Tutor profile: Dylan L.

What are "magic methods" in Python and how do I use them?

Magic methods are special methods that let you define how your classes interact with built-in functions and operators. These methods are also known as "dunder" (double underscore) methods because they are always written with two underscores before and after the name. The following code demonstrates a couple magic methods and how they are used: class MyClass: def __init__(self, count): # sets the data stored in each instance of the class self.count = count def __add__(self, x): # set what to return for instance1 + instance2 return self.count + self.count def __len__(self): # set what to return for len(instance1) return self.count instance1 = MyClass(4) instance2 = MyClass(8) total = instance1 + instance2 lengthOfI1 = len(instance1)

What does symbol θ represent in the International Phonetic Alphabet?

θ is the voiceless dental fricative. This means that the sound is produced without the vocal folds (voiceless), with the tip of the tongue just behind the upper incisors (dental), leaving a small opening between the tongue and roof of the mouth that partially restricts the flow of air (fricative). An example of a word that uses the voiced dental fricative in English would be "thin". ( [θɪn] in IPA)

What is the general concept of abstraction in Computer Science?

Abstraction is any complex system or concept that has been simplified in order to be easier to understand. The desktop of your computer is an example of high level abstraction. Files are a visual abstraction of a collection of data. Abstraction occurs are all levels of computing. Usually we describe a computer as working in "1s and 0s", but what exactly is a 1 and a 0? Sometimes it is an electrical charge running through a wire, whilst other times it might be the direction of a tiny piece of magnetic material on your hard drive. "1s and 0s" are thus an abstraction that allows us to ignore the complex physical aspects of a computer and instead focus on what matters.