Get a comprehensive, in-depth introduction to the core Python language!

Course Overview

This course is a great introduction to both fundamental programming concepts and the Python programming language. By the end, you'll be familiar with Python syntax and you'll be able to put into practice what you'll have learned into your own personal projects.

Why Learn Python

Python is a general-purpose, versatile and popular programming language. It’s great as a first language because it is concise and easy to read, and it is also a good language to have in any programmer’s stack as it can be used for everything from web development to software development and scientific applications.

Course Goals

The course will be given in a lab setting, with student exercises mixed with lectures. Students should bring a laptop to class. There will be a modest amount of homework after each class.

Class Dates & Times

8 Sessions
December 13, 15, 20, 27, 29
January 3, 5 & 10
6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Syllabus

Unit 1: List manipulation

• Simple values and expressions

• Defining functions, using ordinary syntax and lambda syntax

• ListsFunctional operators: map and filter

  • Built-in functions and subscripting
  • Nested lists

• List comprehensions

• Multiple-list operations: map and zip

• Functional operators: reduce

Unit 2: Strings and simple I/O

• Characters

• Strings as lists of characters

• Built-in string operations

• Input files as lists of strings

• Print statement

• Reading data from the web

  • Using the requests package

  • String-based web scraping (e.g. handling csv files)

Unit 3: Control structures

• Statements vs. expressions

• For loops

  • Variables in for loops

• if statements

  • Simple and nested if statements

  • Conditional expressions in lambda functions

• While loops

  • break and continue

Unit 4: Advanced topics

• File I/O

• Exceptions

• Dictionaries

• Using modules and objects

• Web scraping

Prerequisites

Students should already be comfortable using the operating system (Linux, Unix, Windows, Solaris, Mac OS X, etc.) on which they will be running Python. While not mandatory, basic skills with at least one other programming language are desirable.

Requirements

• Notebook computer with Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X operating system

• Python 2.7

• An IDE with Python support (PyCharm Community Edition is an excellent free option, but there are several other good ones)

Dr. Angela Courtney, Ph.D, MBA
Dr. Courtney has solid knowledge and experience in machine learning and the Python coding language. She has developed competence in supervised, unsupervised, deep learning and quantum computing. She also possesses a doctorate in Integrative Pathobiology from UC Davis, a certification in front-end development, JavaScript and SQL, and has a strong