This course teaches you how to write small scripts that automate tasks, object oriented programming, web scraping,.... For this, we will rely on the Python programming language:
- It is one of the commonly used programming languages.
- It is one of the most user-friendly languages out there.
- A very large number of packages are available, which is essential for scripting.
The focus lies on learning to program more efficiently. Your code has to produce correct results: it is your responsibility to check your work properly and ensure it is written efficiently. The first series of exercises are accompanied by tests, but with the 'real deal' exercises, that won't be the case anymore. You will have to split up the task at hand in smaller pieces, implement helper functions, check them, etc.
You are free to use all of the functionality Python provides.
It is not our goal to have you write complex algorithms.
So, please do not write your own sum function, use the built-in one.
You will see that Python has a lot of built-in functions for you to make use of.
Therefore, it is very important that you develop the habit of skimming through the documentation and looking up information online.
Install the following software:
- Git
- Python 3
- Avoid using the Windows Store version
- During the installation, don’t forget to have Python added to environment variables
- Also make sure that pip is selected as optional feature
- Visual Studio Code
- Windows users: during the installation, have it install the explorer context menu additions
- Install the VSCode Markdown Preview Mermaid extension
It’s important to check that your Python installation works. This can be slightly tricky, since the details depend on your OS. There are two kinds of problems that can arise:
- Python cannot be found
- The wrong version of Python is found
Below are instructions that verify both at the same type. The goal is that you get Python to tell you which version it is, and that this version is 3.6 or higher. If you encounter problems, inform a lecturer.
A $ in the beginning of a line means that you should input that line in a shell. Do not write the $ itself though, only what follows. For example, $ ls means you should enter ls.
Windows Instructions
In a shell, write
$ python --version
If this gives you trouble, try instead
$ py --version
MacOS Instructions
In the terminal, write
$ python --version
If this doesn’t work or prints out the wrong version, try
$ python3 --version
Linux Instructions
In the shell, write
$ python --version
If this doesn’t work or prints out the wrong version, try
$ python3 --version
Pip is Python’s package manager: it allows you to easily install now components. Check if it works by trying out the commands below:
$ pip --version
$ pip3 --version
One of these should work and should output something mentioning Python 3. If pip is not recognized, you will have to look up how to install it.