This chapter took a lot longer than the others but was probably the most engaging as you will finally be able to understand the concepts behind Python scripting. This chapter focuses on the fundamentals of Python scripting so that you will be able to make your own scripts. It would be wise to really pay attention to the chapter and to use it as a reference when creating your own code. Below is only some of the information provided by the chapter.
Python uses several different data types in its language. Data types determine what type of values can be held by an object. Some are the most common are strings, numbers, Booleans, and lists. Strings are usually text but can include numbers and other types of characters as well. Numbers can appear as integers (whole numbers) or floats (numbers with a decimal point). Boolean values are either noted as True or False and are useful for establishing or evaluating conditions. Lists are just as they sound and can contain a series of numbers, text, or other values.
You want to be careful when naming objects in Python as there are a number of ways of producing an error with a name (see pg 91-92). The chapter encourages consistency with how you name objects. One of the prefered methods is utilizing snake_case where each word is uncapitalized and instead of using spaces, underscores are used between each word to increase legibility. Python has several built-in functions and an error will result if you try to name an object with the same name as a function.
Furthermore, when writing scripts it may be wise to includes comments to provide context for the script. You can add comments by writing a line preceded by a number sign (#). Any text that comes after the number sign will not be considered code. An example of this could be (# Create output feature class) with the lines of code to create an output feature class found below.
Table References:
Table 4.1. Common operators for integers and floats in Python (pg. 89)
(Examples: * stands for multiplication and ** stands for exponent)
Table 4.2 Built-in functions in Python (pg. 102)
(Example: asbs(x) with “x” being some number will return the absolute value of that number)
Table 4.3 Comparison operators in Python
(Examples: == means equal to with != means not equal to)