Duration
4 Days
Audience:
Employees of federal, state and local governments; and businesses working with the government.
This basic level course provides an excellent kick start for users new to Python and scripting or programming, enabling them to use basic Python skills on the job in a variety of ways. This in a basic-level Python course geared for student who are new to Software Development and use Python in projects, or system administrators and web site administrators who want to use Python to support their server installations, as well as anyone else who wants to automate or simplify common tasks with the use of Python scripts.
Before attending this course, students must have:
- Ability to use computers to start programs, open and save files, navigate application menus and interfaces
- Ability to understand logical concepts such as comparisons
- Understand number theory
- Ability to create, understand, and follow structured directions or step-by-step procedures
- Ability to understand and apply abstract concepts to concrete examples
Course Description
Python is one of the most versatile, popular programming languages in use today. You can leverage Python in almost every industry, in a wide array of applications from system administration to machine learning, from automation to web services, from data analysis to visual effects. Compared to other programming languages, Python is relatively easier to learn and use, providing a wide variety of opportunities for students of all skill levels and roles.
Getting Started with Python for Non-Developers is a hands-on course that teaches students from non-development backgrounds the basics of programming and scripting, using Python. This course gently leads through programming essentials, working through the fundamentals of writing and running Python scripts to more advanced features such as file operations, regular expressions, working with binary data, and using the extensive functionality of Python modules.
This course provides an excellent kick start for users new to Python and scripting, enabling them to use basic Python skills on the job in a variety of ways. Students can apply the course skills to use Python in basic web development projects or automate or simplify common tasks with the use of Python scripts. The course also serves as a solid primer course / foundation for continued Python study in support for next level web development with Python, Python for data science / machine learning or Python for systems admin or networking support.
What You’ll Learn
This course combines expert lecture, real-world demonstrations and group discussions with machine-based practical labs and exercises. Our engaging instructors and mentors are highly experienced practitioners who bring years of current “on-the-job” experience into every classroom. Throughout the hands-on course, you’ll learn to write essential Python scripts using the most current and efficient skills, best practices and techniques.
Working in a hands-on learning environment, guided by our expert team, you’ll learn to:
- Thinking as a Software Developer, including coding logic and structures
- Create working Python scripts following best practices
- Use python data types appropriately
- Read and write files with both text and binary data
- Search and replace text with regular expressions
- Get familiar with the standard library and its work-saving modules
- Create “real-world”, basic level professional Python applications
- Know when to use collections such as lists, dictionaries, and sets
- Understand Pythonic features such as comprehensions and iterators
- Write robust code using exception handling
Course Outline
- An Overview of Software Development
- Thinking as a developer
- Pseudocode as a design tool
- Analysis – Understanding the problem
- Design – creating the solution
- Let’s Get Hands-On: Scripting and programming basics
- An Overview of Python
- What is python?
- Python Timeline
- Advantages/Disadvantages of Python
- Getting help with pydoc
- Python Quick View
- What is Python?
- Python timeline
- Advantages/disadvantages
- Installing Python
- Getting help
- The Python Environment
- Starting Python
- Using the interpreter
- Running a Python script
- Editors and IDEs
- Getting Started with Python
- Using variables
- Builtin functions
- String data
- Numeric data
- Converting types
- Console input/output
- Command line parameters
- Flow Control
- About flow control
- The if statement
- Relational and Boolean operators
- while loops
- Exiting from loops
- Array types
- About array types
- Lists and list methods
- Tuples
- Indexing and slicing
- Iterating through a sequence
- Sequence functions, keywords, and operators
- List comprehensions and generators
- Working with files
- File overview
- Opening a text file
- Reading a text file
- Writing to a text file
- Dictionaries and Sets
- About dictionaries
- Creating dictionaries
- Iterating through a dictionary
- About sets
- Creating sets
- Working with sets
- Functions
- Defining functions
- Returning values
- Parameters and arguments
- Variable scope
- Sorting
- The sorted() function
- Custom sort keys
- Lambda functions
- Sorting in reverse
- Using min() and max()
- Errors and Exception Handling
- Exceptions
- Using try/catch/else/finally
- Handling multiple exceptions
- Ignoring exceptions
- Modules and packages
- Creating Modules
- The import statement
- Module search path
- Using packages
- Function and module aliases
- Getting Started with Object Oriented Programming and Classes
- About object-oriented programming
- Defining classes
- Constructors
- Understanding self
- Properties
- Instance Methods and data
- Class methods and data
- Inheritance