Python Basics

Introduction to Python - Syntax, working with Shell commands, Files, Text Processing, and more...

• Suitable for a one/two day workshop for Python beginners
• Visit Python re(gex)? repo for a book on regular expressions
• Python curated resources for more complete resources list, including tutorials for complete beginners to programming
• For more related resources, visit scripting course and my programming blog https://learnbyexample.github.io

Chapters

• Introduction
  • Installation, Hello World example, Python Interpreter, Python Standard Library
• Number and String data types
  • Numbers, String, Constants, Built-in Operators
• Functions
  • def, print function, range function, type function, Variable Scope
• Getting User input
  • Integer input, Floating point input, String input
• Executing external commands
  • Calling Shell commands, Calling Shell commands with expansion, Getting command output and redirections
• Control Structures
  • Condition checking, if, for, while, continue and break
• Lists
  • Assigning List variables, Slicing and Modifying Lists, Copying Lists, List Methods and Miscellaneous, Looping, List Comprehension, Getting List as user input, Getting random items from list
• Sequence, Set and Dict data types
  • Strings, Tuples, Set, Dictionary
• Text Processing
  • String methods, Regular Expressions, Pattern matching and extraction, Search and Replace, Compiling Regular Expressions, Further Reading on Regular Expressions
• File handling
  • open function, Reading files, Writing to files, Inplace editing with fileinput
• Command line arguments
  • Known number of arguments, Varying number of arguments, Using program name in code, Command line switches
• Exception Handling and Debugging
  • Exception Handling, Syntax check, pdb, Importing program
• Docstrings
  • Style guide, Palindrome example
• Testing
  • assert statement, Using assert to test a program, Using unittest framework, Using unittest.mock to test user input and program output, Other testing frameworks
• Exercises
• Further Reading
  • Standard topics not covered, Useful links on coding, Python extensions

Contributing

• Please open an issue on github for typos/bugs/suggestions/etc
  • Even for pull requests, open an issue for discussion before submitting PRs
  • or gitter group chat for discussion as well as for help/mentorship
• Share the repo with friends/colleagues, on social media, etc to help reach other learners
• In case you need to reach me, use gitter private chat
  • or mail me at echo 'bGVhcm5ieWV4YW1wbGUubmV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbQo=' | base64 --decode

ebook

• Read as ebook on gitbook
• Download ebook for offline reading - link

Acknowledgements

• automatetheboringstuff for getting me started with Python
• /r/learnpython/ - helpful forum for beginners and experienced programmers alike
• stackoverflow - for getting answers to pertinent questions as well as sharpening skills by understanding and answering questions
• Devs and Hackers - helpful slack group
• Weekly Coders, Hackers & All Tech related thread - for suggestions and critique

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License