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Digital Harbor Foundation Tech Center

Aug 22, 2015

9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Instructors: Joshua R. Smith

Helpers: Marty McGuire

General Information

Who: The course is aimed at people who want an introduction to the Python programming language. It will focus mainly on Python as a tool to perform simple calculations and visualizations.

Where: 1045 Light St. Baltimore, MD 21230. Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a few specific software packages installed (listed below). They are also required to abide by Shirtable's Code of Conduct.

Contact: Please mail creatingwithcode@gmail.com for more information.

Schedule

Day 1

09:00 Building programs with Python
12:00 Lunch break
13:30 Resume
16:00 Wrap-up

Syllabus

Programming in Python

  • Using libraries
  • Working with arrays
  • Reading and plotting data
  • Creating and using functions
  • Loops and conditionals
  • Defensive programming

Setup

To participate in this workshop, you will need access to the software described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.

The Software Carpentry project maintains a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.

Text Editor

When you're writing code, it's nice to have a text editor that is optimized for writing code, with features like automatic color-coding of key words. The default text editor on Mac OS X and Linux is usually set to Vim, which is not famous for being intuitive. if you accidentally find yourself stuck in it, try typing the escape key, followed by :q! (colon, lower-case 'q', exclamation mark), then hitting Return to return to the shell.

Windows

nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop. To install it, download the Software Carpentry Windows installer and double click on the file to run it. This installer requires an active internet connection.

Others editors that you can use are Notepad++ or Sublime Text. Be aware that you must add its installation directory to your system path. Please ask your instructor to help you do this.

Mac OS X

nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop. It should be pre-installed.

Others editors that you can use are Text Wrangler or Sublime Text.

Linux

nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop. It should be pre-installed.

Others editors that you can use are Gedit, Kate or Sublime Text.

Python

Python is a popular language for scientific computing, and great for general-purpose programming as well. Installing all of its scientific packages individually can be a bit difficult, so we recommend an all-in-one installer.

Regardless of how you choose to install it, please make sure you install Python version 2.x and not version 3.x (e.g., 2.7 is fine but not 3.4). Python 3 introduced changes that will break some of the code we teach during the workshop.

We will teach Python using the IPython notebook, a programming environment that runs in a web browser. For this to work you will need a reasonably up-to-date browser. The current versions of the Chrome, Safari and Firefox browsers are all supported (some older browsers, including Internet Explorer version 9 and below, are not).

Windows

  • Download and install Anaconda.
  • Download the default Python 2 installer (do not follow the link to version 3). Use all of the defaults for installation except make sure to check Make Anaconda the default Python.

Mac OS X

  • Download and install Anaconda.
  • Download the default Python 2 installer (do not follow the link to version 3). Use all of the defaults for installation.

Linux

We recommend the all-in-one scientific Python installer Anaconda. (Installation requires using the shell and if you aren't comfortable doing the installation yourself just download the installer and we'll help you at the workshop.)

  1. Download the installer that matches your operating system and save it in your home folder. Download the default Python 2 installer (do not follow the link to version 3).
  2. Open a terminal window.
  3. Type 
    bash Anaconda-
    and then press tab. The name of the file you just downloaded should appear.
  4. Press enter. You will follow the text-only prompts. When there is a colon at the bottom of the screen press the down arrow to move down through the text. Type yes and press enter to approve the license. Press enter to approve the default location for the files. Type yes and press enter to prepend Anaconda to your PATH (this makes the Anaconda distribution the default Python).

Once you are done installing the software listed above, please go to this page, which has instructions on how to test that everything was installed correctly.

Attribution

Materials for this workshop were derived from materials developed by the Software Carpentry project. Shirtable is not officially affiliated with Software Carpentry.

Shirtable logo created using icons from the Noun Project:
Baseball Tee by Nicky Knicky from the Noun Project and Check Mark by Erin Standley from the Noun Project

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