JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD MCA 2021 PYTHON PROGRAMMING Previous Question Paper (July/August - 2021 - R20)

Python is a high-level, interpreted, and general-purpose programming language known for its simplicity and readability. Its key features include:

• Simple and Easy to Learn: Python has a clean syntax that resembles English, making it accessible for beginners.
• Interpreted Language: Code is executed line-by-line, which simplifies debugging and testing.
• Dynamically Typed: Variable types are determined at runtime, so there is no need to declare types explicitly.
• Extensive Standard Library: It provides a vast collection of modules and functions for tasks like file I/O, networking, and data manipulation.
• Cross-Platform: Python code can run on various operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux without modification.
• Object-Oriented: It supports object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts such as classes, inheritance, and polymorphism.
• Embeddable and Extensible: Python can be integrated with other languages like C or C++ to extend its functionality.

In Python, Mapping is represented by the dictionary type, which stores data in key-value pairs. Keys must be unique and immutable, while values can be of any type. Sets are unordered collections of unique, immutable elements, useful for membership testing and eliminating duplicates.

Example program:

# Mapping (Dictionary) example
student = {'name': 'Alice', 'age': 20, 'course': 'MCA'}
print('Student Name:', student['name'])

# Sets example
numbers = {1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5}  # Duplicate 3 will be removed
print('Set elements:', numbers)

# Adding to set
numbers.add(6)
print('Updated set:', numbers)

Dictionaries allow efficient data retrieval using keys, whereas sets provide high-performance operations for mathematical set theory, such as union, intersection, and difference.