Course Length:

3 Days

Course Description:

This course introduces the student to the Python language. Upon completion of this class, the student will be able to write non trivial Python programs dealing with a wide variety of subject matter domains. Topics include language components, the IDLE environment, control flow constructs, strings, I/O, collections, classes, modules, and regular expressions. The course is supplemented with many hands on labs using either Linux or Windows.

Who Should Attend:

This course is designed for anyone who needs to learn how to write programs in Python.

Benefits of Attendance:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Execute Python code in a variety of environments
• Use correct Python syntax in Python programs
• Use the correct Python control flow construct
• Write Python programs using various collection data types
• Write home grown Python functions
• Use many of the standard Python modules such as os, sys, math, and time
• Trap various errors via the Python Exception Handling model
• Use the IO model in Python to read and write disk files
• Create their own classes and use existing Python classs
• Understand and use the Object Oriented paradigm in Python programs
• Use the Python Regular Expression capabilities for data verification

Prerequisites:

Students should have taken the Software Development for Non-Programmers course or have some experience with at least one programming language. Typically, students in this course will have already programmed in either C, C++, Java, Perl, Ruby, VB, or anything equivalent to these languages.

Course Outline:

• Chapter 1: An Introduction to Python
  1. Introductory Remarks about Python
  2. Strengths and Weaknesses
  3. A Brief History of Python
  4. Python Versions
  5. Installing Python
  6. Environment Variables
  7. Executing Python from the Command Line
  8. IDLE
  9. Editing Python Files
  10. Getting Help
  11. Dynamic Types
  12. Python Reserved Words
  13. Naming Conventions
• Chapter 2: Basic Python Syntax
  1. Introduction
  2. Basic Syntax
  3. Comments
  4. String Values
  5. String Operations
  6. The format Method
  7. String Slices
  8. String Operators
  9. Numeric Data Types
  10. Conversions
  11. Simple Input and Output
  12. The print Function
• Chapter 3: Language Components
  1. Introduction
  2. Control Flow and Syntax
  3. Indenting
  4. The if Statement
  5. Relational Operators
  6. Logical Operators
  7. True or False
  8. Bit Wise Operators
  9. The while Loop
  10. break and continue
  11. The for Loop
• Chapter 4: Collections
  1. Introduction
  2. Lists
  3. Tuples
  4. Sets
  5. Dictionaries
  6. Sorting Dictionaries
  7. Copying Collections
  8. Summary
• Chapter 5: Functions
  1. Introduction
  2. Defining Your Own Functions
  3. Parameters
  4. Function Documentation
  5. Keyword and Optional Parameters
  6. Passing Collections to a Function
  7. Variable Number of Arguments
  8. Scope
  9. Functions - "First Class Citizens"
  10. Passing Functions to a Function
  11. Mapping Functions in a Dictionary
  12. Lambda
  13. Closures
• Chapter 6: Modules
  1. Modules
  2. Standard Modules - sys
  3. Standard Modules - math
  4. Standard Modules - time
  5. The dir Function
• Chapter 7: Exceptions
  1. Errors
  2. Run Time Errors
  3. The Exception Model
  4. Exception Hierarchy
  5. Handling Multiple Exceptions
  6. raise
  7. assert
  8. Writing Your Own Exception Classes
• Chapter 8: Input and Output
  1. Introduction
  2. Data Streams
  3. Creating Your Own Data Streams
  4. Access Modes
  5. Writing Data to a File
  6. Reading Data From a File
  7. Additional File Methods
  8. Using Pipes as Data Streams
  9. Handling IO Exceptions
  10. Working with Directories
  11. Metadata
  12. The pickle Module
• Chapter 9: Classes in Python
  1. Classes in Python
  2. Principles of Object Orientation
  3. Creating Classes
  4. Instance Methods
  5. File Organization
  6. Special Methods
  7. Class Variables
  8. Inheritance
  9. Polymorphism
  10. Type Identification
  11. Custom Exception Classes
  12. Class Documentation - pydoc
• Chapter 10: Regular Expressions
  1. Introduction
  2. Simple Character Matches
  3. Special Characters
  4. Character Classes
  5. Quantifiers
  6. The Dot Character
  7. Greedy Matches
  8. Grouping
  9. Matching at Beginning or End
  10. Match Objects
  11. Substituting
  12. Splitting a String
  13. Compiling Regular Expressions
  14. Flags