Introduction to Python, July 2019 edition

This Python Beginner's workshop will be running from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm on Monday the 8th of July and from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm on Wednesday the 10th of July, at Stop 1 on Swanston street in room 110: Enter from the Swanston street doors and heed up the stairs and too the left. There will be signage to guide you! google maps

This workshop is designed for those trying to explore and learn about the wonders of Python for the very first time. The content is suitable for a range of learners - from those who have never programmed before, to those who are already proficient in other coding languages.

This workshop will be using Python 3.7 inside the Jupyter Notebook. You can find installation instructions inside the Python_Installation.md instruction file.

Note if you are having trouble installing Python, feel free to show up 15 minutes early so I can help you with the installation

While we will be learning in the Jupyter environment, you may find this a bit heavy for your day-to-day coding life. There are a number of light-weight text editors and Integrative Development Environments (IDEs) freely available on the internet. The primary difference is that IDEs allow you write and run your code all within the same program. On the other hand, text editors only allow you to write the code - to run them you have to use the command line. Either of these options can be more appropriate for you, depending on how you want to use them.

IDEs:

• Spyder. This comes installed with the Anaconda package, and you should be able to find it in your system's programs list after installation
• Pycharm. This one has a free community-edition license, but anybody working on research which could be patented, beware! The pycharm owners dislike the free version being used on for-profit projects, and the licensing reflects this.
• VScode; Microsoft lightweight editor with a couple of extensions for interactive coding (and my fave!)

Text Editors:

• Atom. Free. No ads. Allows Git/Github integration
• Sublime Text. Unlimited free license. Occasional pop-up ads.

You will also find that the content for the workshop is available in both the markdown (*.md) format, for online viewing, and as an iPython notebooks (*.ipynb), which will contain useable code fragments, challenges and explanations for the workshop content. This content is mostly adapted from "Python Basics" chapters of Dan Sandiford's Python Gitbook, as well as from previous iterations of this workshop.

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Workshop Schedule

The basic progression for the workshop should be as follows:

Part 1

Monday the 8th of July

Time	Activity
9.00am - 10.30am	Intro to Jupyter and Python
10.30am - 10:40am	Short Break
10:40am - 11.00am	Lists
11.00am - 12.15pm	break
12.15pm - 1.00pm	Dictionaries

Part 2

Wednesday the 10th of July

Time	Activity
9.00am - 10.30am	recap
10.30am - 10:40am	if statements
10:40am - 11.00am	Tea Break
11.00am - 12.00am	loops
12.00pm - 12.30pm	functions
12.30pm - 1.00pm	Where too next