Introductory Programming in Python

Announcements

• 2 Feb: Check out the course administration page for details on assessment, etc...
• 2 Feb: Course Announcements will be made here, so check back regularly

Course Outline

1. Basic Concepts
2. Running Python and Python Code
3. Basic Output
4. Program State and Basic Variables
5. Basic Input
6. Flow Control: Conditionals
7. Flow Control: Conditional Loops
8. Flow Control: Sequential Loops
9. Lists
10. Tuples
11. Dictionaries
12. Strings in Depth
13. Flow Control: Functions
14. Variable Scope
15. Importing Standard Modules
16. More on Command Line Arguments
17. Random Numbers
18. Files for Input and Output
19. Regular Expressions
20. Basic Parsing
21. Operating System Functionality
22. Handling Dates and Times
23. Writing Meaningful Error Messages
24. Understanding Python's Error Messages
25. Flow Control: Exceptions
26. Debugging
27. Flow Control: Recursion
28. Classes and Objects
29. Advanced Data Structures: Queues
30. Advanced Data Structures: Stacks
31. Advanced Data Structures: Trees
32. Database Theory
33. Relational Databases
34. Structured Query Language
35. Interfacing with databases using Python
36. Parallel Processing
37. Event Oriented Flow Control
38. Graphical User Interfaces with WxPython
39. Web Programming and Web Services

• Assignments

Other Practice Material

Practice makes perfect, although in terms of programing, it might be better said that practice makes adequate. Learning to program requires practice, and lots of it. While there are exercises provided with each lesson, going from basic to tricky, there are not nearly enough to make a good programmer from a complete beginner. Truth be told, no number of exercises can do this. Becoming a good programmer requires a desire to learn, and a desire to solve problems, both classical problems in the form of exercises, and problems of your own devising/encounter. That said, if you cannot find enough of the former, here are some links to resources that provide problems for you to solve.

• Project Euler: A comprehensive list of mathematically oriented problems. Excellent practice for generic problem solving skills.
• The Coding Dojo: Presents the idea of a coding journal club of sorts. Check out the KataCatlogue for problems to solve, or see if you can set something like this up for yourself with buddies.
• Sphere Online Judge: Provides a large set of problems, and you can upload your solution for automated testing. Check out the 'problems' link on the menu on the left.

Miscellaneous Material

• Course Administration Miscellany
• Vim Tutorial

Reference Material

• Python Documentation
• BioPython Homepage
• An easy intro to BioPython
• Andrew Dalke's Pages. Andrew taught advanced python for the NBN and a few extra courses in previous years. Excellent notes, very helpful and covers a wide variety of topics. His 'blog' post on coding katas (ala coding dojos) provides some interesting reading.
• A Superb Introduction to Linear Algebra. Starts with absolute basics and builds up without tons of extraneous reading. Excellent as a refresher or if you've never done this stuff before.