Core Python 3: Numeric Types, Dates, and Times
Python includes a powerful collection of numeric types beyond the basic int and float. In this course you'll learn about these types, the shortcomings they address in the basic numeric types, and how and when to deploy them in your Python programs.
What you'll learn
Python’s basic numeric types, int and float, are generally intuitive and are often sufficient for most programming tasks. There are some calculations, however, for which these types aren’t the right tool, and numeric types with different qualities are called for. In this course, Core Python 3: Numeric Types, Dates, and Times, you’ll take a look at some of the other numeric types that Python provides. First, you’ll look at the Decimal, Fraction, and complex types, and you'll discover when they should be used and how to use them. Next you’ll review some functions that can be used with many or all numeric types. Then you’ll see how to work with dates and times using Python’s datetime package. Finally, you’ll learn about a practical example where using the right numeric type makes a big difference. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have a better understanding of how to apply Python’s standard numeric types and perhaps a deeper appreciation for numerical programming in general.
Table of contents
About the authors
Austin is a founding director of Sixty North, a software consulting, training, and application development company. A native of Texas, in 2008 Austin moved to Stavanger, Norway where he helped develop industry-leading oil reservoir modeling software in C++ and Python. Prior to that he worked at National Instruments developing LabVIEW, at Applied Research Labs (Univ. of Texas at Austin) developing sonar systems for the U.S. Navy, and at a number of telecommunications companies. He is an ex... more
Robert Smallshire is a founder of Sixty North, a software product and consulting business in Norway. Robert has worked in senior architecture and technical management roles for software companies in the energy sector processing the masses of information flowing from today's digital oil fields. He has designed, and implemented effective architectures for sophisticated scientific and enterprise software in Python, C++, and C#. Robert is a regular speaker at conferences, meetups and corporate softw... more