Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer (PCEP)

About Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer (PCEP)

Python is a multi-paradigm programming language. Object-oriented programming and structured programming are fully supported, and many of its features support functional programming and aspect-oriented programming (including by metaprogramming[58] and metaobjects (magic methods)) 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 and 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 and 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 using the input(), print(), int(), float(), str(), 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, the len() function

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

lists in lists: matrices and cubes

tuples: indexing, slicing, building, immutability

tuples vs. lists: similarities and differences, lists inside tuples and 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