Python programming and data visualisation for beginners¶
Congratulations on deciding to learn a new skill!
Python is a popular, general purpose programming language with applications in web development, software development, mathematics, data science, and many other areas. It has a thriving community and a long-term outlook, so the time and effort that you invest in learning Python now is likely to pay dividends in the future.
This 8-week course focuses on data visualisation. By the end of it you will be able to load data into Python, make basic charts to describe the data, and hopefully see the benefits of continuing to learn Python and using it instead of, or alongside, other familiar software such as Microsfot Excel.
Although our focus will be on working with data, we will start from the very beginning and much of what you learn will prepare you for any future Python endeavors. For example, you may end up using Python as part of your professional workflow, or you may be inspired to apply it to existing hobbies or to undertake fun and rewarding projects, such as using a raspberry pi microcomputer to make an infrared bird box that live streams to YouTube, an automatic cat feeder, an environmental sensor for monitoring the health of plants, or a face recognition door lock.
Preliminaries:
Course contents:
- Week 0 - Introduction to the Python programming language
- Week 0 - Exercises
- Week 1 - Syntax, data types, built-in functions
- Week 1 - Exercises
- Week 2 - Operators, control flow statements, defining functions
- Week 2 - Exercises
- Week 3 - Imports, the standard library, and third-party libraries
- Week 3 - Exercises
- Week 4 - NumPy and matplotlib
- Week 4 - Exercises
- Week 5 - pandas
- Week 5 - Exercises
- Week 6 - More about
pandas - Week 6 - Exercises
- Week 7 - Other libraries and cool things
- End of course assignment
Solutions to the exercises: