Practical Python – Workshop eBook



Dear readers,

You probably already know that we have an online course called Practical Python. It’s full of theoretical materials, assignments, access to the Instructor and final test to check your knowledge. After completing all of the assignemnts and final test you will recieve a certificate. So that’s some work to do!

For those of you, who would only like to take a look, practice or fill the knowledge gaps, we decided to prepare PRACTICAL PYTHON WORKSHOP EBOOK. It is still paid, but it only containes theoretical materials, so it’s cheaper than the course itslef. It’s a great opportunity to those of you, who have been thinking about taking the course, but aren’t sure, if that’s something for you.

This e-book will be added to the course as a free download, for those of you who participate in the course. All materials here were written by our instructor, Rui Silva.


Marta & BSD Mag Team

Module 1 (introduction):

Why python?
Introduction about python programming language.
Learning the strengths of the language and what’s good with python.
Learning where to use Python and why.
Python as an interpreted language
How to choose correct interpreter, install it, run it.
Python virtual environments.
Text editor (kate, gedit, brackets).
How to create Hello world, from interpreter and with .py script.
Standards and batteries included
Standards and PEP8.
Batteries included (just to show the most useful python core libraries and link to the official

Competences gained after module 1
● understanding python and how to install it
● understanding python virtual environments
● using the interpreter and running a python script
● advanced text editors for coding

Module 2 (python basics):

Python data types and flow control statements
Ifs, fors, whiles
Lists (slices), dictionaries (loop over items), sets
Python internals
Classes and object instances
Everything is an object (docs strings, getters, setters, override)
Exceptions handling
Practical example
Use twitter’s API to get some data and show it in the console

Competences gained after module 2
● understanding basic python data types
● knowing what classes are and how to use them
● understanding exceptions and know how to handle them
● knowing how to get data from a publicly accessible API

Module 3 (files):

Duck typing.
Opening and reading from files.
Csv files and csvreader.
Practical exercise
Read file with a sentence per line.
Manipulate and gather metrics on each sentence.
Output a file with metrics on each sentence.

Competences gained after module 3
● understanding the concept of duck typing
● understanding how files work
● understanding the csv python module to read/write csv files

Module 4 (project):

Practical project
Get data from external source (
Manipulate data to suit our needs.
Plot a graph to show the data in a graphical and understandable way.

Competences gained after module 4
● understanding how to hit API’s to get information
● understanding how data should be structure to feed plot module
● using python plotting library to be able to show our data
