PCPP1™ – Certified Professional in Python Programming 1 (Exam PCPP-32-10x) – EXAM SYLLABUS



PCPP-32-101 Exam Syllabus


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PCPP-32-101 badge

The exam consists of five sections:

  • Section 1 → 15 items, Max Raw Score: 42 (35%)
  • Section 2 → 7 items, Max Raw Score: 14 (12%)
  • Section 3 → 8 items, Max Raw Score: 24 (20%)
  • Section 4 → 8 items, Max Raw Score: 22 (18%)
  • Section 5 → 7 items, Max Raw Score: 18 (15%)




Objectives covered by the block (15 exam items)

PCPP-32-101 1.1 – Understand and explain the basic terms and programming concepts used in the OOP paradigm

  • essential terminology: class, instance, object, attribute, method, type, instance and class variables, superclasses and subclasses
  • reflexion: isinstance(), issubclass()
  • the __init__() method
  • creating classes, methods, and class and instance variables; calling methods; accessing class and instance variables

PCPP-32-101 1.2 – Perform Python core syntax operations

  • Python core syntax expressions – magic methods: comparison methods (e.g. __eq__(self, other)), numeric methods (e.g. __abs__(self)), type conversion methods (e.g. __init__(self)), object intro- and retrospection (e.g. __str__(self), __instancecheck__(self, object)), object attribute access (e.g. __getattr__(self, attribute)), accessing containers (e.g. __getitem__(self, key))
  • operating with special methods
  • extending class implementations to support additional core syntax operations

PCPP-32-101 1.3 Understand and use the concepts of inheritance, polymorphism, and composition

  • class hierarchies
  • single vs. multiple inheritance
  • Method Resolution Order (MRO)
  • duck typing
  • inheritance vs. composition
  • modelling real-life problems using the "is a" and "has a" relations

PCPP-32-101 1.4 Understand the concept of extended function argument syntax and demonstrate proficiency in using decorators

  • special identifiers: *args, **kwargs
  • forwarding arguments to other functions
  • function parameter handling
  • closures
  • function and class decorators
  • decorating functions with classes
  • creating decorators and operating with them: implementing decorator patterns, decorator arguments, wrappers
  • decorator stacking
  • syntactic sugar
  • special methods: __call__, __init__

PCPP-32-101 1.5 Design, build, and use Python static and class methods

  • implementing class and static methods
  • class vs. static methods
  • the cls parameter
  • the @classmethod and @staticmethod decorators
  • class methods: accessing and modifying the state/methods of a class, creating objects

PCPP-32-101 1.6 Understand and use Python abstract classes and methods

  • abstract classes and abstract methods: defining, creating, and implementing abstract classes and abstract methods
  • overriding abstract methods
  • implementing a multiple inheritance from abstract classes
  • delivering multiple child classes

PCPP-32-101 1.7 Understand and use the concept of attribute encapsulation

  • definition, meaning, usage
  • operating with the getter, setter, and deleter methods

PCPP-32-101 1.8 Understand and apply the concept of subclassing built-in classes

  • inheriting properties from built-in classes
  • using the concept of subclassing the built-ins to extend class features and modify class methods and attributes

PCPP-32-101 1.9 Demonstrate proficiency in the advanced techniques for creating and serving exceptions

  • exceptions as objects, named attributes of exception objects, basic terms and concepts
  • chained exceptions, the __context__ and __cause__ attributes, implicitly and explicitly chained exceptions
  • analyzing exception traceback objects, the __traceback__ attribute
  • operating with different kinds of exceptions

PCPP-32-101 1.10 Demonstrate proficiency in performing shallow and deep copy operations

  • shallow and deep copies of objects
  • object: label vs. identity vs. value
  • the id() function and the is operand
  • operating with the copy() and deepcopy() methods

PCPP-32-101 1.11 Understand and perform (de)serialization of Python objects

  • object persistence, serialization and deserialization: meaning, purpose, usage
  • serializing objects as a single byte stream: the pickle module, pickling various data types
  • the dumps() and loads functions
  • serializing objects by implementing a serialization dictionary: the shelve module, file modes, creating shelve objects

PCPP-32-101 1.12 Understand and explain the concept of metaprogramming

  • metaclasses: meaning, purpose, usage
  • the type metaclass and the type() function
  • special attributes: __name__, __class__, __bases__, __dict__
  • operating with metaclasses, class variables, and class methods


Objectives covered by the block (7 exam items)

PCPP-32-101 2.1 – Understand and explain the concept of Python Enhancement Proposals and Python philosophy

  • the PEP concept and selected PEPs: PEP 1, PEP 8, PEP 20, PEP 257
  • PEP 1: different types of PEPs, formats, purpose, guidelines
  • PEP 20: Python philosophy, its guiding principles, and design; the import this instruction and PEP 20 aphorisms

PCPP-32-101 2.2 – Employ the PEP 8 guidelines, coding conventions, and best practices

  • PEP 8 compliant checkers
  • recommendations for code layout: indentation, continuation lines, maximum line length, line breaks, blank lines (vertical whitespaces)
  • default encodings
  • module imports
  • recommendations for string quotes, whitespace, and trailing commas: single-quoted vs. double-quoted strings, whitespace in expressions and statements, whitespace and trailing commas
  • recommendations for using comments: block comments, inline comments
  • documentation strings
  • naming conventions: naming styles, recommendations
  • programming recommendations

PCPP-32-101 2.3 – Employ the PEP 257 guidelines, conventions, and best practices

  • docstrings: rationale, usage
  • comments vs. docstrings
  • PEP 484 and type hints
  • creating, using, and accessing docstrings
  • one-line vs. multi-line docstrings
  • documentation standards, linters, fixers


Objectives covered by the block (8 exam items)

PCPP-32-101 3.1 – Understand and explain the basic concepts and terminology related to GUI programming

  • GUI: meaning, rationale, basic terms and definitions
  • visual programming: examples, basic features
  • widgets/controls – basic terms: windows, title and title bars, buttons, icons, labels, etc.
  • classical vs. event-driven programming
  • events – basic terms
  • widget toolkits/GUI toolkits

PCPP-32-101 3.2 – Use GUI toolkits, basic blocks, and conventions to design and build simple GUI applications

  • importing tkinter components
  • creating an application's main window: the Tk(), mainloop(), and title methods
  • adding widgets to the window: buttons, labels, frames, the place() method, widget constructors, location, screen coordinates, size, etc.
  • launching the event controller: event handlers, defining and using callbacks, the destroy() method, dialog boxes
  • shaping the main window and interacting with the user
  • checking the validity of user input and handling errors
  • working with Canvas and its methods
  • using the Entry, Radiobutton, and Button widgets
  • managing widgets with the grid and place managers
  • binding events using the bind() method

PCPP-32-101 3.3 – Demonstrate proficiency in using widgets and handling events

  • settling widgets in the window's interior, geometry managers
  • coloring widgets, color modes: RGB, HEX
  • event handling: writing event handlers and assigning them to widgets
  • event-driven programming: implementing interfaces using events and callbacks
  • widget properties and methods
  • variables: observable variables and adding observers to variables
  • using selected clickable and non-clickable widgets
  • identifying and servicing GUI events


Objectives covered by the block (8 exam items)

PCPP-32-101 4.1 – Understand and explain the basic concepts of network programming

  • REST
  • network sockets
  • Domains, addresses, ports, protocols, and services
  • Network communication: connection-oriented vs. connectionless communication, clients and servers

PCPP-32-101 4.2 – Demonstrate proficiency in working with sockets in Python

  • the socket module: importing and creating sockets
  • connecting sockets to HTTP servers, closing connections with servers
  • sending requests to servers, the send() method
  • receiving responses from servers, the recv() method
  • exception handling mechanisms and exception types

PCPP-32-101 4.3 – Employ data transfer mechanisms for network communication

  • JSON: syntax, structure, data types (numbers, strings, Boolean values, null), compound data (arrays and objects), sample JSON documents and their anatomies
  • the json module: serialization and deserialization, serializing Python data/deserializing JSON (the dumps() and loads methods), serializng and deserializing Python objects
  • XML: syntax, structure, sample xml documents and their anatomies, DTD, XML as a tree
  • processing xml files

PCPP-32-101 4.4 – Design, develop, and improve a simple REST client

  • the request module
  • designing, building, and using testing environments
  • HTTP methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
  • CRUD
  • adding and updating data
  • fetching and removing data from servers
  • analyzing the server's response
  • response status codes


Objectives covered by the block (7 exam items)

PCPP-32-101 5.1 – Demonstrate proficiency in database programming in Python

  • the sqlite module
  • creating and closing database connection using the connect and close methods
  • creating tables
  • inserting, reading, updating, and deleting data
  • transaction demarcation
  • cursor methods: execute, executemany, fetchone, fetchall
  • creating basic SQL statements (SELECT, INSERT INTO, UPDATE, DELETE, etc.)

PCPP-32-101 5.2 – Demonstrate proficiency in processing different file formats in Python

  • parsing XML documents
  • searching data in XML documents using the find and findall methods
  • building XML documents using the Element class and the SubElement function
  • reading and writing CSV data using functions and classes: reader, writer, DictReader, DictWriter
  • logging events in applications
  • working with different levels of logging
  • using LogRecord attributes to create log formats
  • creating custom handlers and formatters
  • parsing and creating configuration files using the ConfigParser object
  • interpolating values in .ini files


Last updated: March 11, 2022
Aligned with Exam PCPP-32-101