statements

Note the indentation and the colon following the keyword else. Exactly one of these two
sequences of statements will be run. The first sequence is run if the Boolean expression is
True; the second sequence is run if the Boolean expression is False.

The syntax of the multiway if statement is:


if <Boolean expression>:
<sequence of statements>
11
elif <Boolean expression>:
<sequence of statements>
...
else:
<sequence of statements>

A multiway if statement runs exactly one sequence of statements. The multiway if


s­ tatement includes one or more alternative Boolean expressions, each of which follows the
keyword elif. You can omit the trailing else: clause.
The next example outputs the appropriate answer to a question about the relative sizes of
two numbers:
if x > y:
print("x is greater than y")
elif x < y:
print("x is less than y")
else:
print("x is equal to y")

Using if __name__ == "__main__"


The numberguess program discussed earlier includes the definition of a main function and
the following if statement:
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

The purpose of this if statement is to allow the programmer either to run the module as a
standalone program or to import it from the shell or another module. Here is how this works:
every Python module includes a set of built-in module variables, to which the Python vir-
tual machine automatically assigns values when the module is loaded. If the module is being
loaded as a standalone program (either by running it from a terminal prompt or by loading it
from an IDLE window), the module’s __name__ variable is set to the string "__main__".
Otherwise, this variable is set to the module’s name—in this case, "numberguess". Either
assignment is accomplished before any of the code within the module is loaded. Thus, when
control reaches the if statement at the end of the module, the module’s main function will be
called only if the module has been launched as a standalone program.
The if __name__ == "__main__" idiom is useful when developing standalone program
modules, because it allows the programmer to view help on the module just by importing it
into the shell. Likewise, the programmer can use this idiom in supporting modules to run a
test bed function during module development within IDLE.
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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

Loop Statements
The structure of Python’s while loop statement is similar to that of other languages. Here is
the syntax:
while <Boolean expression>:
<sequence of statements>
12
The next example computes and prints the product of the numbers from 1 to 10:
product = 1
value = 1
while value <= 10:
product *= value
value += 1
print(product)

Note the use of the extended assignment operator *=. The line of code in which this
appears is equivalent to:
product = product * value

Python includes a for loop statement for more concise iteration over a sequence of values.
The syntax of this statement is:
for <variable> in <iterable object>:
<sequence of statements>

When this loop runs, it assigns to the loop variable each value contained in the iterable object
and runs the sequence of statements in the context of each such assignment. ­Examples of
iterable objects are strings and lists. The next code segment uses Python’s range function,
which returns an iterable sequence of integers, to compute the product shown earlier:
product = 1
for value in range(1, 11):
product *= value
print(product)

Python programmers generally prefer a for loop to iterate over definite ranges or sequences
of values. They use a while loop when the continuation condition is an arbitrary Boolean
expression.

Strings and Their Operations


As in other languages, a Python string is a compound object that includes other objects,
namely, its characters. However, each character in a Python string is itself a single-character
string and is written literally in a similar manner. Python’s string type, named str, includes
a large set of operations, some of which are introduced in this section.

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Strings and Their Operations

Operators
When strings are compared with the comparison operators, the pairs of characters at each
position in the two strings are compared, using ASCII ordering. Thus, 'a' is less than 'b',
but 'A' is less than 'a'. Note that in this book, we enclose single-character strings in single
quotes and multi-character strings in double quotes.
13
The + operator builds and returns a new string that contains the characters of the two
operands.
The subscript operator in its simplest form expects an integer in the range from 0 to the
length of the string minus 1. The operator returns the character at that position in the
string. Thus:
"greater"[0]   # Returns 'g'

Although a string index cannot exceed its length minus 1, negative indexes are allowed.
When an index is negative, Python adds this value to the string’s length to locate the char-
acter to be returned. In these cases, the index provided cannot be less than the negation of
the string’s length.
Strings are immutable; that is, once you create them, you cannot modify their internal
contents. Thus, you cannot use a subscript to replace the character at a given position in a
string.
A variation of the subscript, called the slice operator, is what you use to obtain a substring
of a string. The syntax of the slice is:
<a string>[<lower>:<upper>]

The value of <lower>, if it is present, is an integer ranging from 0 to the length of the string
minus 1. The value of <upper>, if it is present, is an integer ranging from 0 to the length of
the string.
When you omit both values, the slice returns the entire string. When the first value is
­omitted, the slice returns a substring starting with the string’s first character. When the
second value is omitted, the slice returns a substring ending with the string’s last character.
Otherwise, the slice returns a substring starting with the character at the lower index and
ending with the character at the upper index minus 1.
Here are some examples of the slice operator in action:
"greater"[:]   # Returns "greater"
"greater"[2:]   # Returns "eater"
"greater"[:2]   # Returns "gr"
"greater"[2:5]  # Returns "eat"

The reader is encouraged to experiment with the slice operator in the Python shell.

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

Formatting Strings for Output


Many data-processing applications require output that has a tabular format. In this format,
numbers and other information are aligned in columns that can be either left-justified or
right-justified. A column of data is left-justified if its values are vertically aligned beginning
with their leftmost characters. A column of data is right-justified if its values are verti-
14 cally aligned beginning with their rightmost characters. To maintain the margins between
columns of data, left justification requires the addition of spaces to the right of the datum,
whereas right justification requires adding spaces to the left of the datum. A column of data
is centered if there are equal numbers of spaces on both sides of the data within that column.
The total number of data characters and additional spaces for a given datum in a formatted
string is called its field width.
The print function automatically begins printing an output datum in the first available
column. The next example, which displays the exponents 7 through 10 and the values of 107
through 1010, shows the format of two columns produced by the print statement:
>>> for exponent in range(7, 11):
print(exponent, 10 ** exponent)
7 10000000
8 100000000
9 1000000000
10 10000000000

Note that when the exponent reaches 10, the output of the second column shifts over by a
space and looks ragged. The output would look neater if the left column were left-justified
and the right column were right-justified. When you format floating-point numbers for
output, you should specify the number of digits of precision to be displayed as well as the
field width. This is especially important when displaying financial data in which exactly two
digits of precision are required.
Python includes a general formatting mechanism that allows the programmer to specify
field widths for different types of data. The next session shows how to right justify and left
justify the string "four" within a field width of 6:
>>> "%6s" % "four" # Right justify
' four'
>>> "%-6s" % "four" # Left justify
'four '

The first line of code right justifies the string by padding it with two spaces to its left. The
next line of code left justifies by placing two spaces to the string’s right.
The simplest form of this operation is the following:
<format string> % <datum>

This version contains a format string, the format operator %, and a single data value to
be formatted. The format string can contain string data and other information about
the ­format of the datum. To format the string data value, you can use the notation
%<field width>s in the format string. When the field width is positive, the datum is

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Strings and Their Operations

right-justified; when the field width is negative, you get left justification. If the field width is
less than or equal to the datum’s print length in characters, no justification is added. The
% operator works with this information to build and return a formatted string.

To format integers, the letter d is used instead of s. To format a sequence of data values,
you construct a format string that includes a format code for each datum and place the data
values in a tuple following the % operator. The form of the second version of this operation 15
follows:
<format string> % (<datum-1>, …, <datum-n>)

Armed with the format operation, the powers of 10 loop can now display the numbers in
nicely aligned columns. The first column is left-justified in a field width of 3, and the second
column is right-justified in a field width of 12.
>>> for exponent in range(7, 11):
print("%-3d%12d" % (exponent, 10 ** exponent))
7 10000000
8 100000000
9 1000000000
10 10000000000

The format information for a data value of type float has the form
%<field width>.<precision>f

where .<precision> is optional. The next session shows the output of a floating-point
number without, and then with, a format string:
>>> salary = 100.00
>>> print("Your salary is $" + str(salary))
Your salary is $100.0
>>> print("Your salary is $%0.2f" % salary)
Your salary is $100.00

Here is another, minimal, example of the use of a format string, which says to use a field
width of 6 and a precision of 3 to format the float value 3.14:
>>> "%6.3f" % 3.14
' 3.140'

Note that Python adds a digit of precision to the number’s string and pads it with a space to
the left to achieve the field width of 6. This width includes the place occupied by the deci-
mal point.

Objects and Method Calls


In addition to standard operators and functions, Python includes a vast number of methods
that operate on objects. A method is similar to a function, in that it expects arguments,
performs a task, and returns a value. However, a method is always called on an associated
object. The syntax of a method call is:
<object>.<method name>(<list of arguments>)

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

Here are some examples of method calls on strings:


"greater".isupper() # Returns False
"greater".upper() # Returns "GREATER"
"greater".startswith("great") # Returns True

If you try to run a method that an object does not recognize, Python raises an exception
16 and halts the program. To discover the set of methods that an object recognizes, you
run Python’s dir function, in the Python shell, with the object’s type as an argument.
For ­example, dir(str) returns a list of the names of the methods recognized by string
objects. Running help(str.upper) prints documentation on the use of the method
str.upper.

Some method names, such as __add__ and __len__, are run when Python sees an object
used with certain operators or functions. Thus, for example:
len("greater") # Is equivalent to "greater".__len__()
"great" + "er" # Is equivalent to "great".__add__("er")
"e" in "great" # Is equivalent to "great".__contains__("e")

The reader is encouraged to explore the str methods with the dir and help functions.

Built-In Python Collections and Their Operations


Modern programming languages include several types of collections, such as lists, that
allow the programmer to organize and manipulate several data values at once. This section
explores the built-in collections in Python; the rest of the book discusses how to add new
types of collections to the language.

Lists
A list is a sequence of zero or more Python objects, commonly called items. A list has a
literal representation, which uses square brackets to enclose items separated by commas.
Here are some examples:
[] # An empty list
["greater"] # A list of one string
["greater", "less"] # A list of two strings
["greater", "less", 10] # A list of two strings and an int
["greater", ["less", 10]] # A list with a nested list

Like strings, lists can be sliced and concatenated with the standard operators. However,
the results returned in this case are lists. Unlike strings, lists are mutable, meaning that you
can replace, insert, or remove items contained in them. This fact has two consequences.
First, the lists returned by the slice and concatenation operators are new lists, not pieces
of the original list. Second, the list type includes several methods called mutators, whose
purpose is to modify the structure of a list. You can enter dir(list) in a Python shell to
view them.
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Built-In Python Collections and Their Operations

The most commonly used list mutator methods are append, insert, pop, remove, and sort.
Here are some examples of their use:
testList = [] # testList is []
testList.append(34) # testList is [34]
testList.append(22) # testList is [34, 22]
testList.sort() # testList is [22, 34]
17
testList.pop() # Returns 22; testList is [34]
testList.insert(0, 22) # testList is [22, 34]
testList.insert(1, 55) # testList is [22, 55, 34]
testList.pop(1) # Returns 55; testList is [22, 34]
testList.remove(22) # testList is [34]
testList.remove(55) # raises ValueError

The string methods split and join extract a list of words from a string and glue a list of
words together to form a string, respectively:
"Python is cool".split() # Returns ['Python', 'is', 'cool']
" ".join(["Python", "is", "cool"]) # Returns 'Python is cool'

You are encouraged to explore the list methods with the dir and help functions.

Tuples
A tuple is an immutable sequence of items. Tuple literals enclose items in parentheses.
A tuple is essentially like a list without mutator methods. However, a tuple with one item
must still include a comma, as follows:
>>> (34)
34

>>> (34,)
(34)

Note that Python treats the first expression, (34), as an integer enclosed in parentheses,
whereas the second expression, (34,), is treated as a new tuple of one item. For the avail-
able tuple methods, run dir(tuple) in the Python shell.

Loops Over Sequences


The for loop is used to iterate over items in a sequence, such as a string, a list, or a tuple.
For example, the following code segment prints the items in a list:
testList = [67, 100, 22]
for item in testList:
print(item)

This is equivalent to but simpler than an index-based loop over the list:
testList = [67, 100, 22]
for index in range(len(testList)):
print(testList[index])

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

Dictionaries
A dictionary contains zero or more entries. Each entry associates a unique key with a value.
Keys are typically strings or integers, whereas values are any Python objects.
A dictionary literal encloses the key-value entries in a set of braces. Here are some
18 examples:
{} # An empty dictionary
{"name":"Ken"} # One entry
{"name":"Ken", "age":67} # Two entries
{"hobbies":["reading", "running"]} # One entry, value is a list

You use the subscript operator to access a value at a given key, add a value at a new key, and
replace a value at a given key. The pop method removes the entry and returns the value for
a given key. The keys method returns an iterable object over the keys, whereas the values
method returns an iterable object over the values. Like a list, a dictionary itself is an iterable
object, but the for loop iterates over a dictionary’s keys. The next code segment prints the
keys in a small dictionary:
>>> for key in {"name":"Ken", "age":67}:
print(key)
name
age

The reader is encouraged to explore the dict methods with the dir and help functions and
to experiment with dictionaries and their operations in a Python shell.

Searching for a Value


The programmer can search strings, lists, tuples, or dictionaries for a given value by run-
ning the in operator with the value and the collection. This operator returns True or False.
The target value for a dictionary search should be a potential key.
When it is known that a given value is in a sequence (string, list, or tuple), the index
method returns the position of the first such value.
For dictionaries, the methods get and pop can take two arguments: a key and a default
value. A failed search returns the default value, whereas a successful search returns the
value associated with the key.

Pattern Matching with Collections


Although the subscript can be used to access items within lists, tuples, and dictionaries, it
is often more convenient to access several items at once by means of pattern matching. For
example, the value returned by a color chooser dialog is a tuple that contains two items.
When the user selects a color, the first item is a nested tuple of three numbers, and the
second item is a string. Thus, the outer tuple has the form ((<r>, <g>, <b>), <string>).
It’s best for the three numbers to be assigned to three distinct variables and the string to a
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Creating New Functions

fourth variable, for further processing. Here is the code to accomplish this, using the sub-
script operator on colorTuple, which names the value returned by the color chooser:
rgbTuple = colorTuple[0]
hexString = colorTuple[1]
r = rgbTuple[0]
g = rgbTuple[1]
19
b = rgbTuple[2]

A pattern match uses an assignment of a structure to another structure of exactly the same
form. The target structure includes variables that will pick up the values at the correspond-
ing positions in the source structure. You can then use the variables for further processing.
Using pattern matching, you can accomplish this task in a single line of code, as follows:
((r, g, b), hexString) = colorTuple

Creating New Functions


Although Python is an object-oriented language, it includes a number of built-in functions
and allows the programmer to create new functions as well. These new functions can uti-
lize recursion, and they can receive and return functions as data. Python thus allows the
programmer to design solutions using a thoroughly functional style of programming. This
section introduces some of these ideas.

Function Definitions
The syntax of a Python function definition is:
def <function name>(<list of parameters>):
<sequence of statements>

The rules and conventions for spelling function names and parameter names are the same
as for variable names. The list of required parameters can be empty or can include names
separated by commas. Again, unlike some other programming languages, no data types are
associated with the parameter names or with the function name itself.
Here is the definition of a simple function to compute and return the square of a number:
def square(n):
"""Returns the square of n."""
result = n ** 2
return result

Note the use of the string with triple quotes beneath the function header. This is a doc-
string. This string behaves like a comment within the function but also will be displayed
when the user enters help(square) at a Python shell prompt. Every function you define
should include a docstring that states what the function does and gives information about
any arguments or returned values.
Functions can introduce new variables, also called temporary variables. In the square
function, n is a parameter and result is a temporary variable. A function’s parameters and
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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

temporary variables exist only during the lifetime of a function call and are not visible to
other functions or the surrounding program. Thus, several different functions may use the
same parameters and variable names without conflicts.
When a function does not include a return statement, it automatically returns the value
None after its last statement executes.
20
You can define functions in any order in a module, as long as no function is actually exe-
cuted before its definition has been compiled. The next example shows an illegal function
call at the beginning of a module:
first() # Raises a NameError (function undefined yet)

def first():
print("Calling first.")
second() # Not an error, because not actually
# called until after second is defined

def second():
print("Calling second.")

first() # Here is where the call of first should go

When Python runs the first line of code, function first has not yet been defined, so an
exception is raised. Were you to place a comment symbol # at the beginning of this line
and run the code again, the program would run to a normal termination. In this case, even
though function second appears to be called before it is defined, it is not actually called
until function first is called, by which time both functions have been defined.
You can specify parameters as optional, with default values, using the notation ­<parameter
name> = <default value>. Required parameters (those without default values) must
­precede optional parameters in the parameter list.

Recursive Functions
A recursive function is a function that calls itself. To prevent a function from repeating
itself indefinitely, it must contain at least one selection statement. This statement examines
a condition called a base case to determine whether to stop or to continue with a recursive
step.
Let’s examine how to convert an iterative algorithm to a recursive function. Here is a
­ efinition of a function displayRange that prints the numbers from a lower bound to an
d
upper bound:
def displayRange(lower, upper):
"""Outputs the numbers from lower to upper."""
while lower <= upper:
print(lower)
lower = lower + 1

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Creating New Functions

How would you go about converting this function to a recursive one? First, you should note
two important facts:
•• The loop’s body continues execution while lower <= upper.
•• When the function executes, lower is incremented by 1 but upper never changes.
The equivalent recursive function performs similar primitive operations, but the loop is 21
replaced with an if statement and the assignment statement is replaced with a recursive
call of the function. Here is the code with these changes:
def displayRange(lower, upper):
"""Outputs the numbers from lower to upper."""
if lower <= upper:
print(lower)
displayRange(lower + 1, upper)

Although the syntax and design of the two functions are different, the same algorith-
mic process is executed. Each call of the recursive function visits the next number in the
sequence, just as the loop does in the iterative version of the function.
Most recursive functions expect at least one argument. This data value tests for the
base case that ends the recursive process. It is also modified in some way before each
­recursive step. The modification of the data value should produce a new data value that
allows the function to eventually reach the base case. In the case of displayRange, the
value of the argument lower is incremented before each recursive call so that it eventu-
ally exceeds the value of the argument upper.
The next example is a recursive function that builds and returns a value. Python’s sum func-
tion expects a collection of numbers and returns their sum. This function should return the
sum of the numbers from a lower bound through an upper bound. The recursive ourSum
function returns 0 if lower exceeds upper (the base case). Otherwise, the function adds
lower to the ourSum of lower+ 1 through upper and returns this result. Here is the code for
this function:
def ourSum(lower, upper):
"""Returns the sum of the numbers from lower thru upper."""
if lower > upper:
return 0
else:
return lower + ourSum(lower + 1, upper)

The recursive call of ourSum adds the numbers from lower + 1 through upper. The func-
tion then adds lower to this result and returns it.
To get a better understanding of how recursion works, it is helpful to trace its calls. You
can do that for the recursive version of the ourSum function. You add an argument for a
margin of indentation and a print statement to trace the two arguments and the value
returned on each call. The first statement on each call computes the indentation, which
is then used in printing the two arguments. The value computed is also printed with

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

this indentation just before each call returns. Here is the code, followed by a session
showing its use:
def ourSum(lower, upper, margin = 0):
"""Returns the sum of the numbers from lower to upper,
and outputs a trace of the arguments and return values
on each call."""
22
blanks = " " * margin
print(blanks, lower, upper) # Print the arguments
if lower > upper:
print(blanks, 0) # Print the returned value
return 0
else:
result = lower + ourSum(lower + 1, upper, margin + 4)
print(blanks, result) # Print the returned value
return result

Usage:
>>> ourSum(1, 4)
1 4
2 4
3 4
4 4
5 4
0
4
7
9
10
10

The displayed pairs of arguments are indented further to the right as the calls of
­ urSum proceed. Note that the value of lower increases by 1 on each call, whereas
o
the value of upper stays the same. The final call of ourSum returns 0. As the recursion
unwinds, each value returned is aligned with the arguments above it and increases
by the current value of lower. This type of tracing can be a useful debugging tool for
recursive functions.

Nested Function Definitions


Definitions of other functions may be nested within a function’s sequence of s­ tatements.
Consider the following two definitions of a recursive factorial function. The first
­definition uses a nested helper function to carry out the recursion with required ­parameters.
The second definition gives the second parameter a default value to simplify the design.
# First definition
def factorial(n):
"""Returns the factorial of n."""

def recurse(n, product):


"""Helper function to compute factorial."""
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Creating New Functions

if n == 1: return product
else: return recurse(n - 1, n * product)

return recurse(n, 1)

# Second definition
def factorial(n, product = 1): 23
"""Returns the factorial of n."""
if n == 1: return product
else: return factorial(n - 1, n * product)

Higher-Order Functions
Python functions are first-class data objects. This means you can assign them to variables,
save them in data structures, pass them as arguments to other functions, and return them
as the values of other functions. A higher-order function is a function that receives another
function as an argument and applies it in some way. Python includes two built-in higher-
order functions, map and filter, that are useful for processing iterable objects.
Suppose you want to convert a list of integers to another list of the string representations of
those integers. You could use a loop to visit each integer, convert it to a string, and append
it to a new list, as follows:
newList = []
for number in oldList: newList.append(str(number))

Alternatively, you can use the map function. This function expects a function and an iterable
object as arguments and returns another iterable object wherein the argument function is
applied to each item contained in the iterable object. In short, map essentially transforms
each item in an iterable object. Thus, the code
map(str, oldList)

creates the iterable object containing the strings, and the code
newList = list(map(str, oldList))

creates a new list from that object.


Suppose you want to drop all of the zero grades from a list of exam scores. The following
loop would accomplish this:
newList = []
for number in oldList:
if number > 0: newList.append(number)

Alternatively, you can use the filter function. This function expects a Boolean function
and an iterable object as arguments. The filter function returns an iterable object in
which each item is passed to the Boolean function. If this function returns True, the item
is retained in the returned iterable object; otherwise, the item is dropped from it. In short,
filter essentially keeps the items that pass a test in an iterable object. Thus, assuming the
programmer has already defined the Boolean function isPositive, the code
filter(isPositive, oldList)
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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

creates the iterable object containing the non-zero grades, and the code
newList = list(filter(isPositive, oldList))

creates a new list from that object.

24 Creating Anonymous Functions with lambda


Programmers can avoid defining one-time helper functions such as isPositive by ­creating
an anonymous function to pass to map or filter, on the fly. They use a Python lambda
form for this purpose. The syntax of lambda is:
lambda <argument list> : <expression>

Note that the expression cannot include a sequence of statements, as in other Python
­functions. The code
newList = list(filter(lambda number: number > 0, oldList))

uses an anonymous Boolean function to drop the zero grades from the list of grades.
Another high-order function, functools.reduce, boils an iterable object’s items down to a
single value by applying a function of two arguments to each next item and the result of the
previous application. Thus, the for loop to compute the product of a sequence of numbers
shown earlier can be rewritten as:
import functools
product = functools.reduce(lambda x, y: x * y, range(1, 11))

Catching Exceptions
When the Python virtual machine encounters a semantic error during program
­execution, it raises an exception and halts the program with an error message. Examples
of semantic errors are undefined variable names, attempts to divide by 0, and list ­indices
out of range. The signaling of such errors is a boon to the programmer, who can then
correct them to produce a better program. However, some errors, such as bad digits in
an input number, are users’ mistakes. In these cases, the program should not allow the
resulting exceptions to halt execution but should trap these and allow the user to recover
gracefully.
Python includes a try-except statement that allows a program to trap or catch exceptions
and perform the appropriate recovery operations. Here is the syntax of the simplest form of
this statement:
try:
<statements>
except <exception type>:
<statements>

When you run this statement, the statements within the try clause are executed. If one
of these statements raises an exception, control is immediately transferred to the except

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Files and Their Operations

clause. If the type of exception raised matches the type in this clause, its ­statements
are executed. Otherwise, control is transferred to the caller of the t­ ry-except
­statement and further up the chain of calls, until the exception is successfully handled
or the ­program halts with an error message. If the statements in the try clause raise
no ­exceptions, the except clause is skipped and control proceeds to the end of the
­ ry-except statement.
t
25
In general, you should try to include the exception type that matches the type of exception
expected under the circumstances; if no such type exists, the more general Exception type
will match any exception that happens to be raised.
The following demo program defines a recursive function called safeIntegerInput. This
function traps a ValueError exception that is raised if the user enters bad digits ­during
input. The function forces the user to continue until a well-formed integer is entered,
whereupon the integer is returned to the caller.
"""
Author: Ken Lambert
Demonstrates a function that traps number format errors during input.
"""

def safeIntegerInput(prompt):
"""Prompts the user for an integer and returns the
integer if it is well-formed. Otherwise, prints an
error message and repeats this process."""
inputString = input(prompt)
try:
number = int(inputString)
return number
except ValueError:
print("Error in number format:", inputString)
return safeIntegerInput(prompt)

if __name__ == "__main__":
age = safeIntegerInput("Enter your age: ")
print("Your age is", age)

Here is a trace of a session with this program:


Enter your age: abc
Error in number format: abc
Enter your age: 6i
Error in number format: 6i
Enter your age: 61
Your age is 61

Files and Their Operations


Python provides great support for managing and processing several types of files. This
­section examines some manipulations of text files and object files.

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Chapter 1 Basic Python Programming

Text File Output


You can view the data in a text file as characters, words, numbers, or lines of text, depend-
ing on the text file’s format and on the purposes for which the data are used. When the data
are treated as integers or floating-point numbers, they must be separated by whitespace
characters—spaces, tabs, and newlines. For example, a text file containing six floating-
26 point numbers might look like:
34.6 22.33 66.75
77.12 21.44 99.01

when examined with a text editor. Note that this format includes a space or a newline as a
separator of items in the text.
All data output to or input from a text file must be strings. Thus, numbers must be con-
verted to strings before output, and these strings must be converted back to numbers after
input.
You can output data to a text file using a file object. Python’s open function, which expects
a file pathname and a mode string as arguments, opens a connection to the file on disk and
returns a file object. The mode string is 'r' for input files and 'w' for output files. Thus, the
following code opens a file object on a file named myfile.txt for output:
>>> f = open("myfile.txt", 'w')

If the file does not exist, it is created with the given pathname. If the file already exists,
Python opens it. When data are written to the file and the file is closed, any data previously
existing in the file are erased.
String data are written (or output) to a file using the method write with the file object. The
write method expects a single string argument. If you want the output text to end with a
newline, you must include the escape character \n in the string. The next statement writes
two lines of text to the file:
>>> f.write("First line.\nSecond line.\n")

When all the outputs are finished, the file should be closed using the method close, as
follows:
>>> f.close()

Failure to close an output file can result in data being lost.

Writing Numbers to a Text File


The file method write expects a string as an argument. Therefore, other types of data,
such as integers or floating-point numbers, must first be converted to strings before being
­written to an output file. In Python, the values of most data types can be converted to
strings by using the str function. The resulting strings are then written to a file with a
space or a newline as a separator character.

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Files and Their Operations

The next code segment illustrates the output of integers to a text file. Five hundred random
integers between 1 and 500 are generated and written to a text file named integers.txt. The
newline character is the separator.
import random
f = open("integers.txt", 'w')
for count in range(500): 27
number = random.randint(1, 500)
f.write(str(number) + "\n")
f.close()

Reading Text from a Text File


You open a file for input in a manner similar to opening a file for output. The only thing
that changes is the mode string, which, in the case of opening a file for input, is 'r'.
­However, if the pathname is not accessible from the current working directory, Python
raises an error. Here is the code for opening myfile.txt for input:
>>> f = open("myfile.txt", 'r')

There are several ways to read data from an input file. The simplest way is to use the file
method read to input the entire contents of the file as a single string. If the file contains
multiple lines of text, the newline characters will be embedded in this string. The next
­session with the shell shows how to use the method read:
>>> text = f.read()
>>> text
'First line.\nSecond line.\n'
>>> print(text)
First line.
Second line.

After input is finished, another call to read returns an empty string, to indicate that the end
of the file has been reached. To repeat an input, you must reopen the file. It is not necessary
to close the file.
Alternatively, an application might read and process the text one line at a time. A for loop
accomplishes this nicely. The for loop views a file object as a sequence of lines of text.
On each pass through the loop, the loop variable is bound to the next line of text in the
sequence. Here is a session that reopens the example file and visits the lines of text in it:
>>> f = open("myfile.txt", 'r')
>>> for line in f:
print(line)
First line.

Second line.

Note that print appears to output an extra newline. This is because each line of text input
from the file retains its newline character. You can drop this newline from the output by
using the optional argument to the print function shown earlier.

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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
wounding the other in the head. A short time after, our small-arm
ammunition magazine near No. 10 Battery caught fire.

Soon after there were some distressing signs of disorder on the


left flank (the section defended by the 5th Company)—men were
retiring and going back, without stopping, to the rear of the position;
but I received no report from the commander of the 5th Company. I
then noticed that the enemy’s fire was concentrated on the 5th and
7th Companies. Though I had foreseen an attack on these points I
was not afraid that the enemy would break through there, as
Rotaiski’s company and Redoubt No. 8, with its trenches, made it
impracticable. Nevertheless, I felt the need of a larger reserve, and I
reported to General Fock that I should have no men with which to
renew the battle if the enemy should beat us back out of our
advanced positions. I earnestly asked for reinforcements; but
General Fock, guided, I suppose, by the general supposition that
reinforcements are always asked for before they are needed, and
thinking, perhaps, that I was making mountains out of molehills, did
not pay any attention to my request, or else did not wish to satisfy
it, and our position became critical. Our scouts on the left flank, as
also the 5th and 7th Companies, were demoralized, especially the
5th.

Captain Lubeemov’s company of the 13th Regiment, which was


with me in the reserve, had disappeared somewhere, so that Captain
Teemoshenko, who was sent by me to take it to the place where I
had decided it should go (on the left flank, in the interval between
our 7th Company and Captain Ushakov’s company, near No. 15),
could not find it, and came back. Thus I now had not a single
company under my hand.[29] Afterwards it became known that
Lubeemov’s company had received by an orderly an order purporting
to come from me, and had taken up a position near our 5th and 7th
Companies on the left flank. It had failed to reach its correct position
(see last page), as no one was there to direct it. I do not, however,
blame Captain Lubeemov; he had obeyed his orders, but went to the
right, instead of the left, flank of Captain Ushakov. Captain
Teemoshenko should have pointed out the right place, but he failed
to find the company. Where Captain Lubeemov was wrong, was in
altering his position without my orders.

Shortly after, about four o’clock, an officer came up and reported


that the 6th and 7th Companies of the 14th Regiment were coming
to my assistance. I received a note from General Fock, in which he
ordered me to use these companies only to cover a retreat, and not
to employ them in the trenches. Then I understood that General
Fock was not going to help me to hold the position, which he might
have done without much difficulty, since I only required one
additional battalion in reserve.

Lieutenant-Colonel Bielozor now sent to ask for reinforcements.


Although I could see no attack on his side, in view of the urgency of
the request, and so as to be quite safe on our right flank (where an
adjoining village was strongly held by the Japanese, and the railway
embankment could screen large numbers of the enemy), I decided
to send half a company of the 14th Regiment under Captain
Kousmin, an excellent officer, well known to me.

About six o’clock bullets began to whistle over our heads in No.
13, and, my trumpeter being wounded, I took him myself into the
bomb-proof to be attended to. On the left flank men in yellow
jackets[30] were moving about in groups, and five minutes had not
passed before Second-Lieutenant Sadykov came into the shelter and
reported that the left flank was retreating. I rushed out and saw that
the yellow-coats were streaming up, and shrapnel bursting over the
7th and 5th Companies, while a heavy cross fire was being kept up.
The Japanese skirmishers had lain down in their places and there
was no warning of their sudden advance. Seeing that our scouts
were retreating, and that all the others might retreat with them, I,
not having any orders to retreat from the position, galloped off to
the reserve and ordered the one-and-a-half companies of the 14th
Regiment, sent by General Fock, to move against the Japanese
appearing near Work No. 10. As we rode down, we came into a hot
fire from the neighbouring hills.

I thought that I could arrest the retreat and deliver a counter-


attack from behind the reserve, and then, having taken No. 10
Battery, re-organize the left flank.

At the subsequent court-martial General Fock declared that I could


not have ordered the reserve to meet the Japanese; but he was
mistaken, being misled by Captain Rotaiski, who, giving evidence,
declared that he saw the Japanese pursuing me and saw me escape
from them through the window of a shed. I never got through any
window, but I mounted my horse and galloped off to stop those
retreating. The Japanese then fired on me from the hills above the
shed. It was not I, but a Japanese officer, who jumped through the
window, and was overtaken by four men from the reserve and killed
in the shed, as a proof of which his sword was presented to the
commander of the 14th Regiment.

The order to attack was given by me, for the commander of the
reserve rushed up to me and asked: “What are we to do?” “Attack,” I
answered, and pointed out to him whom to attack and where. After
that I galloped after the retreating soldiers and made myself hoarse
shouting “Stop, stop, my men!” But they in their turn shouted out to
me: “Your Excellency, we have been ordered to retreat.” I could not
imagine who had given this order. As, however, at this moment the
Japanese saw us retreating from behind the Nan Shan hills, and
opened a terrific shrapnel fire, it was absolutely impossible to stop
the men. A shrapnel bullet struck my mare’s ear and wellnigh
maddened her. I managed to rally my men in a position in rear,
chosen earlier by me, about a verst from the Nan Shan hills, and
when they had halted, I looked back towards the hills and saw two
bodies of men running down into the valley; they were probably the
5th and 7th Companies.
No. 13 was in the hands of the Japanese, who were to be seen on
the heights above, firing down on the retreating men, who quickly
hid themselves in the deep ravines. I now occupied the above-
mentioned position in rear, brought up a battalion of the 14th
Regiment, and lengthened the line as far as Ta-fang-shen station. I
found the battalion in question in a ravine behind the position. Of
the rest of the 14th Regiment I saw no signs; probably they were
somewhere in rear under cover. The commander of our scouts came
in to me here with our colours.

Awaiting on this spot the enemy’s attack, we heard heavy firing on


the right of the Nan Shan position, and the enemy’s guns ranged on
us and on the right flank. Our companies on that flank passed across
towards Ta-fang-shen, and I ordered them to concentrate 1 verst in
rear of Ta-fang-shen on the road. For some reason the Japanese
decided not to attack us. It was already quite dark when I went to
the burning station of Ta-fang-shen to see to the dispositions of our
troops there. Suddenly there was a terrific explosion, and I was
covered with fragments of burning planks, beams, and hot bricks.
How I and my comrades escaped death passes my understanding.
The station was blown up at the instance of General Fock’s staff—
probably by his orders. One officer—Major Saliarski—and twenty
men were killed by this senseless explosion.

Night had set in, when the 14th and 5th Regiments received the
order to retire, and I, leaving some mounted patrols to watch the
enemy’s movements, went with the Mounted Scouts to Nan-kuan-
ling. While moving along the road, I met our 7th Company and saw
the whole of the 4th Division encamped in the wide valley. There I
found the companies of the 5th Regiment which had retreated, and
ordered them to report their losses. Very many of our comrades did
not answer the roll-call, the first return showing a loss in killed and
wounded of 75 officers and 1,500 men. It was awful to see the
thinned ranks of my gallant regiment; my heart bled for my officers,
who had brought up the rear in the retreat, but the spirit of those
left seemed to be as fine as ever. I feel bound to pay tribute to our
comrades who fell in the battle and mention some of their heroic
deeds.

Lieutenant Kragelski refused to retreat, and bade each one of his


men farewell as they passed him. Captain Makoveiev, commanding
the 8th Company, had declared that he would never retreat, and he
was true to his word, for he remained in the trenches, and was killed
only when he had expended all the cartridges in his revolver. Major
Sokolov, commanding the 9th Company, also refused to retreat, and
sabred several Japanese before being bayoneted to death.

The whole of the left flank attributed the retirement to the receipt
of an order, and consequently I set to work to sift the matter to the
bottom. About six o’clock General Fock sent an officer with the order
to retire. Though he did not come to me personally, this officer
probably sent an orderly—who failed to reach me—and himself went
to the left flank and conveyed the order to retire to the scout
detachments of the 13th and 14th Regiments. This order reached
the commander of the 7th Company through Second-Lieutenant
Merkoulev, besides which the former saw the orderly on a black
horse shouting and waving his sword towards the rear, and only then
ordered his company to retire. The fact that this order to retreat was
given, was confirmed by all the officers and men, and also by Ensign
Kaminar (5th Regiment).

I placed the letter sent to me by Lieutenant Sadykov relating to


this point before the commission which assembled to investigate
General Stessel’s conduct. It was there shown that Second-
Lieutenant Moosalevski was present and heard General Fock give the
order to retreat to my orderly officer, Lieutenant Glieb-Koshanski,
who galloped back with the orderly on the black horse to see the
general’s order carried out. When I stopped the retreating scouts,
Lieutenant Glieb-Koshanski and his orderly galloped as far as the
Nan Shan hills, and the latter reached No. 10 Battery by a ravine
when the Japanese were already in the position (this hero never
returned). Our 7th Company and Captain Rotaiski’s company were
still at their posts, and began to retire only after the receipt of the
order.

When those who had been in Port Arthur were assembled in St.
Petersburg from all over the Empire to give evidence at General
Stessel’s trial, I only gave details of the Nan Shan fight in answering
the questions put to me. The conclusion arrived at was this: the
scout detachments of the 14th Regiment, shaken by the hasty
retirement of those of the 13th Regiment at that moment, began to
abandon their trenches about four o’clock, the time when I saw
them retreating in a body. Lieutenant Roosoi had only ten men left in
the trench, but the other companies—i.e., the 7th and 5th of our
regiment, and Captain Rotaiski’s company—remained on the
position. Lieutenant Glieb-Koshanski and the orderly galloped up
with a report to General Fock just as I was leaving No. 13 and had
mounted my horse, and it was thus quite possible for the orderly on
the black horse to have really galloped up to the position and given
the order to retire before I had stopped the retreating scouts.
Anyway, it was proved conclusively that the Japanese appeared in
No. 10 Battery, and the other inner works of the position before the
7th and 5th Companies began their retreat.

And it was in this way. When the Scout Detachment of the 13th
Regiment, under Second-Lieutenant Bandaletov, and part of the
Scouts of the 14th Regiment began to retire (in consequence of the
flanking fire from the gunboats, and not because of the rifle fire of
the Japanese, whose skirmishers did not come closer than 600
yards), the enemy, taking advantage of natural cover, pursued them
and, passing along the ravines and watercourses, occupied the
trenches we had vacated, together with No. 10 Battery and farther
points. As, however, the Japanese were not in great numbers, they
could not break through the centre, the 5th Company being in the
deep ravine, the 6th in No. 8 Redoubt, and Rotaiski’s company in a
deep valley. These companies could not have let the Japanese pass,
and I repeat that the Japanese lines were in full view from where I
was and did not move until the scouts appeared in our rear.
From accounts given by officers, this is what happened on the
right flank. After the attack on the 8th and 4th Companies had
failed, the enemy kept up a furious gun and rifle fire, but did not
approach our trenches. This continued until the retreat of the 5th
and 7th Companies had actually begun. When the retreat of the left
flank was noticed from No. 8 Redoubt, and the Japanese began to
sweep our right flank from No. 5, Major Goosov assembled all the
officers there for a consultation as to what should be done. After
some hesitation it was decided to retreat; and word of that decision
was sent to other companies. However, the 4th and 8th Companies,
remembering the order that there would be no retreat, refused to
act on the decision. Our gallant Colonel Bielozor was in command,
the company commanders being Captain Shastin of the 4th
Company, and Captain Makoveiev of the 8th. On the retirement of
the 6th Company from No. 8 Redoubt, the 3rd, 4th, 8th, and part of
the 12th Companies, found themselves in a hopeless position. There
were Japanese in their rear, Japanese machine guns on No. 5, and a
large body of Japanese in front, ready to attack, which they soon
did. Seeing their comrades on the heights, where our batteries had
been, and also in No. 8 Redoubt, the enemy in front advanced to the
attack, but our gallant companies momentarily stopped their
desperate rush by a volley, which covered the ground with hundreds
of the enemy’s killed and wounded. Then, facing round on the
enemy who was attacking their rear, they compelled him to take
cover behind the hills. The Japanese on the hill signalled with white
handkerchiefs to the companies to surrender, but they only received
volleys in reply. Taking advantage of the indecisive action of the
Japanese in their rear, Lieutenant-Colonel Bielozor decided to try and
extricate his men from this unequal fight, and gave the order to
retire. Under a heavy fire the men moved along the trenches to the
rear of the position, suffering severely from the marksmen on the
hills. In some places the men had to come up out of the trenches,
which were filled with dead and dying, but eventually the companies
succeeded in reaching No. 1 Battery. From that point, too,
Lieutenant-Colonel Bielozor and Captain Shastin saw some Japanese
columns trying to cut off our companies retreating from the centre
of the position.

The enemy was advancing from the shores of Hand Bay. Our
brave officers at once thought of covering our men by preventing
this turning movement, in spite of the enemy posted on the hills,
and to this end they collected their men, stopped them, and opened
volley fire on the Japanese. The latter retaliated, and in their turn
poured in a hot fire from rifles and machine guns. This fearful
struggle continued for some time until not a single one of our men
was left alive. They all fell in this unequal fight, defending
themselves finally not only with their bayonets, but even with their
fists. Lieutenant-Colonel Bielozor lost consciousness from loss of
blood, and fell; while Captain Shastin also fell, dangerously wounded
in the chest. Both were picked up by the Japanese Red-Cross men,
and saved, thanks to a Japanese officer, who gave orders that they
were not to be killed.[31] Our right flank retreated simultaneously
with our left at the moment when the Japanese began to enfilade
them from the hills.

Having received the order to follow the regiment to Nan-kuan-ling,


I bivouacked with the 4th Rifle Division, leaving my mounted scout
detachment there. This was at 10 or 11 p.m.

On my way I learnt from certain artillery officers that General


Nadyein had, at the critical moment, sent me two battalions (if only
they had reached me!), but that General Fock had ordered them to
return. At the court-martial this fact was not proved.

If, however, General Fock had decided to attack the left flank of
the enemy, where they were already running out of shell and were
engaged with our companies, with even his two regiments, and had
brought up the whole of his artillery against this flank, the enemy
would, without doubt, have been checked and the victory might
have been on our side.
It is said that at the court-martial General Fock stated that he
wished to attack. What a pity that this wish came too late!

One must watch for the first sign of wavering in the soldier in
order to be able to judge the proper moment for throwing in the
reserves, instead of keeping them miles behind the firing line, as
seems necessary according to General Fock’s principle—“Keep back
your reserves as long as you possibly can, as they are always asked
for and sent up too early.” That is all right as far as it goes, but at
the same time reserves must be used exactly at the right moment. I
understand the meaning of this principle, but in order not to be
misled in adopting it, it is essential to follow the course of the action
very closely.

To see detail, click on


map to display a larger
version.

MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE NAN SHAN


POSITION Map No. 1.
Enlarged from a Russian
Map. London: Hugh Rees, Ltd.
Reproduced at Stanford’s Geogl.
Estabt., London.
It was stated at the court-martial that the whole of Lieutenant-
Colonel Golitsinski’s battalion of the 14th Regiment was sent to the
position, by General Nadyein, but never reached it, occupying
instead the trenches made by me beyond Ta-fang-shen on the
seashore, in case the enemy tried to make a turning movement
through the water of Hand Bay. This was more than a verst from the
position, in rear of its right flank. What they wanted a battalion there
for, I really do not understand. I know nothing about this strange
manœuvre, and I never saw the battalion, but it would have played
a great part if I had had it with me in the centre.

There cannot be two commanders in one part of a field of battle,


and we had three—General Fock, General Nadyein, and myself.
CHAPTER III

Night alarm during the march to Nan-kuan-ling—Disappearance of the baggage


train—Continuation of the retreat towards Port Arthur—Occupation and
fortification of the “Position of the Passes”—Japanese attacks on the position on
July 26, 27, and 28—Capture of Yu-pi-la-tzu and Lao-tso Shan—General
retirement to new positions, July 29.

I had hardly gone two versts from the bivouac, when we heard firing
behind us. A moment afterwards a vague noise reached us, soon
distinctly recognized as the rumbling of a baggage wagon. In
another minute it had rattled past us at full speed. Behind it galloped
a field battery scattering or destroying all that came in its way, and
after the battery came a hurtling mass of wagons, mounted men,
riderless horses, and unarmed men, and, to make matters worse,
somebody raised the alarming cry of “Japanese cavalry! Japanese
cavalry!”

The din and confusion were awful, and from the bivouacs behind
us shots and volleys were heard. Together with the other officers
near me I rushed to the rear of the column to restore order. I also
ordered our band to strike up a march, and, thank God, its martial
strains restored confidence among the fugitives—the noise ceased,
and the men became quite calm and collected.

The band played all the way to Nan-kuan-ling,[32] and we were


saved further panics in consequence.

Having been shown where to bivouac, I sent to the baggage train


for bread, tea, and sugar, but alas! the baggage was not to be
found. What was to be done? Our men had had neither food nor
drink all day. Tents and great-coats had been left on the field of
battle, so that the men had nothing but their rifles and cartridges
with them. We started to hunt for food.
I sent, of course, to the railway station. We saw through the
window that all the rooms were packed with officers of every
regiment, and the staff of the 4th Division was there too. Having
forced my way into the buffet, I approached Lieutenant-Colonel
Dmetrevski, the chief of staff of the 4th Division, who, in answer to
my question, “Where has our baggage train been sent?” told me that
it had been sent straight into Port Arthur by General Fock’s order,
and he could not say where it was now. The commanders of the
13th, 14th, and 15th Regiments were there too. I asked the first of
these for 200 poods[33] of bread, a quantity of which I saw loaded
up on some wagons standing close at hand. In an hour we had
unloaded them and distributed the bread, each man getting about 4
lb. I had a piece about that weight, as had also all the other officers;
of meat, there was absolutely none to be had.

All available articles of food in the buffet had been eaten before
our arrival, but I succeeded in getting some salt wherewith to
flavour my bread.

Having slept for three hours on the bare ground, we got up to


resume our march. No one molested us during the night; the
morning broke cold and foggy.

According to the “order of march” we should have been at the


head of the column, but some regiment forestalled us, and we had
to wait nearly an hour before making a start.

At about midday we reached a pass in the hills, well lined with


trenches, and, after making a short halt in the pass itself, we pushed
on, marching at a good pace.

At the instance of General Fock the mountain road had been


repaired at an earlier date, and now did us sterling service, but, hard
as we went, we did not overtake our baggage, and the whole of that
day we had nothing but the bread procured at Nan-kuan-ling from
the 14th Regiment. We spent the night in a picturesque defile, and
perforce lay down to sleep on empty stomachs.

On May 28 we overtook an enormous train of baggage from Dalny,


[34] accompanied by the male inhabitants of the town, with their
women, children, and household goods. As the horses in the wagons
were wretchedly small, the train had to come to a standstill, blocking
the road from end to end.

We went round by a narrow side road, and in the evening reached


the great Shipinsin Pass,[35] where at last we overtook our baggage.

Now in high spirits, we bivouacked, cooked our suppers, ate them


ravenously, and slept the sleep of the just.

On the following day, May 29, we began to ascend the pass,


which, thanks to our excellent horses, our baggage train speedily
traversed, and although at midnight we lost our way, owing to bad
maps, we eventually reached the outskirts of Port Arthur and halted
at the village of Pa-li-chuang, where we had been ordered to rest for
three days.

General Stessel visited the regiment the following day. The


companies quickly formed up near the bivouacs, and the general
rode round them all and thanked them for their splendid behaviour.
The men felt tremendously encouraged, many of them having
laboured under the dire impression that we had committed a crime
by surrendering Nan Shan to the enemy.

General Stessel called to the front all those wounded who had
remained in the ranks, in order to address them, and to bestow
praise and rewards in the shape of the Cross of St. George. There
were, however, so many of them (more than 300) that the general
thought it was impossible to get so many crosses; he therefore
ordered the doctor to inspect them and separate the badly from the
slightly wounded. There were sixty of the former category, and they
were given St. George’s crosses accordingly. These were the sole
recipients of rewards for the Nan Shan battle, those slightly
wounded receiving nothing for their bravery—and the number of
such was great.

I have already mentioned the fact that our men came away with
only their rifles, most of the tents and great-coats having been left
on the field of battle. It was fortunate that just before the battle we
had transported the bulk of our stores into Port Arthur, where they
had been deposited in Captain Preegorovski’s house, which had been
hired for the purpose. We brought all we wanted out of Port Arthur
without delay, and distributed the necessaries among the men. At
the same time we drove out with us a large herd of cattle,
amounting to about 200 head.

I forgot to mention that our ordinary military anxieties on the Nan


Shan position had been augmented by the worry due to an order to
collect all the cattle belonging to the inhabitants and to drive them
to the rear of the position. Some officials, supplied with money, were
sent out for this purpose, but as they could not effect their object
without the assistance of the regiment, the whole burden of the
work fell upon us.

Unfortunately, the order was given when the enemy was already
in touch with us, but we managed to collect about 1,000 head and
drove them to the rear of the army, almost into Port Arthur.

After three days’ rest we moved into Port Arthur and stopped in a
village near Serotka Hill,[36] forming the reserve of the 4th Division,
which took up the position Shuang-tai-kou, Yu-pi-la-tzu, Chien Shan,
and Lao-tso Shan.[37]
VIEW OF THE COUNTRY AT THE POSITION OF THE PASSES. IN
THE DISTANCE ON THE LEFT ARE SEEN THE
PEAKS OF CHIEN SHAN.
p. 66]

The 4th Division had been reinforced by a detachment of mixed


companies of the 7th Division, under the command of Colonel
Semenov, and it was this detachment that occupied Lao-tso Shan. I
do not know exactly what they had done amiss, but I remember it
was commonly said that the mixed companies were not to be
depended upon, which is not to be wondered at, seeing that they
had no stiffening of seasoned troops. The commanders of the
companies did not know their own men, nor had the men any
knowledge of their commanders. No one felt responsible for the
actions of the different units. This organization was considered a
huge mistake on General Kondratenko’s part; but, however that may
be, the position in question was held by us from the time of its
occupation, on May 31, till July 28, in spite of the fact that it had not
previously been fortified.

During this time the 5th Regiment was divided into two parts, and
I was put in command of the left flank of the defence, and began to
fortify the position on 174 Metre Hill and the country in front of it, as
also the western side of Feng-huang Shan[38] from the Great
Mandarin road to Eight Ships’ Bay. Stationed along the shore of the
latter was Captain Sakatski’s detachment, and two other
detachments were on the banks of Louisa Bay, both under my
command, the former having with it four small naval guns under
Midshipman Doudkin.
Our 6th and 7th Companies occupied and fortified Feng-huang
Shan from the Great Mandarin road up to Major Sakatski’s
detachment. Our three scout detachments occupied and fortified the
174 Metre and Headquarter Hills, and also Height 426.[39] The 3rd
and 9th Companies occupied 174 Metre Hill, while the 2nd and 4th
held 203 Metre Hill. They all worked hard at their fortifications under
the supervision of their officers, in accordance with orders given by
me.

174 Metre Hill had to be fortified as strongly as possible, as,


having once captured that, the enemy could sweep our extremely
weak western front, occupy the valley stretching in the direction of
the New Town, and command the latter and the bay.

The other companies of the regiment were quartered in various


positions near. At times when the advanced regiments behind Feng-
huang Shan were threatened, the 5th Regiment served as the
reserve for the different sections of the advanced line.

Our work advanced slowly, because we had very few tools.

Besides fortifying the position, I had to build shelters for the


reserves and stores for small-arm ammunition in the fortress itself.

I detailed two companies of the 7th Division for this work, utilizing
all the material we could find in the town. Having no sapper officer
with me, I had personally to supervise everywhere—on the
advanced positions as well as in the town. It was a great help that
the officers of the 5th Regiment were, thanks to constant practice,
excellent sappers.

We could only obtain tools with great difficulty and from various
sources. Most of them we got from Colonel Grigorenko, commanding
the Engineers in the fortress, and from the railway authorities.

The number of men given me to carry out the work which I had
been ordered to do was insufficient, so I asked if I could employ the
whole of my regiment. I received permission early in June, and
moved the regimental staff to Division Hill, where we made
ourselves very snug, pitching a huge marquee and getting our field
kitchen into working order.

Generals Kondratenko, Smirnov, and Stessel came out to us fairly


frequently. Our work progressed rapidly, as we had got over the tool
difficulty, but we had very few barrows, etc., for transporting the
earth.

A stubborn defence having been determined upon, it was


necessary to construct a great number of splinter-proofs as well as
shelters for ourselves and our kitchens; and for this we needed an
abundant supply of beams and planks.

Besides this activity we had constantly to send detachments to the


advanced positions held by the regiments of the 4th Division.

Other regiments continually borrowed the tools I had collected,


but did not return them.

I frequently went on long personal reconnoitring tours, during


which I made myself acquainted with the advanced positions and
their fortifications.

It seems that General Fock expected that the Japanese would


most probably attack our position across the flat stretch of country
between the hills and the sea. In any case, he paid most attention to
fortifying this particular part of the position. To me, however, it was
very clear how difficult it would be to attack a fortified position
across the open under effective gun and rifle fire. Not even taking
into account the Japanese love of hill-fighting, it was obvious that
the hills were by far the best point of attack, and these General Fock
wished to have defended only by the scout detachments.

Here the defenders were deprived of their strongest weapon, viz.


distant, and even close, rifle and artillery fire. As to the assailants,
numerical superiority and the power of initiative gave the Japanese
tremendous advantage in the hills, the more so, as our position was
very much extended, covering about 8 versts for five regiments of
three battalions each (about 10,000 men). The Japanese guns could,
moreover, demolish our trenches, whereas our artillery could not find
any targets.

When I inspected the position at the beginning of July, I noticed


that the position at Shuang-tai-kou (between the hills and the sea)
was splendidly fortified (the trenches were deep, with a magnificent
field of fire), but the hills were left entirely without fortifications.

I rode down into Yu-pi-la-tzu, where there were two scout


detachments-of what regiment, I do not remember. There were no
trenches and, above all, no cover from gun fire. This was a great
mistake, as the whole of the enemy’s artillery fire might be directed
on Yu-pi-la-tzu, and our men driven out of it, after which the
Japanese could occupy the hill without loss.

Having ascended the hill, a magnificent panorama met the eye.


The whole country as far as Dalny and the bay beyond lay before
one as the lines on the palm of the hand, and in the daytime every
single movement of the enemy could be noted.

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF YU-PI-LA-TZU.


p. 70]
Yu-pi-la-tzu Hill was a very important point. If we lost it, we
should have to retreat to the Shipinsin Pass.[40] But the enemy did
not hurry matters. Having come within long-range rifle fire from the
hills (as was to have been expected, he paid no attention to the low-
lying ground), he dug trenches and set to work to lay his plans with
deliberation.

From the moment of his first coming into touch with us, at the
beginning of May, till July 26, he pressed our right flank, and
compelled us to change our position, and on the 26th commenced
his attack on the entire hill section.

The 5th Regiment was moved up to act in support. Some time


before this our 3rd Battalion had been sent to the right flank to Lao-
tso Shan, where we lost two excellent officers, Captain Koudriavtsev
and Lieutenant Popov.

The 3rd Battalion had to bear the brunt of the retreat from Lao-
tso Shan, since, as had been expected, the mixed companies on the
right flank did not distinguish themselves when it came to fighting.

On July 20 my 2nd Battalion was directed to go to 11th Verst


station[41] to the headquarters of the 4th Division, and there it went
accordingly, under the command of Major Stempnevski (jun.).

When the enemy began his decisive attack on the 26th, I was
moved up with the 1st Battalion, which was then commanded by
Major Stempnevski (sen.), a splendid all-round officer. I arrived with
my battalion in the morning and found all our commanders with the
divisional staff—Generals Stessel, Fock, and Kondratenko. The battle
was raging along the whole line.

As all the positions were divided into sections, and each section
had its commander, I was free to become a spectator of all that was
going on. We went by train to 11th Verst, and had only just got
down out of the carriages, when the 1st Scout Detachment, under
Lieutenant Kostoushko, was ordered to move on Yu-pi-la-tzu Hill,
where the defenders had been decimated by the ceaseless artillery
fire.

The 1st Battalion was then moved to the Shipinsin Pass, where,
judging by the artillery fire, a determined attack was in preparation,
and only our 7th and 8th Companies were left with the regimental
staff.

General Fock directed the whole defence.

The fighting of July 26 and 27 did not cost us very dearly, except
for severe wounds received by Lieutenant Kostoushko (a wound in
the chest, and a number of other wounds in the left shoulder and
side). This officer had thrown himself, with a part of his scouts, on
the enemy, who had already seized some of our trenches on Yu-pi-
la-tzu Hill. This was on the night of July 27–28.

Towards evening on the 26th, General Stessel had sent a telegram


to the town saying that all the attacks of the Japanese had been
unsuccessful that day.

On the 27th the battle was again renewed along the whole line.
Lao-tso Shan was swept by the fire of very heavy guns—probably 6-
inch, judging from the size of the shell bursts. It was very difficult
for our artillery to cope with these guns, as they were not only very
far off, but also well concealed.

Having nothing to do, I went to my 1st Battalion, which was


drawn up as a reserve on the declivity of the Shipinsin Pass. Scarcely
any shells burst near us; they all went “over,” shattering the rocky
sides of a ravine lying behind.

Our battery on the pass itself was literally swept with Japanese
shell, and there was a continuous roar of musketry fire, under which
our men were, however, perfectly calm, and even joked about the
bad shooting of the Japanese gunners. Though this went on all day,
the defence stood firm the whole time.

TRIPLE PEAK, WHERE THE MEN ARE STANDING. IN THE


DISTANCE ON THE LEFT IS YU-PI-LA-TZU HILL.
p. 73]

However, things went badly for us on Yu-pi-la-tzu Hill. The


Japanese crawled up its abnormally steep sides on to the hill-top
itself. All shelter had been destroyed by artillery fire, and a corner of
a casemate had fallen in and crushed the officer commanding,
Lieutenant-Colonel Goosakov, whose loss every one felt keenly. (It is
opportune to mention here that he was the only staff officer who
helped me to organize the defence of the rearward position which
covered our retreat from Nan Shan.) At this period of the conflict the
defenders concentrated behind stones and ruined trenches, with the
enemy only a few paces from them.

The staff officers shouted out that Yu-pi-la-tzu had to be


abandoned, as its further defence would only cause us enormous
losses, because the trenches no longer gave cover from the effects
of Shimose and shrapnel. Since, however, the majority were against
giving up this important hill, which was such an excellent
observation point, the commanders decided to rebuild the trenches
during the night and continue the defence.
At four o’clock in the afternoon our 8th Company was sent to Yu-
pi-la-tzu Hill with as many tools as could be found, to reconstruct the
old, and make new, trenches. Captain Sakarov, late commandant of
Dalny, who built the railway and port there, was put in command.
(After leaving Dalny, this excellent officer decided to leave the Port
Arthur Fortress Sapper Company, which was commanded by
Lieutenant-Colonel Jerebtsov.) The Japanese met with practically no
success on this day, and we held on to all our positions.

Very early on the morning of the 28th, being awakened by a


terrific cannonade, I got up and went to headquarters, where I
found all the staff officers already up. In order the better to watch
the course of the action, General Stessel, with some of his staff, had
gone to the top of the nearest hill, and thither I repaired also.
General Fock remained with the telephones, keeping all his staff with
him (he had new adjutants; the old ones, Captain Kvitkin and,
subsequently, Captain Yarsevitch, had rejoined their units).

On reaching the top of the hill, a magnificent panorama of the hill


country lay before us. The crest nearest us, which was occupied by
our troops, was completely wreathed with puffs of white smoke. In
some places the smoke spread over an enormous extent and curled
high up into the air. It lay thickest over Lao-tso Shan, for the
heaviest types of shell were constantly bursting there, and the sky
was dotted with little round white clouds from bursting shrapnel. At
the same time the attentive and well-trained ear could distinguish
the ceaseless far-distant roll of rifle fire, due to the rattle of
musketry along the line occupied by us.

Our 1st Battalion had not yet come into action, but was to be seen
as a black spot near a zigzag in the road leading to the Shipinsin
Pass.

We stayed about a quarter of an hour on the hill, and then went


down to the telephones (one can follow an action better from near
the telephones, even though they are placed lower down, as in this
case). It is a pity that they did not think of putting them in a place
where it was possible to see the battle with one’s own eyes as well
as hear reports, as, for example, on the top of the hill we had just
left.

General Fock met us below, and at once gave General Stessel full
details of all that had taken place. Our men had stood firm
everywhere, except on Yu-pi-la-tzu Hill, where things were going
badly with us. It was a physical impossibility to hold on there, in
spite of the new trenches, on account of the artillery fire
concentrated on the hill. Hence it was decided to abandon Yu-pi-la-
tzu, and orders were sent there accordingly.

When this decision had been arrived at, General Fock said, in his
short, sharp way of speaking: “Well, it is impossible to hold on to Yu-
pi-la-tzu. It would entail too heavy losses. Even if the companies
there left it of their own accord, it would be nothing serious; but to
give up Lao-tso Shan, that would be a disgrace, almost amounting to
treachery.” He had only just said this, when news came that Lao-tso
Shan had been evacuated by the troops holding it. “Now we shall
have to make a general retreat,” said General Fock, and he gave
orders to retire and to take up a new position with the right flank at
Ta-ku Shan—the centre near 11th Verst, and the left on Feng-huang
Shan.

In order to give the line cohesion, my left flank (Captain Sakatski’s


detachment) was put at the disposal of the officer commanding the
15th Regiment. I had to occupy without delay the spur of 174 Metre
Hill, as well as that hill itself and 203 Metre Hill, and also Division Hill
and the crest of Pan-lung Shan lying in front of it. The 5th Regiment
thus filled up the gap between Forts Yi-tzu Shan and Ta-yang-kou
North, which had long ago been prepared by us. The staff, with
General Stessel at its head, collected in the building occupied by the
staff of the 4th Division (a station at 11th Verst) and quietly waited
there until the regiments had taken up their allotted positions.
Notwithstanding the statements of certain war-correspondents, I
saw no signs of any panic or disorder during this retirement. Every
one was perfectly calm, and the army withdrew to its new positions
correctly and without any confusion.

Suddenly there appeared in the valley to our right a Red-Cross


train full of wounded, a sight which always impresses one; there was
a long stream of wagons, accompanied by bearer-company men,
doctors, and those of the wounded who were able to walk. Behind
this train appeared a reserve column. At that depressing moment I
remembered how our band had put new spirit into us during the
night alarm near the Nan-kuan-ling Hills, and felt a desire to repeat
the experiment.

So, having obtained permission from General Stessel, I sent for


the band, which was bivouacked near the railway station, and soon
the strains of a stirring march crashed out over those hills, dark with
death and blood. The retreating army formed into columns, and,
picking up the step by the band, swung past General Stessel. This
march-past continued for nearly an hour under the very eyes of the
enemy. Our splendid 3rd Battalion was the last to go past, bearing
with it the body of Captain Kvitkin, General Fock’s former A.D.C. The
5th Regiment had lost altogether 2 officers and 60 men. They had
borne the whole brunt of the Japanese final attacks, and had
covered the retreat of the other regiments, presenting an
impregnable front throughout every attack.

It is obvious from the foregoing details that the retreat from Lao-
tso Shan was made in perfect order.

The following is a description of the action of our companies on


Lao-tso Shan:

The positions occupied[42] by the regiment were as follows:


The detachment of Colonel Dounin, commanding the 3rd Battalion
5th Regiment, consisting of the 5th, 6th, 9th, 11th, and 12th
Companies, and the 2nd and 3rd Scout Detachments of the 5th
Regiment and the 1st Company of the 27th, was posted before the
battle on Lao-tso Shan, and occupied the section from the valley
(near the small hill occupied by the 11th Company of the 27th
Regiment) to a spur 3/4 verst from the village of Vodymin[43] and
touching the foot of Chien Shan.

The various companies occupied the following sections:


1. The 9th Company and 3rd Scout Detachment 5th Regiment, on
the right flank in the valley.
2. Next to these the 2nd Scout Detachment, to the left of the
valley and covering Lieutenant Naoomov’s battery.
3. Farther to the left, the 12th Company 5th Regiment.
4. On the extreme left flank, near Vodymin, the 11th Company 5th
Regiment and, as a reserve, the 1st Company 27th Regiment.
5. The 5th and 6th Companies 5th Regiment formed the general
reserve.

On the morning of the 26th the Japanese opened a heavy gun fire
on our positions, followed by a vigorous attack, but they obtained no
hold anywhere that day, as our men held on to their positions and
beat them back at every point.

On the 27th the Japanese repeated their attacks, but had no more
success than on the preceding day, whereupon they proceeded to
make a night attack.

Some companies to the right of Colonel Dounin retreated without


firing a shot, and so hurriedly, that they failed to inform the
companies on either side of them.

The Japanese rushed into the gap thus created, and, working
round to the rear, began to pour a flanking fire into the other
companies, who were ignorant of what had happened, and had
remained in their positions. Taken by surprise, these companies lost
their heads in turn and retreated, also without informing their
neighbours. In this manner the gap grew rapidly until it extended to
Colonel Dounin’s troops, when the following became the position of
affairs:

The 9th Company and 3rd Scout Detachment of the 5th Regiment
occupied the valley, being in touch on the right with the 11th
Company 27th Regiment. The 3rd Scout Detachment formed the
outpost line, with the 9th in reserve behind it.

About three o’clock[44] on the morning of the 28th the piquet on


the right, which was keeping touch with the 11th Company, reported
that a retreat was in progress on that side.

Captain Koudriavtsev, commanding the 9th Company, sent an


orderly to the hill occupied by the 11th Company to find out what
was going on there. The orderly returned immediately and reported
that the 11th Company had gone, that a small body of Japanese was
occupying the hill, and that reinforcements were coming up to them.
At first Captain Koudriavtsev did not believe this, and wanted to
send a more reliable man, but just at that moment shots rang out
from the hill in the direction of the 9th Company and 3rd Scout
Detachment, and Captain Koudriavtsev’s doubts were dispelled. He
consulted with Lieutenant Choulkov, commanding the 3rd Scout
Detachment, and they came to the conclusion that it would be
unreasonable to try and hold the position and defend the valley with
the Japanese on the hill above. They therefore determined to go up
with the 9th Company before daybreak, while there were not many
Japanese on the hill, retake it, and, having got possession of it, re-
establish communication with the troops on the right, and thus fill in
the gap that had been left in the line. Arrived at this decision,
Captain Koudriavtsev arranged with Lieutenant Choulkov that they
should support each other, and if either had to retreat, he would
immediately inform the other, and, in order to avoid
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