/pcep-certification-studysheet

Study sheet for the Python PCEP Certification Exam

Primary LanguageJavaScript

PCEP – Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer Certification: Exam Syllabus

Exam block #1: Basic Concepts (17%) Objectives covered by the block (5 exam items)

fundamental concepts

  • interpreting and the interpreter,
  • compilation and the compiler,
  • language elements,
  • lexis,
  • syntax
  • semantics,
  • Python keywords,
  • instructions,
  • indenting

literals

  • Boolean,
  • integer,
  • floating-point numbers,
  • scientific notation,
  • strings
  • comments
  • the print() function
  • the input() function
  • numeral systems (binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal)
  • numeric operators: ** * / % // + –
  • string operators: * +
  • assignments and shortcut operators

Exam block #2: Data Types, Evaluations, and Basic I/O Operations (20%) Objectives covered by the block (6 exam items)

operators:

  • unary and binary,
  • priorities
  • binding
  • bitwise operators: ~ & ^ | << >>
  • Boolean operators: not and or
  • Boolean expressions
  • relational operators ( == != > >= < <= ), building complex Boolean expressions
  • accuracy of floating-point numbers

basic input and output operations

  • input(), functions
  • print(), functions
  • int(), functions
  • float(), functions
  • str(), functions
  • len() functions
  • formatting print() output with end= and sep= arguments
  • type casting
  • basic calculations

simple strings

  • constructing,
  • assigning,
  • indexing,
  • immutability

Exam block #3: Control Flow – loops and conditional blocks (20%) Objectives covered by the block (6 exam items)

conditional statements:

  • if,
  • if-else,
  • if-elif,
  • if-elif-else
  • multiple conditional statements
  • the pass instruction
  • building loops: while, for, range(), in
  • iterating through sequences
  • expanding loops: while-else, for-else
  • nesting loops and conditional statements
  • controlling loop execution: break, continue

Exam block #4: Data Collections – Lists, Tuples, and Dictionaries (23%) Objectives covered by the block (7 exam items)

simple lists:

  • constructing vectors,
  • indexing and slicing,
  • len() function

lists in detail:

  • indexing,
  • slicing,
  • basic methods (append(),
  • insert(),
  • index())
  • functions (len(), sorted(), etc.),
  • del instruction,
  • iterating lists with the for loop,
  • initializing,
  • in and not in operators,
  • list comprehension,
  • copying
  • cloning

lists in lists:

  • matrices
  • cubes

tuples:

  • indexing,
  • slicing,
  • building,
  • immutability

tuples vs. lists:

  • similarities and differences,
  • lists inside tuples
  • tuples inside lists

dictionaries:

  • building,
  • indexing,
  • adding and removing keys,
  • iterating through dictionaries as well as their keys and values,
  • checking key existence, keys(), items() and values() methods

strings in detail:

  • escaping using the \ character,
  • quotes and apostrophes inside strings,
  • multi-line strings, basic string functions.

Exam block #5: Functions (20%) Objectives covered by the block (6 exam items)

  • defining and invoking your own functions and generators
  • return and yield keywords, returning results,
  • the None keyword,
  • recursion
  • parameters vs. arguments,
  • positional keyword and mixed argument passing,
  • default parameter values
  • converting generator objects into lists using the list() function
  • name scopes, name hiding (shadowing), the global keyword