syllabus-1.md

Day 1 (4 Nov): Python basics – Yi Liu

Morning 9:30 - 12:00

Afternoon 13:00 - 17:00

Objective

The overall aim for day 1 is to understand the basics in working with python and to prep for day 2 and day 3, including:

• Basics in setting up the working environment and associated tools (e.g. Jupyter Notebook)
• Basics of writing code in python

We will be using Jupyter Notebook for most of the tasks.

Timetable

09:30 - 09:45 Introduction of the three-day course

09:45 - 10:00 Introduction to python

• What python is
• Why do you need Python in a data science project, on top of other things (R, database, shell, etc).

10:00 - 10:30 Lecture: Environment for working with a python project

Understand how to properly work with a python-based project

• The conda environment
• Why do we need a virtual environment
• The conda package manager
• The jupyter notebook platform

10: 30 – 10: 45 Break

10:45 - 12:00 Basic python syntax

• Basic data types
  • numerics
  • boolean
  • strings
• control flows
  • if else
  • for loop, while loop
  • break, continue, pass

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break

13:00 - 15:00 Basic python syntax, part 2

• Container data types
  • list, tuple, dict
• iterations
• function, and function arguments and returns
• write functions in another file and import these functions
• Wrapping things up from jupyter code blocks to a python script

15:00 – 15:15 Break

15:15 - 17:00 Hands on: Working with Jupyter Notebook

Hands on practice on what you have learned today

• Installing new packages and reload the environment
• Importing functions from libraries
• Practice with Python syntax
• Dealing with errors
• Practice with Python scripting

Reference

Below are some of resources for day 1 for further reading

• learning python in data science
  • realpython https://realpython.com/
  • the python for data analysis book, by Wes Mckinney https://wesmckinney.com/book/
• conda and virtual environments
  • https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/
  • https://realpython.com/python-virtual-environments-a-primer/#what-other-popular-options-exist-aside-from-venv
• jupyter cell magics
  • https://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/interactive/magics.html
  • https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/jupyter-notebook-cell-magic-functions/
• python basic data types
  • https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html
  • https://realpython.com/python-data-types
• python strings
  • https://realpython.com/python-strings
  • https://realpython.com/python-f-strings
  • https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/inputoutput.html#formatted-string-literals
  • https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-specification-mini-language
• control flows
  • https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-break-continue-and-pass-statements-when-working-with-loops-in-python-3
• python container data types
  • https://realpython.com/python-lists-tuples
• python functions
  • https://realpython.com/defining-your-own-python-function/
  • https://realpython.com/python-lambda
  • https://realpython.com/python-functional-programming