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Edge computing: what is it? The importance of the edge and why do businesses need it?

Edge computing: what is it?

A decentralized, contemporary computing infrastructure known as edge computing systems places computation and storage space relatively close to the original data, which reduces bandwidth usage and improves responsiveness.

 

Coders can create use cases like: 

  • Markedly decreased latencies
  • Lower necessitates the maximum throughput
  • Improved privacy for confidential documents
  • Empowering procedures even when the connections are down by utilizing and functioning with the computational capabilities that are present on distant premises like physical outlets, depots, industries, etc.

But how do actual edge computing situations correspond to the interpretation of edge cloud computing?

 

What is the positive impact of edge computing?

Data storage and use have been revolutionized by cloud computing. The cloud, nevertheless, is restricted in some places. Problems can arise with connectivity, network capacity, stability, and the absence of offline access.

Patrons need a robust, erudite, and on-premise edge cloud platform to address this issue. Data can be exchanged instantly, snugly, and without propagation delay when it is biologically situated adjacent to the participants who hook up to it. Low latency is needed for essential services like finance, medical services, and commerce. Low doses of Lag is largely to blame for this since they’re essential for positive digital transformations. Because of this, it’s becoming questionable whether edge computing reflects the extent to which it will be able to replace the cloud.

This might be the result of changes in edge computing prerequisites brought on by IoT imperatives and cloud constraints, making transmitted IT and on-premise equipment the data storage hub for the globalized economy.

Its significance in the current state of the virtualization market is growing significantly.

 

Who are the key participants?

Currently, the public cloud, as well as collaboration enterprises, independent testing distributors, and factory automation companies, make up the edge computing competitive landscape (Siemens). These sections approach distributed computing in various ways.

For example, Microsoft promotes itself as the industry’s pioneer in IoT technology. Azure IoT Edge is an explicitly introduced “generative design platform that facilitates web services to appropriate technology, creating data warehouse and edge Technology solutions a reality.”

According to reports, this has had a largely positive effect on the cloud industry since the industry’s inception. Plenty of Microsoft collaborators are already hard at work attempting to create influence overall for their clients using the existing facilities of Azure IoT. In a brief statement, Microsoft also discussed the significance of edge computing for one of their affiliates, Ecolab, which is using the Azure IoT to assist businesses around the world in finding solutions to the issue of water shortages: “Our primary objective with Azure IoT Edge is to further diversify this established cloud infrastructure by empowering companions to extend cloud competence to edge devices.”

To “apply the intellectual capacity and extensibility of the server immediately in your production system,” Siemens Technological Edge does a perfect job of utilizing the idea of edge computing in some other situations. The company has been able to “combine community and increased data computation directly within their industrial automation with the rewards of cloud hosting: app-based machine learning, computation, and facilities concepts with a centralized update function” thanks to this.

Edge computing is clearly an innovation that is gaining popularity every year.

By 2020, “approximately half of all information generated by IoT devices will be stashed, processed, analyzed, and used close to that at the edge of a network,” by a survey from IDC.

We generate an ever-increasing amount of stuff each year, and as a result, there is a growing need for edge computing devices that support the safe and efficient transmission of signals.

 

 What Advantages Do Edge Computing Services Offer?

The benefits of edge cloud computing services can be thought of as a more advanced form of cloud computing benefits. This translates for businesses into the speed of information handover, a higher level of customer service, and simpler virtualization. Let’s examine the advantages of measuring by assessing them in more detail right now.

Enhanced workplace security. IoT sensors and network virtualization can help protect the community in workplaces where defective equipment or modifications to employment environments can result in accidents or worse. For instance, forecasting and real-time data analysis at or near the equipment website that allows situation is further compounded safety and reduces adverse effects on the environment on heavy equipment, oil refineries, and other secluded industrial use situations

Functionality in remote areas. Information technology makes it simpler to use data generated at remote locations where data transmission is constrained or web access is spotty, such as on a fishing boat on the coast or at a winery in the Italian hinterlands. Sensors can continuously monitor metadata, such as the quality of the water or soil, and take appropriate action as needed. The pertinent data can be sent to a central virtualized environment for visualization and interpretation once the network connection is available.

Increased security Businesses are seriously concerned about the potential risk posed by attaching thousands of world wide web wearable sensors to their subnet. Edge computing enables businesses to interpret data indigenously and store it offline, reducing this hazard. This lessens the amount of data sent over the connectivity and makes businesses less exposed to security risks.

Data sovereignty. Enterprises must follow the data security laws of the nation or province where their users’ information is being gathered, processed, stored, or used in any other way. One such law is the Protection of Information of the European Union (GDPR). Abiding by data supremacy laws can be challenging when progressing information to the server or to the main cloud data center across international borders, but edge computing improves operational efficiency to guarantee that they are abiding by local data independence laws by processing and analyzing data close to where it was accumulated.

Reduced costs for IT. The objective was to minimize their IT costs by numerical computation domestically instead of being in the cloud thanks to edge computing. Edge computing reduces propagation costs by removing extraneous statistics at or close to the spot where they are compiled, in addition to minimizing businesses’ cloud handling and storage costs.

 

Which major corporations offer the best edge computing?

You would have had to get in direct contact with several of the top edges for venture practitioners in order to successfully deploy edge computational power in the business. Additionally, you would require the assistance of a provider of organization website design and development to assist with the interoperability portion of it.

 

Here are the leading-edge computing service providers that we suggest:

 

  1. Amazon Web Services: Through a remote cloud, they provide a consistent level of service and provide solutions for AI, IoT, analysis tools, etc.
  2. Dell: Through the capabilities of Open Navigate Mobile, Dell provides edge computing services and advisory services.
  3. Straight Blade: They recently made available an Edge Native Sensible Asset Implementation, which allows an edge technician to communicate with the IoT device and the major application framework without any interruptions.

 

Services are well-positioned to seize the opportunity.

Today’s internet providers, in regards to providing personnel on the ground and an in-depth understanding of system topology, system capacity, system monitoring, and other topics, are perfectly situated to deliver intelligent routing from the data connection to the best location for the application developed.

Providers can move past conventional interoperability models thanks to the emergence of cloud-native network functions and networked cloud computing, which also creates new opportunities in related industries.

 

Taking advantage of the best edge incentive in three steps

 

01 Today

Maintain collaborative relationships with the cloud service providers; concentrate on on-premises dedicated rollouts; investigate on-network installations at Packet Core facilities; incorporate service automation with 5G Core

02 Tomorrow

Offer edge service with outlined SLAs in a conscious, computer-controlled manner.

Make it possible for solutions to communicate with the subnet in more sophisticated ways by utilizing APIs that are simple to use and network publicity.

03 Future

Deep network assimilation of computing, obfuscates the distinction here between the device, the connectivity edge, and the cloud.

A single, incorporated environment for the execution of microservices, including both network-related and external implementations.

 

Keeping the edge secure

Edge computing poses multiple security risks compared to a centralized setting since it is distributed. The gateways and antivirus software used in private data centers and community clouds do not easily switch. A few straightforward actions, such as curing each multitude, actual network supervision, securing sensitive data, and implementing safeguards, are advised by experts.

 

Challenges with Edge Computing

Without the right knowledge, it can be complex to realize an intelligent layout for fruitful edge computing. Numerous sites gathering and analyzing data can lead to more sites needing to be calibrated and surveilled, which causes a disruption. If there are too few, important information may be missed. Fragmented sites can also result in a lack of technical staff on site, which may necessitate bringing in non-technical project staff to help diagnose. By collaborating with experienced network operators and utilizing cutting-edge technology, these difficulties can be overcome.

 

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I Have a Great Idea… Now What?

What exactly is an idea and where it comes from…

  • It might hit you when grocery buying at the supermarket, at the same time as you’re on the salon getting your hair done, or as you’re riding down the street: a brand new commercial enterprise idea hits you, and it doesn’t permit you to go!
  • While you would possibly sense the urge to drop the whole lot else and soar on it, you should suppose rationally about any new business endeavor, how are you going to take a look at your business idea without going in a proper way?
  • What can you do to validate it (this is, verify that it has capability worth pursuing) at the same time as expending the smallest quantity of attempt, time, and money viable?
  • Great ideas come from everywhere, but, for most people, without a full-time dedication there are only a few notable options for turning their thoughts into a successful product or business.

What are the next steps?

  • Validate your idea-
    • This is probably the most essential step of launching a Business Idea. As you’ll be spending years running on this idea. Before thinking about the way to take your idea and make a product out of it, consider its viability.
      • How specific is your concept?
      • Does it clear up a real problem?
      • Will your killer concept really take off as you count on it?

Before getting too much excited and making any investment, time, and sources into your idea, focus on finding out if there’s a real need for it.

  • Why is my product needed-
    • We all know the fact that there isn’t any service or product that hasn’t been invented yet. So when you get it rolling and start working on your business concept, do not get discouraged and abort your assignment once you discover your product is not cent percent unique.
    • There is no need to reinvent the whole idea. Use the prevailing opposition on your benefit and use their performance information to understand the market better, the customers, the product, and the rate structure, find out what works for them and wherein they need to enhance — and combine those factors into your very own product!
    • Present your idea not as a product but as a solution to an existing problem, sell the idea not the result, and introduce a solution in the market, not just a commercial product.
  • Research it as much as possible-
    • The first step for validating your concept/idea is to study the marketplace.
    • Research the competitive panorama, and ask yourself:
      •  Why has no one completed this before?
      • Why can I do it better?
    • While you’re analyzing the solutions to these questions, be aware of how a whole lot of money is there to be made irrespective of how excited you are about your idea, you’ll always want to ensure that it’s the one that can grow to be worthwhile.
    • The most vital step is to calculate the dimensions of your market. Ideas with massive market capacity tend to be tons more feasible, so in case your expected attain is too small, reflect on consideration on how you can adapt your concept.
    • This basically means that you need to do marketplace research in order to understand the dynamics of the enterprise into which your product fits.
    • It can be of the following types:-
      1. Surveys, which may be accomplished very inexpensively on the internet
      2. Attention groups of purchasers to decide how they react to your product or idea,
      3. Aggressive evaluation to determine what selections consumers have, other than your product.

Benefits

A key benefit of competitive studies is that you may discover if it’s simply you who has the big idea or whether a person else also has it.

As they say, if you’re thinking it, someone else is already doing it. That can be pleasant, due to the fact your solution may be better, however, you should continue to understand what else is on the market.

  • Lock it & Protect it –
    • Lock it- Creative thoughts rarely come in a sequential and orderly manner, so whenever we get amusing, this information can often be overwhelming to our brain and given in the most unstructured way. That’s why, it is important to arrange our mind, and the fine manner to do that is through writing it down the way it suits us.
    • Protect it- Many of us are always keen to tell the world a new concept before actually achieving something in it, and we know it is complicated to defend or challenge a thought theft once it is being converted from an idea to an invention. Thus, protecting the idea becomes a crucial step and we should consult a trusted advisor if it is necessary to protect a proprietary concept.
  • Follow the “Lean Concept” –
    • Now that you’ve prepared all the thoughts around your idea, it’s time to trim down your business idea. Your intention here is to lessen your commercial enterprise concept to its maximum critical core feature (highlight it to your business model canvas!), except all capabilities that can be seen as “additional” and may be brought on later. The result is your “lean” business concept, a narrow version of the absolutely loaded package you’ve just assembled.

Lean Concept in simple words

The company determines a trial period and sets many goals that will be revisited at the end of that time frame. If the goals have been met, the product can be expanded with more features, or altered as the market requires.

Basic Principles of Lean Concept

  • Proof of Concept (POC) to validate the idea
    • Proof of Concept (POC) refers to an initial test of an idea, method, or product to show its potential and feasibility in real-world settings.
    • A proof of concept takes place during the ideation phase of a project before tremendous design and engineering work actually begins at the project and usually consists of a small and comparatively easy or undeveloped version of the favored result.
    • The cause of a proof of concept is to validate assumptions and illustrate that a new product or idea can be successful.
    • Team members can use the proof of concept as a tangible way to help discover any unforeseen dangers inside the production or execution of the product or idea.

Read our article on – What’s new in iOS 15 & iPadOS 15!

  • Create a Prototype/Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
    • MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT (MVP):-
      •  A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a concept from Lean Startup that stresses the impact of learning in new product development.
      • Eric Ries defined an MVP as that version of a new product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.
      • This validated learning comes in the form of whether your customers will actually purchase your product.
  • Benefits of MVP

A key premise behind the idea of MVP is that you produce an actual product (which may be no more than a landing page, or a service with an appearance of automation, but which is fully manual behind the scenes) that you can offer to customers and observe their actual behavior with the product or service. Seeing what people actually do with respect to a product is much more reliable than asking people what they would do.

  • Difference Between a Prototype and Proof of Concept (POC)
    • Although a Proof of Concept (POC) would possibly appear similar to a prototype, their goals are disparate.
    • A prototype is an actual working version of a product that suggests exactly how the product will function in terms of mechanics, design, user experience, and so forth.
    • Even as a Proof of Concept truly tests the viability of a new idea, prototypes show exactly how that idea can take place.
    • A Proof of Concept might simply imitate how the product works, while the actual functionality of the product is carried out via humans or different types of equipment.
    • Even a prototype could function enough like the final product that the customer could reliably use it to visualize the result.
  • Difference Between a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Proof of Concept (POC)
    • Although they have some things in common, Proof of Concept (POC) and Minimum Viable Product (MVP) differ notably from each other.
    • Minimal Viable Product refers to a pared-down version of a brand-new product that only plays the core functionality, without any extra capabilities.
    • The company can then test the minimum viable product or put it on the market for actual customers to try.
    • The motive of a minimum viable product is to test whether there’s a market for the core features of a brand-new product.
    • The main reason startups fail is a lack of market need for their product, so it’s critical for an organization to test whether or not there is clearly significant interest in its product before spending time and money developing a complete-featured version of the product.
  • Proof of Concept (POC) Process
    • Understand your target market’s pain points:-
      • Study what solutions your client base is seeking out through conversations with potential users, surveys, and marketplace research. Use your research to create a particular listing of pain factors that your product ought to resolve.
  • Compare possible solutions:-
    • Use your list to map out potential solutions to the pain points it carries. evaluate the one-of-a-kind answers for feasibility, cost, timeline, and other factors. Take your top solutions again to potential customers to consult with them.
  • Create a proof of concept:-
    • Armed with feedback from potential users, create a proof of concept of the product that addresses pain points and presents answers. Have the representatives from your customer base test the percent and provide input.
  • Refine the product idea according to feedback:-
    • Use the feedback from your potential users to fine-tune the product idea. Identify what works about the solution, besides regions of improvement primarily based on consumer reactions.
  • Finalize your proof of concept:-
    • Create a finalized proof-of-concept proposal that presents the functionalities, features, and benefits of the product. The proposal must additionally consist of info like timeline, cost, fulfillment criteria, and resources needed. The finished proof of concept may be presented to stakeholders, who can approve the product for development.

Reference – Forbes, and Entrepreneur

“We transform your idea into reality, reach out to us to discuss it.

Or wanna join our cool team email us at [email protected] or see careers at Startxlabs.”

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Python Basics: Functions and Variable Scopes

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language that has many applications in web development, data science, software development, and more. It was initially released in the year 1991. Programming in Python involves simple syntax and it works on different platforms such as Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. In this article, we will discuss the Python functions.

Python Functions

A function is a set of related statements written to perform a specific task when it is called. It can take parameters and return a result. It is efficient to use several functions inside a program to perform specific tasks rather than merely writing a large program that performs the entire tasks. Functions are reusable and make the program easy to understand.

Syntax of Python Functions

A simple python function appears like

def func_name(parameters):

/* function statements */

return result

The syntax of a Python function can be defined as follows:

  • The def keyword is used to denote the start of a function header
  • Followed by def, the function name should be written according to the rules of writing identifiers in Python
  • A semicolon should be added at the end of the function header.
  • A function can take one or more parameters as arguments.
  • The statements inside the function should follow the proper indentation as shown above.
  • The docstring (document string) specified inside ” ” ”    ” ” ”  (triple quotes) can be used inside the function to define the purpose of the function. Though optional, it is a good practice to use docstring in your function while writing a program.

For example

def my_name(name):

" " " This function displays my name" " "

print("My name is" +name)

Function call

A function can be called in any part of the program or inside another function, by passing appropriate parameters to it.

>>>my_name('John')

My name is John

If you want to print the docstring of the function, you can print it by using,

>>>print(my_name._doc_)

This function displays my name

Return Statement

The ‘return’ statement is placed at the end of the function that returns either data of a specific type or the evaluated result of an expression. If there is no return statement specified as in the above example function, it returns nothing, or to be more precise, a none object is returned.

def sum(num1, num2):

" " " This function adds two numbers " " "

return num1+num2

print(sum(2,3))

Scope of variables and Lifetime

The availability of a variable whether inside or outside of a function is called its scope. A variable declared inside a function has recognition only inside the function and has no scope outside the function. Such variables are called the local variable. A variable declared on the python program (outside a function) is called a global variable and has a scope on the entire code and also inside the functions. You can also make a local variable global by adding the keyword “global” before the variable name.

Lifetime is the period of a variable that has its existence in memory. Variables declared within the function get destroyed when the function completes its execution. However, the global variables persist as long as the entire program is in execution.

We can see an example for local and global variables

def func1():

a=5 //local variable

return a

b=10 //global variable

c=func1()+b //function call

print("Value=" +c)

Output

15

def func1():

a=5 //local variable

return a

b=10 //global variable

c=func1()+b+a //function call

print("Value=" +c)

If you try executing this function it will show an error message like “name ‘a’ is not defined” as we used the variable outside its scope.

There is also another variable called non-local variables that are used within the nested functions. The non-local variables are declared using the ‘nonlocal’ keyword.

There are two types of functions available in Python. They are:

  • Built-in functions: Functions that are already available in Python. There are 68 built-in functions available in the most recent version of python, Python 3. For example, bin() returns the binary value of a number, ASCII() which returns the Unicode value of a character.
  • User-defined: Functions written by the user.

Types of Function Arguments

The values passed to the function as parameters are called the function arguments. There are two types of arguments. They are

  • Fixed arguments: The number of arguments passed during the function call should be equal to the number of arguments that have been declared to a function during its declaration.

For example,

def func1(num1,num2):

return num1+num2

func1(4) /* throws an error as the number of parameters during the function call is not equal to the number of parameters in the declaration */

  • Variable arguments: There is also another way of declaring variables other than fixed arguments. Variables arguments can be passed using 3 methods. They are:
    • Default arguments by using the ‘=’ operator.
def func1(num1=5,num2):

return num1+num2

func1(4)

func1(4,10)

Output

9

14

The function func1 has two arguments, one with the default value and another without any default value. It is mandatory to pass value to the num2 during every function call but passing a value to num1 is optional as it already has a default value and both the function calls will not throw any error here.

  • Keyword Arguments: Keyword arguments are called with the syntax key=value during the function and the order of the arguments is not important here. You can pass the arguments in any order. They are represented as kwargs in Python.
def func1(num1,num2):

return num1-num2

func1(num1=7,num2=6)

func1(num2=10,num1=17)

Output

1

7

  • Arbitrary Arguments: When we don’t know the exact number of arguments we need to pass to a function during a function declaration, we can assign them during the function call using the ‘*’ keyword.
def students(*stud_names):

print("The students are:")

for name in stud_names

print(name)

students("John","Mary","Harry")

Output

The students are:

John

Mary

Harry

Here we don’t know the number of arguments we are going to pass during the function call, so we use a for loop for retrieval of the values of arguments.

Python Recursive Functions

A recursive function is a function which calls itself during execution.

for example,

def factorial(num):
  if num == 1:
    return 1
  else:
    return (num * factorial(num-1))

number = 5
print("The factorial of", number, "is", factorial(number))

Sometimes it is hard to write a function only using iterations. There we can use recursive functions which are comparatively easier than iterative functions. However, sometimes for complex operations, recursive logic may be hard to understand.

Anonymous Function (Lambda Functions)

So far we have seen functions declared with a name followed by the def keyword. It is also possible to declare functions without a function name by using the lambda keyword and such functions are called the anonymous functions or the lambda functions. They are also used with some of the python built-in functions such as filter() and map().

The syntax of an anonymous function is

         lambda arguments: expression

Arguments can be of any number, but there should be only one expression

int = lambda a: a + 5

print(int(10))

Output

15

In this article, we’ve learned about the functions in python, how to declare them, how to define them, the variables’ scope, their lifetime, types of arguments, and also the anonymous functions.

“We transform your idea into reality, reach out to us to discuss it.

Or wanna join our cool team email us at [email protected] or see careers at Startxlabs.”

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Top 5 Tips For Developing an App on a Budget

Building a mobile app for your business is essential in this modern era, right? Then what next? Developing an app on your budget is doubtful. It’s never cheap! However, it is critical to promote your business to the next level by creating a mobile app. So, what can we do to develop an app that best fits your business, at the same time on a limited budget? In this article, we will discuss some important tips that help you develop a mobile app that is cost-effective, and on your estimated budget.

Clear objectives and Resources

You can have a variety of reasons to build an app for your brand. However, you should clear with them. There may be different features and strategies you can have or use in your application. What am I going to build an application for? What is my plan for implementing this? What are my and my user’s expectations about this app? Be clear about all these questions before starting to developing your app. If you’re strong with your plan, then developing the app within the estimated time and budget will be a less constrained job for you.

Always have a well-defined plan for your app and start working according to that. Have a clear estimate on the expenses for both development and marketing. Make sure you allocate your time and budget for advertising and linking on social media, to make your application stand unique in the crowd!

Try an MVP

One of the best things to do before developing a fully functional app is to create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). It is the best alternative product, which offers minimal features essential for release and testing, and lets your targeted audience provide your feedback, suggestions, and reviews before going to develop your main application. MVP is a cost-effective prototype and can be built within a short span of time.

The main purpose of creating an MVP is to learn about the functionalities of your fully-featured app and gain knowledge about your final product. Applying the necessary changes you learned from analyzing your MVP to your final product results in a better functioning app with enhanced performance and with a limited budget. It is necessary to have a clear objective and understanding of the requirements of your business application. This will help you to efficiently utilize the MVP to get a great application for your business.

Read our blog on Why is React Native the best for Mobile App Development?

Selecting the Right Platform

If you’re aiming to release a mobile application on a limited budget, it is always good to go with a single platform. Aiming to build an app for all platforms at the first stage itself, will be too expensive for all. Without knowing how your main application will look like, how it will perform, it is not a good thing to develop it for all platforms. You should be clear about which platform you’re going to develop your app for. Developing an app for androids will be expensive as there are plenty of Android devices available nowadays, with different screen sizes and versions.

However, iOS has a limited number of devices with a specific range. For example, successful apps like Instagram, Foursquare aimed in building for only platform iOS, and after achieving huge success, they transformed their apps to be also available on the Android platform. Pick a platform, develop an app specifically for that platform, analyze your app’s performance, features and flaws, then transform it to be available on multiple platforms in the future.

Make a simple design

Keep your app’s design simple and hassle-free to navigate, attract users, and save your money. Your app should be more clear for the users to understand what you’re offering for them. Simpler apps save your time, and won’t require much graphics and animation. However, try to give a neat and decent UI for your clients. If you aim to build a cost-effective app and also to achieve user satisfaction, keep your app less complicated to interact with.

Read our blog Top 8 products benefited by using React Native

Team and Partnership

Creating an app individually for your business doesn’t sound right. You will need a team to work towards developing an efficient app for your business. Either hiring experienced app developers or giving your project to an app development company will help you achieve this. Again, hiring experienced developers will not be a cost-effective option for development. Be smart and choose according to your business requirements.

A partner who offers the best support while app development is appreciable. Partnerships with a freelancer, an organization, or an entrepreneur can be made to get support for your app development process. Getting support from people who are already well-established or experienced in your field will definitely help you in achieving success.

These are some of the useful tips you can follow while developing a cost-effective app for your business. It is always recommended to hire a mobile application developing company that best suits your requirements and budget. Always be clear about your financial restrictions to the company and your business needs.

“We transform your idea into reality, reach out to us to discuss it.

Or wanna join our cool team email us at [email protected] or see careers at Startxlabs.”

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Python Basics: Data types

Python is an object-oriented, interpreted programming language that is simple and easy to use that has significant applications in software development, web development, data science, and so on. The first thing you can learn in a programming language is its data types. In this article, we will explore the various data types of Python language.

Python has data types such as numbers, lists, tuple, string, set, and dictionary. We will discuss them one by one below.

Numbers

The first data type in this language is the number that has integers, float and complex data types defined as “int”, “float”, and “complex” classes. What differs integers from the float is the presence of decimal points in float. For example, 7 is an integer, and 7.0 is a floating variable. A complex data type consists of two parts, a real part, and an imaginary part. For example, x+iy is a complex number where x is the real part and y is the imaginary part. We can use two functions to determine the class to which a number belongs.

  1. type() – return the type of class of a particular variable
  2. isinstance()- checks whether the given variable belongs to a class or not.

For example,

x = 3
print(type(x))
print(type(3.0))

c = 2 + 5j
print(isinstance(c, complex))

Output

<class 'int'>
<class 'float'>
True

The length of an integer data type can be of anything but the float data type has its accuracy up to 15 decimal places and after that it is inaccurate.

The number system such as binary(base 2), octal(base 8), and hexadecimal(base 16) can be represented using a set of prefixes such as

  • Binary – ‘0b’ or ‘0B’
  • Octal – ‘0o’ or ‘0O’
  • Hexadecimal – ‘0x’ or ‘0X’

The process of converting one data type into another is called type conversion. Automatic conversion happens for certain operations. For example, adding an integer and float will automatically result in a float, as it implicitly converts the integer to float.

>>> 1.0 + 5
6.0

We can also explicitly convert a variable of one data type into another by calling some built-in python functions such as int(), float(), complex().

>>> int(2.2)
2
>>> int(-7.8)
-7
>>> float(9)
9.0

Decimal

When we want the most accurate calculations like financial calculations, where precision is so important, we can use decimal instead of float. It can be used by importing the decimal module.

For example,

The second print statement involving the use of a decimal module results in a number with more accurate precision.

Fractions

If we want to use fractions where the numerator and denominator both are integers, we can import the fraction module.

For example,

import fractions

print(fractions.Fraction(0.5))
print(fractions.Fraction(5,6))

Output

1/2
5/6

Math and Random

The math() and random() modules in python offer a wide range of calculations in trigonometry, logarithms, statistics, etc.

For example,

import math
import random

print(math.pi)
print(math.factorial(4))
print(random.randrange(1, 8))

Output

3.141592653589793
24
5

Lists

The list is one of the most used data types in python that stores a sequence of elements in it. We will discuss briefly how to create a list, how to access elements from it, indexing, and more.

List creation

A list can be created by,

list_name= [ ]

The elements contained inside the square brackets are called the items of a list. The list can be either empty, contains items of the same type, different types, or even a list that contains its items. That is, a list can be

list_name=[ ]
list_name=[ 1,2,3,4,5]
list_name=[1, apple, 2, red, 5.5]
list_name=[1, 2, [red, green, yellow], 3, 4, 5]

Accessing an element

The elements contained inside a list have an index associated with them. The indices start from 0 and should be integers. A list of size 6 (6 elements) has an index starting from 0 to 5. The elements can be accessed using their respective indices.

For example,

 

color_list = ['g', 'r', 'e', 'e', 'n']
print(color_list[0])
print(color_list [2])

Output

g
e

print(color_list [6]) //This throws an "IndexError" as we have used an index that is beyond the index range of this list

Negative Indexing

In python, lists are indexed with a negative index starting from the last item in the list.

For example,

color_list = ['g', 'r', 'e', 'e', 'n']
print(color_list[-1])
print(color_list[-2])
print(color_list[-3])
print(color_list[-4])
print(color_list[-5])

Output

n
e
e
r
g

List Slicing

A range of elements from a list in python can be accessed by using the “:” operator (slicing operator).

For example,

color_list = ['g', 'r', 'e', 'e', 'n']

print(color_list[2:4])
print(color_list[:-3])
print(color_list[3:])
print(color_list[:])

Output

['e', 'e', 'n']
['g', 'r']
['e', 'n']
['g', 'r', 'e', 'e', 'n']

Addition/ Modification

Lists elements can be added or modified (mutable) by using the ” = ” operator.

For example,

color_list = ['g', 'r', 'e', 'e', 'n']
color_list[0] = b

print(color_list)

color_list[1:4]=['l', 'a', 'c', 'k']

print(color_list)

Output

['b', 'r', 'e', 'e', 'n']
['b', 'l', 'a', 'c', 'k']

We can add elements to the list by using append(),insert() and extend() methods.

For example,

num_list=[1,2,3,4,5]
num_list.append(6) //adds one element at the last
num_list.extend([7,8,9]) //adds a number of elements at the last
print(num_list)

Output

['1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9']

We can also concatenate two lists by using the ‘+’ operator and multiply to a certain number of times using the ‘*’ operator.

Deletion

Deletion can be performed by using the keywords del, or by using the functions such as remove(), pop(), or clear().

For example

mylist=['1', '2', '3', '4', 5', '6']

del mylist(2) //deletes the element at index 2
del mylist[1:3] //deletes the elements from index1 to 3
del mylist //deletes the entire list

mylist=['a', 'b, 'c', 'd', e', 'f']

mylist.remove('a') //removes the specified element 'a'
mylist.pop //removes the top most(last) element 'f'
mylist.clear() //removes the entire list

Some of the other methods that can be used with the lists are sort(), count(), reverse(), and copy().

Using the “in” keyword, we can check whether an element is present in a list or not and also can be used in list iterations.

Tuples

Tuples are similar to lists in python but they are immutable (cannot be modified).

They can be created by placing the elements inside the () and separated by commas.

For example,

mytuple = (1, 2, 3)

The elements inside the tuples can be of the same data type or different. The tuples can be created with or without a bracket.

Accessing the tuple elements is the same as the list elements. They can be accessed using indexing, negative indexing, and slicing.

For example,

mytuple = (1, 2, 3)

print(mytuple[0]) //1
print(mytuple[-1]) //3
print(mytuple[1:2]) //2,3

Changing the elements in tuples can be done using the concatenation operator and deletion is done by using the keyword del.

Other methods can also be performed using the count(), index(), and a keyword for membership testing and iteration.

The major advantage of using tuples over lists is, iteration in tuples is easier as they are immutable.

Strings

A sequence of Unicode characters that are converted into binary characters for manipulation is called the strings in python. This process of converting a character into a binary number is called encoding and the reverse process is called decoding.

String creation

Strings are the characters that are enclosed within the quotes (either single or double).

For example,

string_name= 'My String'

print(string_name)

Output

My String

Accessing the characters inside a string is the same as accessing the list of tuples. They can be accessed by indexing, negative indexing, or slicing.

For example,

string_name= 'MyString'

print('string= ', string_name)
print('string[0] = ', string_name[0])
print('string[-1] = ', string_name[-1])
print('string[1:5] = ', string_name[1:5])

Output

string= MyString
string[0]= M
string[-1]= g
string[1:5]= yStri

Like tuples, strings are also immutable. We cannot modify or delete a particular character from a string, but we can delete the entire string by using the del keyword.

Some of the other operations performed in strings are concatenate (+),  multiply(*), enumerate(), len(), format(), lower(), upper(), join(), split(), find(),  and replace()

For example,

string_name= 'MyString'

>>>string_name.lower()
'mystring'

>>>string_name.upper()
'MYSTRING'

>>>My String.split()
['My', 'String']

>>>' '.join(['My', 'String'])
'My String'

>>>'My String'.replace('String','NewString')
'My NewString

>>>str1 = 'Hello'
>>>str2 ='How are you?'
>>>print('str1 + str2 = ', str1 + str2)
'Hello How are you?'

>>>print('str1 * 2 =', str1 * 2)
str1*2= HelloHello

Sets

A set is also a mutable data type that consists of unordered unique (immutable) elements in it.

They are used to perform operations like union, intersection, symmetric difference, and more.

Sets can be created by using {} brackets or by calling the set() function which is in-built. Sets can have any number of elements inside it and they can be of either the same or different data types.

For example,

my_set = {1, 2, 3}
print(my_set)

Output

{1, 2, 3}

Empty curly braces may be interpreted as a dictionary in python, so if we want to create an empty, we can do that by using the set() function.

Since sets are unordered, there is no index associated with the elements of sets. So we can add or delete an element from a set by using the functions such as add(), update(), discard() and remove().

For example,

set_name = {1, 3}
print(set_name) //1,3

set_name.add(2)
print(set_name) //1,2,3

set_name.update([2, 3, 4])
print(set_name) //1,2,3,4

set_name.discard(4) //1,2,3

Similarly, we can also use the pop() or clear() method to do the deletion operations.

Sets are used to perform operations like union, intersection, symmetric difference, and more.

For example,

X = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
Y = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

print(X | Y)
print(X & Y)
print(X ^ Y)

Output

{1,2,3,4,5,4,5,6,7,8}
{4,5}
{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

There are many other built-in functions available to operate with sets. They are all(), any(), enumerate(), len(), max(), min(), sorted(), sum() and more.

There is a function called frozenset() using which can create immutable sets, cannot be changed once assigned.

For example,

X = frozenset([1, 2, 3, 4])

Dictionary

Dictionary is a data type that contains an unordered sequence of items in it and each of its elements is associated with a key/value pair.

A dictionary in python can be created by,

dict_name = {1: 'red', 2: 'green'}

Elements of a dictionary can be accessed by keys associated with them, like the indexes in lists and tuples. Dictionary elements can be accessed using the get() method.

Example:

dict_name = {1: 'red', 2: 'green'}

print(dict_name.get(2))

Output

green

A new addition to a dictionary is done by using the assignment (=) operator. If you are trying to assign a value for an already existing key, the value will get updated. Deletion from a dictionary is done by using methods such as pop(), popitem(), clear(), and del keyword.

There are some built-in functions available to use with the dictionaries. They are  all(), any(), len(), cmp(), sorted().

In this article, we have learned about the different data types such as numbers, lists, tuples, strings, sets, and dictionaries along with their methods of addition, updation, how to access the elements from them, and more.

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