This book contains 25 short programs that will challenge your understanding of Pandas. Like any big project, the Pandas developers had to make some design decisions that at times seem surprising. This book uses those quirks as a teaching opportunity. By understanding the gaps in your knowledge, you'll become better at what you do. Some of the teasers are from the author's experience shipping bugs to production, and some from others doing the same. Teasers and puzzles are fun, and learning how to solve them can teach you to avoid programming mistakes and maybe even impress your colleagues and future employers. Working with data is central to nearly everything we do, from disease contact tracing and analyzing health records to smart meters that track utility consumption behavior. With the power of Python's pandas library, you can process and analyze this data in a highly efficient and simple-to-understand way. And with 25 brain teasers designed to turn this technology's quirks into a teaching opportunity, you'll be honing your data science skills while having fun at the same time. Following a simple format, you'll challenge yourself and your understanding of pandas. Read a short Python program that uses pandas, try to guess the output, run the code yourself, and then go to the next page for an explanation of the solution. From common pitfalls and hidden gotchas to unexpected twists and turns, you'll deepen your understanding of pandas, learn to write more efficient code, and reduce the number of bugs in the software you develop. You may even impress your colleagues and your employers, both present and future. Learn the tricks of the trade with Python's pandas, in one of the most fun and creative ways around. What You Need: To run the code you'll need Python version 3.8 or upper and Pandas version 1.0 or upper installed. We use Python version 3.8.3 and Pandas version 1.0.5; the output might change in future versions.

C++ is famous for getting all the default behaviors wrong and for sometimes making demons fly out of your nose. Through 25 puzzles, from the useful to the outright weird, we explore some of C++'s most interesting quirks. How does initialization actually work? Do temporaries even exist? Why is `+!!"" ` a valid expression in C++? As you work through each puzzle, you will peel off some of the layers of complexity of C++, getting a fundamental understanding of how the language works. This will help you write better code and recognize issues more easily while debugging. Each puzzle in the book is a complete, seemingly simple C++ program, but can you figure out the output for each, or will the answers stump you? Most of the programs compile and have deterministic, though sometimes surprising, output. Some might, however, have undefined behavior, where anything can happen, including making demons fly out of your nose! Yet others might have unspecified behavior with output that is not completely deterministic; we just know nothing as bad as nasal demons will happen. All puzzles are accompanied by detailed discussions, taking a look under the hood at what exactly is going on to help you understand more about C++'s unexpected behaviors, as well as fundamental concepts like initialization, overload resolution, and implicit conversions. For the non-deterministic cases, we'll explore some typical behaviors one can expect to see in practice, what causes them, and why they shouldn't be relied on. After working through the book, you'll have tools and techniques to help you write better and safer code, and a better understanding of the fundamentals of the language, the background for some of C++'s apparent weirdness, and a better feel for identifying bugs and unsafe code in your own programs. What You Need: The book assumes basic knowledge of C++. If you want to run the programs yourself, you can use either a local C++ compiler or the online compilers at https://godbolt.org.

We geeks love puzzles and solving them. The Python programming language is a simple one, but like all other languages it has quirks. This book uses those quirks as teaching opportunities via 30 simple Python programs that challenge your understanding of Python. The teasers will help you avoid mistakes, see gaps in your knowledge, and become better at what you do. Use these teasers to impress your co-workers or just to pass the time in those boring meetings. Teasers are fun! At the beginning of each chapter I'll show you a short Python program and will ask you to guess the output. The possible answers can be: Syntax errorExceptionHangSome output (e.g. `[1 2 3]`) Here's how to approach the puzzles. Read through the code. Before moving on to the answer and the explanation, go ahead and guess the output. After guessing the output, run the code and see the output yourself. Finally proceed to read the solution and the explanation. The puzzles are short enough to solve on a coffee break, so carry them with you, have fun, and share them with co-workers. People who make mistakes during the learning process learn better than people who don't. If you use this approach at work when fixing bugs, you'll find you enjoy bug hunting more and become a better developer after each bug you fix. Many of these puzzles are from the author's lessons learned (and others) of shipping bugs to production. He often uses the puzzles as quizzes during conferences and meetups, and they tend to create a buzz of excitement. What You Need: You need to know Python at some level and have experience programming with it.NOTE: The book uses Python version 3.8.2 to run the code; the output _could_ change in future versions.You will need a working Python environment, you can download it from "python.org":https://www.python.org/downloads/.You will probably want a good IDE for python, two of the most popular ones are "Visual Studio Code":https://code.visualstudio.com/ and "PyCharm":https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/.

You thought you knew C, but can you solve 25 puzzles in this popular programming language? Noted C programmer and author Dan Gookin provides a series of pointed questions, puzzles, and problems to keep your C programming skills sharp. Each one will provide insight into various aspects of handling strings, numeric operations, and other activities, giving you techniques to take the best advantage of all C has to offer. Challenge yourself, and get to know some powerful tricks and details for writing better, faster, more accurate C code. Most C programming books present the information sequentially, teaching you the right way to code and only rarely describing what could go wrong. In this book, the goal is to find out what did go wrong - or what potentially goes right. Explore interesting and unusual programming concepts and approaches with small, to-the-point, programs and exercises. Hone your C programming skills and expand your knowledge. By working through the brain teasers in this book, you'll fill in gaps in your knowledge and work with advanced concepts such as pointers and recursion. All of the teaser topics were selected to give you food for thought, explaining the technical details behind each puzzle. Look at a code sample and try to guess what output it will give. Code it yourself and see the result. Is it what you expected? Then read the author's lighthearted explanation of exactly why the language does what it does, and how you can take advantage of it. You'll come away with a much better understanding of how the language works, and how to use it for efficient and effective programming. What You Need: You need to know the basics of coding in C, and have an environment for compiling and executing your C code. Any Windows, MacOS, or Linux system with a C compiler does the job. Use the terminal window for traditional C programming. Or obtain an Integrated Development Enviornment (IDE) such as Visual Studio Code, which contains all the software tools you need: Editor, Compiler, and Output.

This book contains 25 short programs that will challenge your understanding of Go. Like any big project, the Go developers had to make some design decisions that at times seem surprising. This book uses those quirks as a teaching opportunity. By understanding the gaps in your knowledge, you'll become better at what you do. Some of the teasers are from the author's experience shipping bugs to production, and some from others doing the same. Teasers and puzzles are fun, and learning how to solve them can teach you to avoid programming mistakes and maybe even impress your colleagues and future employers. Programmers love the Go (golang) programming language because of its efficiency and simple tooling. But that doesn't mean programming in Go is without challenges, like hidden dependencies that trip up the compiler and interesting string type conversions that differ from languages like Python. Work your way through 25 short brain teasers, and learn the nuances of Go in one of the most fun and creative ways around. Challenge yourself and challenge your assumptions to gain a more in-depth understanding of integers, strings, Unicode, compiler behavior, and a variety of subtle programming gotchas that might otherwise trip you up. Just read a short program written in Go, try to guess the output, run the code yourself, and then go to the next page for an explanation of the solution. By working through these brain teasers, you'll tighten up your Go programming skills and have lots of fun at the same time. Taken from real-world, programming problems, conference talks, and meetup quizzes, these brain teasers provide an effective learning tool that's as enjoyable as it is educational. What You Need: This book assumes you know Go at some level and have experience programming with it. *NOTE:* We use Go version 1.14.1 to run the code; the output might change in future versions. You will need a working Go environment, you can download it from https://golang.org/dl. You will probably want a good IDE for Go, two of the most popular ones are Visual Studio Code and GoLand.

Challenge your brain with math! Using nothing more than basic arithmetic and logic, you'll be thrilled as answers slot into place. Whether purely for fun or to test your knowledge, you'll sharpen your problem-solving skills and flex your mental muscles. All you need is logical thought, a little patience, and a clear mind. There are no gotchas here. These puzzles are the perfect introduction to or refresher for math concepts you may have only just learned or long since forgotten. Get ready to have more fun with numbers than you've ever had before. Engage your analytical side with these numerical brain teasers. Math and logic puzzles help you stretch your mind to think in new ways. They flex your lateral thinking as you work through fresh problem styles. Each puzzle type comes with an explanation, a method for solving them, and solutions if you get stuck. The puzzles in this book are short, self-contained, and "gritty." They offer an enjoyable challenge and are designed to be solvable within a few minutes. You only need basic arithmetic to solve these puzzles; no advanced math required. There's plenty of variety to keep things fresh. From wandering digits to magic triangles, from summing grids to water pails, you'll find something that catches your interest. Each puzzle is brief, so use them as a warm-up to your daily work, for a delightful diversion on your coffee break, or solve a few while you wind down for the day. Grab a pencil and your thinking cap, and get solving!

If you've ever felt the exhilaration of cracking a thorny problem or the joy of witnessing elegant code that challenges your mind, then this book is tailor-made for you. Prepare yourself to dive into a diverse array of mind-bending JavaScript brain teasers. Each puzzle is more than just a code exercise; it's a gateway to unlocking new insights and honing your abilities. As you work through the challenges, you'll learn to think pragmatically, optimize your code for efficiency, and avoid hidden pitfalls that can catch you off guard. What's more - the puzzle format will help you remember what you've learned! Over the years, JavaScript has gained a bit of a reputation for its quirky and unique characteristics. It's important for developers to be aware of these quirks to write more robust and predictable JavaScript code. In this book, we invite you on a journey designed to unveil the intricate nuances and peculiarities that define the language's essence. Learn how to simulate function overloading, embed hidden information within objects, develop self-contained functions capable of maintaining their own local state, generate number sequences using functional programming, handle exotic forms of IIFEs, and prevent loss of precision when dealing with large numbers. Grasp concepts like closures, hoisting, symbols, execution context, event queue, text normalization, and more, one puzzle at a time. Discover how to create your own custom objects that function as shortcuts, accurately calculate the length of emojis and Unicode characters, master the usage of the "this" keyword, leverage bitwise operators, and convert color names to hex notation for universal use across various platforms. Plus, steer clear of those usual traps and blunders that trip up JavaScript developers. Forget passive learning. With JavaScript Brain Teasers, you'll actively engage with code puzzles that require creative thinking and problem-solving, which help you memorize difficult concepts. What You Need: Certain code examples take advantage of recently introduced JavaScript features. Therefore, it's important to use a JavaScript environment that supports ECMAScript 2020 or a newer version. The simplest way to experiment with the examples is use your browser's console. Just make sure your browser is up-to-date.