1｜Introduction to Computers and Python

Probably not. This example uses random-number generation, so successive executions likely will produce different results. In Chapter 4, we'll show how to force Python to produce the same sequence of random numbers. This is important for reproducibility—a crucial data-science topic you'll investigate in the chapter exercises and throughout the book. You'll want other data scientists to be able to reproduce your results. Also, you'll want to be able to reproduce your own experimental results. This is helpful when you find and fix an error in your program and want to make sure that you've corrected it properly.

(Discussion) Run the example in this section again. Do the faces appear the same number of times as they did in the previous execution?

Most likely, yes. This example is based on random-number generation, so the results may vary. Because of this randomness, most of the counts will be a little more than 1000 or a little less.

(Discussion) When the example in this section finishes all 6000 rolls, does the chart show that the die faces appeared about 1000 times each?

relational

(Fill-In) A database is a collection of data organized for easy access and manipulation. The most popular model is the _____________ database, in which data is stored in simple tables.

bit

(Fill-In) A(n) ____ (short for "binary digit"—a digit that can assume one of two values) is the smallest data item in a computer.

Moore's Law

(Fill-In) Every year or two, the capacities of computers have approximately doubled inexpensively. This remarkable trend often is called __________ _____.

script

(Fill-In) In IPython __________ mode, you'll execute Python code loaded from a file that has the .py extension (short for Python).

snippets

(Fill-In) In IPython interactive mode, you'll enter small bits of Python code called _________ and immediately see their results.

IP address

(Fill-In) In the Internet of Things (IoT), a thing is any object with a(n) ___ __________ and the ability to send, and in some cases receive, data automatically over the Internet.

multicore

(Fill-In) Most computers have _______________ processors that implement multiple processors on a single integrated-circuit chip. Such processors can perform many operations simultaneously.

Zen of Python

(Fill-In) The ______ ___ _________ summarizes Python creator Guido van Rossum's design principles for the Python language.

World Wide Web (WWW)

(Fill-In) The ________ _____ _____ (simply called "the web") is a collection of hardware and software associated with the Internet that allows computer users to locate and view documents (with various combinations of text, graphics, animations, audios and videos).

ARPANET (ARPA stands for the Advanced Research Projects Agency)

(Fill-In) The ____________ was the precursor to today's Internet.

Python Standard Library

(Fill-In) The provides rich capabilities for many common Python programming tasks.

attributes

(Fill-In) The size, shape, color and weight of an object are ___________ of the object's class.

quantum computers

(Fill-In) The technology that could wreak havoc with blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, and other blockchain-based technologies is _____________ ______________.

artificial general intelligence

(Fill-In) The ultimate goal of AI is to produce a(n) ____________ ____________ __________________.

requirements

(Fill-In) To create the best solutions, you should follow a detailed analysis process for determining your project's _____________.

FLOPS (floating-point operations per second)

(Fill-In) Today's processor performance is often measured in terms of __________.

C or C++

(Fill-In) Today, most code for general-purpose operating systems and other performance-critical systems is written in ___ __ ______.

assemblers

(Fill-In) Translator programs called _____________ convert assembly-language programs to machine language at computer speeds.

proprietary

(Fill-In) Windows is a(n) _____________ operating system—it's controlled by Microsoft exclusively.

Libraries

(Fill-In) ____________ help you avoid "reinventing the wheel," thus leveraging your program-development efforts. Answer: Libraries.

interpreters

(Fill-In) ______________ programs, developed to execute high-level-language programs directly, avoid the delay of compilation, although they run slower than compiled programs.

refactoring

(Fill-In) ________________ is the process of reworking programs to make them clearer and easier to maintain while preserving their correctness and functionality.

You get different results because snippet [1] first calculates 3 + 4, which is 7, then multiplies that by 5. Snippet [2] first multiplies 5 * 3, which is 15, then adds that to 4.

(IPython Session) Evaluate the expression 5 * (3 + 4) both with and without the parentheses. Do you get the same result? Why or why not?

Yes, I do.

(Jupyter Notebook Session) Ensure that JupyterLab is running, then open your TestDrive.ipynb notebook. Add and execute two more snippets that evaluate the expression 5 * (3 + 4) both with and without the parentheses. You should see the same results as in Section 1.10.1's Self Check.

True

(True/False) High-level languages allow you to write instructions that look almost like everyday English and contain commonly used mathematical notations.

True

(True/False) In some operating systems, a file is viewed simply as a sequence of bytes—any organization of the bytes in a file, such as organizing the data into records, is a view created by the application programmer.

False. Information in the memory unit is volatile—it's typically lost when the computer's power is turned off.

(True/False) Information in the memory unit is persistent—it's preserved even when the computer's power is turned off

True

(True/False) Jupyter Notebooks are the preferred means of doing Python-based data analytics studies and reproducibly communicating their results.

True

(True/False) Objects, or more precisely, the classes objects come from, are essentially reusable software components.

False. Open-source code is often scrutinized by a much larger audience than proprietary software, so errors often get removed faster.

(True/False) Proprietary code is often scrutinized by a much larger audience than open-source software, so errors often get removed faster.

False. Python recently surpassed R as the most popular data-science programming language.

(True/False) R is most the popular data-science programming language.

True

(True/False) The Python language supports popular programming paradigms—procedural, functional, object-oriented and reflective.

False. A key cloud-computing benefit is that you pay for only what you use to accomplish a given task.

(True/False) With cloud computing you pay a fixed price for cloud services regardless of how much you use those services?

False. Android currently controls 88% of the smartphone market.

(True/False) iOS dominates the global smartphone market over Android.

machine, reinforcement

BM's Watson beat the two best human Jeopardy! players. Watson was trained using a combination of __________ learning and ______________ learning techniques.

AlphaZero

Google's ________________ taught itself to play chess in less than four hours using reinforcement learning, then beat the world champion chess program, Stockfish 8, in a 100-game match—winning or drawing every game.