Welcome to Python

Overview

This course will cover the fundamentals of Python, including the syntax of the language, data types, operators, and variables. We will also give an overview of what a script is and how to run one, and finally a brief look at external libraries will be given along with how to import them for use in your projects. For this intro course, these last two sections are considered ‘good to be aware of’ for now, though depending on how you access Python in the future they may require some additional knowledge of the command line interface and possibly virtual environment management.

It's interactive!

To properly learn Python, you must actually type out and execute code. To do that today we will be using Jupyter, and we provide a Jupyter notebook for you to open and follow along with (.ipynb extension). If you don't yet have Python and Jupyter installed, please proceed to the "Running Jupyter" section of this tutorial. If you already have Python and Jupyter installed, head to "Today's Course" to download today's course materials and start learning Python!

Take away

Remember, learning to code does not mean knowing what to do in every situation ever. It involves learning some of the basics of a language and knowing how and where to look up what you need when you can’t remember. To solidify the basics, it’s helpful to have a small task or project you would like to use Python for, so that you can begin applying what you learn here today. Happy coding! 😊