TRUE and true both are same FALSE and false both are same

Uppercase logical and lowercase letters in PHP: StackOverflow Questions

Python"s equivalent of && (logical-and) in an if-statement

Question by delete

Here"s my code:

def front_back(a, b):
  # +++your code here+++
  if len(a) % 2 == 0 && len(b) % 2 == 0:
    return a[:(len(a)/2)] + b[:(len(b)/2)] + a[(len(a)/2):] + b[(len(b)/2):] 
  else:
    #todo! Not yet done. :P
  return

I"m getting an error in the IF conditional.
What am I doing wrong?

Answer #1:

You would want and instead of &&.

Answer #2:

Python uses and and or conditionals.

i.e.

if foo == "abc" and bar == "bac" or zoo == "123":
  # do something

Answer #3:

I"m getting an error in the IF conditional. What am I doing wrong?

There reason that you get a SyntaxError is that there is no && operator in Python. Likewise || and ! are not valid Python operators.

Some of the operators you may know from other languages have a different name in Python. The logical operators && and || are actually called and and or. Likewise the logical negation operator ! is called not.

So you could just write:

if len(a) % 2 == 0 and len(b) % 2 == 0:

or even:

if not (len(a) % 2 or len(b) % 2):

Some additional information (that might come in handy):

I summarized the operator "equivalents" in this table:

+------------------------------+---------------------+
|  Operator (other languages)  |  Operator (Python)  |
+==============================+=====================+
|              &&              |         and         |
+------------------------------+---------------------+
|              ||              |         or          |
+------------------------------+---------------------+
|              !               |         not         |
+------------------------------+---------------------+

See also Python documentation: 6.11. Boolean operations.

Besides the logical operators Python also has bitwise/binary operators:

+--------------------+--------------------+
|  Logical operator  |  Bitwise operator  |
+====================+====================+
|        and         |         &          |
+--------------------+--------------------+
|         or         |         |          |
+--------------------+--------------------+

There is no bitwise negation in Python (just the bitwise inverse operator ~ - but that is not equivalent to not).

See also 6.6. Unary arithmetic and bitwise/binary operations and 6.7. Binary arithmetic operations.

The logical operators (like in many other languages) have the advantage that these are short-circuited. That means if the first operand already defines the result, then the second operator isn"t evaluated at all.

To show this I use a function that simply takes a value, prints it and returns it again. This is handy to see what is actually evaluated because of the print statements:

>>> def print_and_return(value):
...     print(value)
...     return value

>>> res = print_and_return(False) and print_and_return(True)
False

As you can see only one print statement is executed, so Python really didn"t even look at the right operand.

This is not the case for the binary operators. Those always evaluate both operands:

>>> res = print_and_return(False) & print_and_return(True);
False
True

But if the first operand isn"t enough then, of course, the second operator is evaluated:

>>> res = print_and_return(True) and print_and_return(False);
True
False

To summarize this here is another Table:

+-----------------+-------------------------+
|   Expression    |  Right side evaluated?  |
+=================+=========================+
| `True` and ...  |           Yes           |
+-----------------+-------------------------+
| `False` and ... |           No            |
+-----------------+-------------------------+
|  `True` or ...  |           No            |
+-----------------+-------------------------+
| `False` or ...  |           Yes           |
+-----------------+-------------------------+

The True and False represent what bool(left-hand-side) returns, they don"t have to be True or False, they just need to return True or False when bool is called on them (1).

So in Pseudo-Code(!) the and and or functions work like these:

def and(expr1, expr2):
    left = evaluate(expr1)
    if bool(left):
        return evaluate(expr2)
    else:
        return left

def or(expr1, expr2):
    left = evaluate(expr1)
    if bool(left):
        return left
    else:
        return evaluate(expr2)

Note that this is pseudo-code not Python code. In Python you cannot create functions called and or or because these are keywords. Also you should never use "evaluate" or if bool(...).

Customizing the behavior of your own classes

This implicit bool call can be used to customize how your classes behave with and, or and not.

To show how this can be customized I use this class which again prints something to track what is happening:

class Test(object):
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value

    def __bool__(self):
        print("__bool__ called on {!r}".format(self))
        return bool(self.value)

    __nonzero__ = __bool__  # Python 2 compatibility

    def __repr__(self):
        return "{self.__class__.__name__}({self.value})".format(self=self)

So let"s see what happens with that class in combination with these operators:

>>> if Test(True) and Test(False):
...     pass
__bool__ called on Test(True)
__bool__ called on Test(False)

>>> if Test(False) or Test(False):
...     pass
__bool__ called on Test(False)
__bool__ called on Test(False)

>>> if not Test(True):
...     pass
__bool__ called on Test(True)

If you don"t have a __bool__ method then Python also checks if the object has a __len__ method and if it returns a value greater than zero. That might be useful to know in case you create a sequence container.

See also 4.1. Truth Value Testing.

NumPy arrays and subclasses

Probably a bit beyond the scope of the original question but in case you"re dealing with NumPy arrays or subclasses (like Pandas Series or DataFrames) then the implicit bool call will raise the dreaded ValueError:

>>> import numpy as np
>>> arr = np.array([1,2,3])
>>> bool(arr)
ValueError: The truth value of an array with more than one element is ambiguous. Use a.any() or a.all()
>>> arr and arr
ValueError: The truth value of an array with more than one element is ambiguous. Use a.any() or a.all()

>>> import pandas as pd
>>> s = pd.Series([1,2,3])
>>> bool(s)
ValueError: The truth value of a Series is ambiguous. Use a.empty, a.bool(), a.item(), a.any() or a.all().
>>> s and s
ValueError: The truth value of a Series is ambiguous. Use a.empty, a.bool(), a.item(), a.any() or a.all().

In these cases you can use the logical and function from NumPy which performs an element-wise and (or or):

>>> np.logical_and(np.array([False,False,True,True]), np.array([True, False, True, False]))
array([False, False,  True, False])
>>> np.logical_or(np.array([False,False,True,True]), np.array([True, False, True, False]))
array([ True, False,  True,  True])

If you"re dealing just with boolean arrays you could also use the binary operators with NumPy, these do perform element-wise (but also binary) comparisons:

>>> np.array([False,False,True,True]) & np.array([True, False, True, False])
array([False, False,  True, False])
>>> np.array([False,False,True,True]) | np.array([True, False, True, False])
array([ True, False,  True,  True])

(1)

That the bool call on the operands has to return True or False isn"t completely correct. It"s just the first operand that needs to return a boolean in it"s __bool__ method:

class Test(object):
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value

    def __bool__(self):
        return self.value

    __nonzero__ = __bool__  # Python 2 compatibility

    def __repr__(self):
        return "{self.__class__.__name__}({self.value})".format(self=self)

>>> x = Test(10) and Test(10)
TypeError: __bool__ should return bool, returned int
>>> x1 = Test(True) and Test(10)
>>> x2 = Test(False) and Test(10)

That"s because and actually returns the first operand if the first operand evaluates to False and if it evaluates to True then it returns the second operand:

>>> x1
Test(10)
>>> x2
Test(False)

Similarly for or but just the other way around:

>>> Test(True) or Test(10)
Test(True)
>>> Test(False) or Test(10)
Test(10)

However if you use them in an if statement the if will also implicitly call bool on the result. So these finer points may not be relevant for you.

How do you get the logical xor of two variables in Python?

Question by Zach Hirsch

How do you get the logical xor of two variables in Python?

For example, I have two variables that I expect to be strings. I want to test that only one of them contains a True value (is not None or the empty string):

str1 = raw_input("Enter string one:")
str2 = raw_input("Enter string two:")
if logical_xor(str1, str2):
    print "ok"
else:
    print "bad"

The ^ operator seems to be bitwise, and not defined on all objects:

>>> 1 ^ 1
0
>>> 2 ^ 1
3
>>> "abc" ^ ""
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for ^: "str" and "str"

Answer #1:

If you"re already normalizing the inputs to booleans, then != is xor.

bool(a) != bool(b)

Answer #2:

You can always use the definition of xor to compute it from other logical operations:

(a and not b) or (not a and b)

But this is a little too verbose for me, and isn"t particularly clear at first glance. Another way to do it is:

bool(a) ^ bool(b)

The xor operator on two booleans is logical xor (unlike on ints, where it"s bitwise). Which makes sense, since bool is just a subclass of int, but is implemented to only have the values 0 and 1. And logical xor is equivalent to bitwise xor when the domain is restricted to 0 and 1.

So the logical_xor function would be implemented like:

def logical_xor(str1, str2):
    return bool(str1) ^ bool(str2)

Credit to Nick Coghlan on the Python-3000 mailing list.

Uppercase logical and lowercase letters in PHP: StackOverflow Questions

Meaning of @classmethod and @staticmethod for beginner?

Question by user1632861

Could someone explain to me the meaning of @classmethod and @staticmethod in python? I need to know the difference and the meaning.

As far as I understand, @classmethod tells a class that it"s a method which should be inherited into subclasses, or... something. However, what"s the point of that? Why not just define the class method without adding @classmethod or @staticmethod or any @ definitions?

tl;dr: when should I use them, why should I use them, and how should I use them?

Answer #1:

Though classmethod and staticmethod are quite similar, there"s a slight difference in usage for both entities: classmethod must have a reference to a class object as the first parameter, whereas staticmethod can have no parameters at all.

Example

class Date(object):

    def __init__(self, day=0, month=0, year=0):
        self.day = day
        self.month = month
        self.year = year

    @classmethod
    def from_string(cls, date_as_string):
        day, month, year = map(int, date_as_string.split("-"))
        date1 = cls(day, month, year)
        return date1

    @staticmethod
    def is_date_valid(date_as_string):
        day, month, year = map(int, date_as_string.split("-"))
        return day <= 31 and month <= 12 and year <= 3999

date2 = Date.from_string("11-09-2012")
is_date = Date.is_date_valid("11-09-2012")

Explanation

Let"s assume an example of a class, dealing with date information (this will be our boilerplate):

class Date(object):

    def __init__(self, day=0, month=0, year=0):
        self.day = day
        self.month = month
        self.year = year

This class obviously could be used to store information about certain dates (without timezone information; let"s assume all dates are presented in UTC).

Here we have __init__, a typical initializer of Python class instances, which receives arguments as a typical instancemethod, having the first non-optional argument (self) that holds a reference to a newly created instance.

Class Method

We have some tasks that can be nicely done using classmethods.

Let"s assume that we want to create a lot of Date class instances having date information coming from an outer source encoded as a string with format "dd-mm-yyyy". Suppose we have to do this in different places in the source code of our project.

So what we must do here is:

1. Parse a string to receive day, month and year as three integer variables or a 3-item tuple consisting of that variable.
2. Instantiate Date by passing those values to the initialization call.

This will look like:

day, month, year = map(int, string_date.split("-"))
date1 = Date(day, month, year)

For this purpose, C++ can implement such a feature with overloading, but Python lacks this overloading. Instead, we can use classmethod. Let"s create another "constructor".

    @classmethod
    def from_string(cls, date_as_string):
        day, month, year = map(int, date_as_string.split("-"))
        date1 = cls(day, month, year)
        return date1

date2 = Date.from_string("11-09-2012")

Let"s look more carefully at the above implementation, and review what advantages we have here:

1. We"ve implemented date string parsing in one place and it"s reusable now.
2. Encapsulation works fine here (if you think that you could implement string parsing as a single function elsewhere, this solution fits the OOP paradigm far better).
3. cls is an object that holds the class itself, not an instance of the class. It"s pretty cool because if we inherit our Date class, all children will have from_string defined also.

Static method

What about staticmethod? It"s pretty similar to classmethod but doesn"t take any obligatory parameters (like a class method or instance method does).

Let"s look at the next use case.

We have a date string that we want to validate somehow. This task is also logically bound to the Date class we"ve used so far, but doesn"t require instantiation of it.

Here is where staticmethod can be useful. Let"s look at the next piece of code:

    @staticmethod
    def is_date_valid(date_as_string):
        day, month, year = map(int, date_as_string.split("-"))
        return day <= 31 and month <= 12 and year <= 3999

    # usage:
    is_date = Date.is_date_valid("11-09-2012")

So, as we can see from usage of staticmethod, we don"t have any access to what the class is---it"s basically just a function, called syntactically like a method, but without access to the object and its internals (fields and another methods), while classmethod does.

Answer #2:

Rostyslav Dzinko"s answer is very appropriate. I thought I could highlight one other reason you should choose @classmethod over @staticmethod when you are creating an additional constructor.

In the example above, Rostyslav used the @classmethod from_string as a Factory to create Date objects from otherwise unacceptable parameters. The same can be done with @staticmethod as is shown in the code below:

class Date:
  def __init__(self, month, day, year):
    self.month = month
    self.day   = day
    self.year  = year


  def display(self):
    return "{0}-{1}-{2}".format(self.month, self.day, self.year)


  @staticmethod
  def millenium(month, day):
    return Date(month, day, 2000)

new_year = Date(1, 1, 2013)               # Creates a new Date object
millenium_new_year = Date.millenium(1, 1) # also creates a Date object. 

# Proof:
new_year.display()           # "1-1-2013"
millenium_new_year.display() # "1-1-2000"

isinstance(new_year, Date) # True
isinstance(millenium_new_year, Date) # True

Thus both new_year and millenium_new_year are instances of the Date class.

But, if you observe closely, the Factory process is hard-coded to create Date objects no matter what. What this means is that even if the Date class is subclassed, the subclasses will still create plain Date objects (without any properties of the subclass). See that in the example below:

class DateTime(Date):
  def display(self):
      return "{0}-{1}-{2} - 00:00:00PM".format(self.month, self.day, self.year)


datetime1 = DateTime(10, 10, 1990)
datetime2 = DateTime.millenium(10, 10)

isinstance(datetime1, DateTime) # True
isinstance(datetime2, DateTime) # False

datetime1.display() # returns "10-10-1990 - 00:00:00PM"
datetime2.display() # returns "10-10-2000" because it"s not a DateTime object but a Date object. Check the implementation of the millenium method on the Date class for more details.

datetime2 is not an instance of DateTime? WTF? Well, that"s because of the @staticmethod decorator used.

In most cases, this is undesired. If what you want is a Factory method that is aware of the class that called it, then @classmethod is what you need.

Rewriting Date.millenium as (that"s the only part of the above code that changes):

@classmethod
def millenium(cls, month, day):
    return cls(month, day, 2000)

ensures that the class is not hard-coded but rather learnt. cls can be any subclass. The resulting object will rightly be an instance of cls.
Let"s test that out:

datetime1 = DateTime(10, 10, 1990)
datetime2 = DateTime.millenium(10, 10)

isinstance(datetime1, DateTime) # True
isinstance(datetime2, DateTime) # True


datetime1.display() # "10-10-1990 - 00:00:00PM"
datetime2.display() # "10-10-2000 - 00:00:00PM"

The reason is, as you know by now, that @classmethod was used instead of @staticmethod

Answer #3:

@classmethod means: when this method is called, we pass the class as the first argument instead of the instance of that class (as we normally do with methods). This means you can use the class and its properties inside that method rather than a particular instance.

@staticmethod means: when this method is called, we don"t pass an instance of the class to it (as we normally do with methods). This means you can put a function inside a class but you can"t access the instance of that class (this is useful when your method does not use the instance).

What is the meaning of single and double underscore before an object name?

Can someone please explain the exact meaning of having single and double leading underscores before an object"s name in Python, and the difference between both?

Also, does that meaning stay the same regardless of whether the object in question is a variable, a function, a method, etc.?

Answer #1:

Single Underscore

Names, in a class, with a leading underscore are simply to indicate to other programmers that the attribute or method is intended to be private. However, nothing special is done with the name itself.

To quote PEP-8:

_single_leading_underscore: weak "internal use" indicator. E.g. from M import * does not import objects whose name starts with an underscore.

Double Underscore (Name Mangling)

From the Python docs:

Any identifier of the form __spam (at least two leading underscores, at most one trailing underscore) is textually replaced with _classname__spam, where classname is the current class name with leading underscore(s) stripped. This mangling is done without regard to the syntactic position of the identifier, so it can be used to define class-private instance and class variables, methods, variables stored in globals, and even variables stored in instances. private to this class on instances of other classes.

And a warning from the same page:

Name mangling is intended to give classes an easy way to define “private” instance variables and methods, without having to worry about instance variables defined by derived classes, or mucking with instance variables by code outside the class. Note that the mangling rules are designed mostly to avoid accidents; it still is possible for a determined soul to access or modify a variable that is considered private.

Example

>>> class MyClass():
...     def __init__(self):
...             self.__superprivate = "Hello"
...             self._semiprivate = ", world!"
...
>>> mc = MyClass()
>>> print mc.__superprivate
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: myClass instance has no attribute "__superprivate"
>>> print mc._semiprivate
, world!
>>> print mc.__dict__
{"_MyClass__superprivate": "Hello", "_semiprivate": ", world!"}

Answer #2:

__foo__: this is just a convention, a way for the Python system to use names that won"t conflict with user names.

_foo: this is just a convention, a way for the programmer to indicate that the variable is private (whatever that means in Python).

__foo: this has real meaning: the interpreter replaces this name with _classname__foo as a way to ensure that the name will not overlap with a similar name in another class.

No other form of underscores have meaning in the Python world.

There"s no difference between class, variable, global, etc in these conventions.