When I first learned Python nearly 25 years ago, I was immediately struck by how I could productively apply it to all sorts of messy work projects. Fast-forward a decade and I found myself teaching others the same fun. The result of that teaching is this course--A no-nonsense treatment of Python that has been actively taught to more than 400 in-person groups since 2007. Traders, systems admins, astronomers, tinkerers, and even a few hundred rocket scientists who used Python to help land a rover on Mars--they've all taken this course. Now, I'm pleased to make it available under a Creative Commons license. Enjoy!
--David Beazley (https://dabeaz.com), @dabeaz
The material you see here is the heart of an instructor-led Python training course used for corporate training and professional development. It has been in continual development since 2007 and battle tested in real-world classrooms. Usually, it's taught in-person over the span of three or four days--requiring approximately 25-35 hours of intense work. This includes the completion of approximately 130 hands-on coding exercises.
Students of this course are usually professional scientists, engineers, and programmers who already have experience in at least one other programming language. No prior knowledge of Python is required, but knowledge of common programming topics is assumed. Most participants find the course challenging--even if they've already been doing a bit of Python programming.
The goal of this course is to cover foundational aspects of Python programming with an emphasis on script writing, data manipulation, and program organization. By the end of this course, students should be able to start writing useful Python programs on their own or be able to understand and modify Python code written by their coworkers.
To complete this course, you need nothing more than a basic installation of Python 3.6 or newer and time to work on it.
This is not a course for absolute beginners on how to program a computer. It is assumed that you already have programming experience in some other programming language or Python itself.
This is not a course on web development. That's a different circus. However, if you stick around for this circus, you'll still see some interesting acts--just nothing involving animals.
This is not a course for software engineers on how to write or maintain a one-million line Python application. I don't write programs like that, nor do most companies who use Python, and neither should you. Delete something already!
Ok, ok. Point your browser HERE!
Want to discuss the course? You can join the conversation on Gitter. I can't promise an individual response, but perhaps others can jump in to help.
Llorenç Muntaner was instrumental in converting the course content from Apple Keynote to the online structure that you see here.
Various instructors have presented this course at one time or another over the last 12 years. This includes (in alphabetical order): Ned Batchelder, Juan Pablo Claude, Mark Fenner, Michael Foord, Matt Harrison, Raymond Hettinger, Daniel Klein, Travis Oliphant, James Powell, Michael Selik, Hugo Shi, Ian Stokes-Rees, Yarko Tymciurak, Bryan Van de ven, Peter Wang, and Mark Wiebe.
I'd also like to thank the thousands of students who have taken this course and contributed to its success with their feedback and discussion.
No. This course is about you writing Python code, not watching someone else.
Practical Python Programming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Yes, as long as appropriate attribution is given.
Yes, as long as such works carry the same license terms and provide attribution.
Yes, that would be awesome. Send me a link when you're done.
Yes, go for it! You'll probably learn a lot of Python doing that.
There is only so much material that you can cover in 3-4 days. If it wasn't covered, it was probably because it was once covered and it caused everyone's head to explode or there was never enough time to cover it in the first place. Also, this is a course, not a Python reference manual.
Bug reports are appreciated and may be filed through the issue tracker. Pull requests are not accepted except by invitation. Please file an issue first.