Spring Term, 2012
(10 Sessions) Wednesdays 6 - 9 pm, starting Wednesday March 28th.
This course is based on a combination of the public course: Programming in Python, Autumn 2011 and some content from Internet Programming in Python, Winter 2011
Announcements and updates:
6/06 - Added materials for week 10.
6/03 - Added week 10 readings.
5/28 - Finalized week 9 readings.
5/23 - Added materials for week 8.
5/16 - Added materials for week 7.
5/09 - Added materials for week 6.
4/25 - Added materials for week 5.
4/25 - Added materials for week 4.
4/16 - Added Lightning Talk schedule.
4/15 - Added optional unicode article and Learn Python the Hard Way references for week 3.
4/11 - Added materials for week 2.
3/29 - Added Learn Python the Hard Way references for week 1 and week 2.
3/28 - Added materials for week 1.
The schedule is updated every week, consult frequently.
Course objectives: Introduce the Python language, its most
important libraries, and its recommended programming styles and
idioms. Teach how to solve typical programming problems in Pythonic
style. Survey some exemplary Python applications and systems.
Prerequisites: No previous Python experience is required.
This course is not intended for absolute beginners in programming,
but does include a self-contained review of elementary features.
Students must be able to use a command line, edit a text file, and
download and install software. Students should have some prior
exposure to programming in any language, sufficient to write very
simple programs or scripts that use variables, conditionals (if ...),
and iteration (loops).
Textbooks: The textbook comes in two versions: a
printed book named
Python for Software Design, and a free online version named
Think Python.
Despite the different titles, the two versions have the same contents.
Instructor:
Brian Dorsey.
Technology Requirements: Students must have access to a
computer for their assignments and projects, where they can install
software (the course does not provide a computer laboratory). Older
computers and computers with modest resources (including netbooks)
will work. Any popular operating system will work, including Windows,
Mac OS X, and Linux. It is recommended that students have a portable
computer to bring to class. Internet access will be provided at
classes.
Assessment criteria: The course is graded Pass/Fail, based on
satisfactory completion of required programming assignments and
classroom presentations. Attendance is required; more than two
unexcused absences will result in a Fail.
The textbook comes in two versions, a printed book:
Python for Software Design: How to Think Like a Computer
Scientist by Allen B. Downey. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
and a free online version:
Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist
Despite the different titles, the two versions have the same contents,
including the same chapter, section, and exercise numbers. You may
use the version you prefer.
This text is an excellent introduction to Python language fundamentals
and semantics. There are many features and topics it does not discuss.
We will discuss them in class and assign supplementary readings.
Brian Dorsey is a database and Python developer with over 10 years of
experience using Python professionally. He currently works at Vulcan Inc.,
developing command line tools, simple web applications, Windows services,
HTTP/JSON APIs and the occasional iPhone prototype. He is excited about
information, databases, user experience, testing and glue code. Brian is a
co-organizer of the Seattle Python Interest Group (www.seapig.org) and has
given several talks and tutorials at conferences and user groups.
Textbook
Supplemental Textbook
Learn Python the Hard Way by Zed Shaw.
It is available for free online, and for pay in various electronic and physical formats.
This book introduces Python through hands-on exercises and repetition. It is an excellent introduction to both Python and practical programming skills.
Quick Python Script Explanation for Programmers (one page)
Learn Python in 10 minutes
NanoPy
Python 2.7 Quick Reference
(awesomely dense and complete)
Python 2.x documentation
(official documentation from python.org)
The Python Tutorial
(from python.org)
Reference from python.org
Quick tour with screenshots
Examples and Resources
(other courses and books, sample code, notable Python libraries and scriptable applications)
Students will need Python installed on their computers. Python comes already installed on Macs and most Linux distributions.
There are two different "current" versions of Python, 2.x and 3.x. We will be using 2.x, where x means any sufficiently recent version. 2.7 is most recent, but 2.6 will also work.
The current Python 2.x version is available here. I use this source for Windows. For the Mac, I use homebrew. For Linux, I use the distro's package manager (Synaptic or apt-get on Ubuntu, for example).
Wednesdays 6 - 9 pm, starting Wednesday March 28th (10 Sessions).
Additional topics and readings will be added, consult frequently.
Read the assignment and do the assigned exercises in the week before class. Here PySD/TPy refers to the textbook, either Python for Software Design (printed) or Think Python (online). Both versions use the same chapter numbers (but in the TPy web pages, Chapter 2 is in file book003.html etc.) LPTHW refers to Learn Python the Hard Way.
| Week | Date | Topics | Assignments due |
| 1 | March 28 |
Introductions.
Some Python applications and systems. Installing Python. Using the command interpreter and development environment. Finding and using the documentation. Getting help. Variables, values, expressions, and assignment. Code and data: Week 1 files |
readings:
PySD/TPy, Chapters 1, 2, assignment: Come to class. ;) extra: "Use your friends. Keep it simple. Play." Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years LPTHW: ex1, ex2, ex3, ex4 |
| April 4 | Class cancelled | ||
| 2 | April 11 |
Functions. Definition and use. Arguments.
Block structure. Scope. Modules and import. Boolean expressions. Conditionals and control flow. Iteration and recursion. Code and data: Week 2 files |
readings:
PySD/TPy, Chs. 3, (4) PySD/TPy 5, 6, 7 assignment: assignment 2 extra: LPTHW: for optional extra practice with the concepts functions: ex11, ex12, ex13, ex18, ex19, ex21 boolean logic: ex27, ex28 if then else: ex29, ex30, ex31 iteration: ex33 |
| 3 | April 18 |
Sequences.
Strings. Files. Exceptions. Text Processing. Regular expressions. Unicode. Lightning Talks: Jared O, Mark T, Todd B |
readings:
PySD/TPy, Chs. 8, 9, 14 assignment: Six more CodingBat exercises. extra: String methods RegEx How-To Unicode How-To, more The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!) LPTHW: for optional extra practice with the concepts strings: ex5, ex6, ex7, ex8, ex9, ex10 raw_input(), sys.argv: ex12, ex13, ex14 (needed for files below) files: ex15, ex16, ex17, |
| 4 | April 25 |
Sequences again.
Tuples, Lists, Dictionaries, Sets. Mutability. Aliasing. Argument passing. List comprehensions. Data type case studies and review. Lightning Talks: Brett W, Carolyn H, Swetha G |
readings:
PySD/TPy, Chs. 10, 11, 12, 13 Python Tutorial, sections 3.1.4, 5 Spelling corrector assignment: CodingBat - 12 more string & list problems or write a script which does something useful (to you) and reads and writes files. Very, very small scope is good. |
| 5 | May 2 |
Build a dynamic HTTP server from scratch. We will cover just enough networking and HTTP to build a simple working server. |
readings:
Very quick overview of web fundamentals Internet Protocol Suite Internet Socket HTTP Made Really Easy (Only the HTTP 1.0 section, 1.1 optional) assignment: Coding Kata 14 - Dave Thomas Send me one of your experiments with this kata, and a bit of output from it. extra: sockets module skim this (Python, batteries included!): python internet modules |
| 6 | May 9 |
Classes, instances, and methods.
Object-oriented programming. Inheritance and duck typing. Lightning Talks: James A, Kangie C, Ton O |
readings:
PySD/TPy, Chs. 15, 16, 17, 18 assignment: Update thirty_minute_webserver.py
|
| 7 | May 16 |
Special attributes and methods.
Iterators and Generators. Decorators. Lightning Talks: Brad D, Leena A, Jeff G |
readings:
A Guide to Python's Magic Methods The Python yeild keyword explained (just the question and the top answer) Descriptor HowTo Guide assignment:
extra: Special Methods, learn about __str__, __add__ and their many many cousins. Generator Tricks for Systems Programmers Python Tutorial, Sections 9.9 - 9.11 |
| 8 | May 23 |
The debugger. Packages. PyPI. Installation. Distribution. Lightning Talks: John dM, Nate K, Walt J |
readings:
pdb - Interactive Debugger Modules and Packages (skim the parts you know already) Installation ("Introduction" and "Standard Build and Install" sections only) ... more TBD? assignment: Find and install a Python package and report your experience. Report these items:
to fix it if you don't want to -- just report that it didn't work. If you do fix it, report that. extra: CheeseShop Tutorial (PyPI) |
| 9 | May 30 |
Databases - relational and otherwise.
(a tour of information storage methods) Lightning Talks: Jake M, Todd H |
readings:
(Wikipedia) Relational Database (Wikipeia) SQL Is the relational database doomed? NOSQL at Netflix I can't wait for NOSQL to die NOSQL is software darwinism Why NOSQL will not die NOSQL Comparison assignment:
Redis Tutorial by Simon Willison |
| 10 | June 6 |
Python testing tools
|
readings:
Python stdlib - doctest (This section only) (Sections 25.2.1, 2 & 8) Python stdlib - unittest (Sections 25.3.1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 7 especially the list of methods) py.test - Getting Started (This section only) Mock - Getting Started (This section only) PEP 8 - Style Guide for Python Code assignment: None this week! extra: Read through this list of tools: Python Testing Tools Taxonomy Pick 3 and read more about them. For each:
|