So far, we've covered a lot about how the Python language is structured, how to use the built-in data structures, and some basic example programs. Now, we'll dive into how to make more complex programs.

Most Python programs are built using a variety of variables and functions, classes, or both. Functions are programmer-created code blocks that do a specific task. Classes are object-oriented structures that we'll look at in the Classes, methods, and namespaces section; briefly, though, classes help segregate code into related code blocks and can include class-specific variables and methods (class-specified functions).

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Working with functions
• Classes, methods, and namespaces
• Properties and class and static methods