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Python Fundamentals

by Robert Smallshire and Austin Bingham

Python Fundamentals gets you started with Python, a dynamic language popular for web development, big data, science, and scripting.

What you'll learn

Python Fundamentals gets you started with Python, a dynamic language popular for web development, big data, science, and scripting.

What’s so great about Python? Python is powerful.

The Python language is expressive and productive, it comes with a great standard library, and it’s the center of a huge universe of wonderful third-party libraries. With Python you can build everything from simple scripts to complex applications, you can do it quickly, and you can do it with fewer lines of code than you might think possible.

But for many people those reasons take back-seat to something more important: Python is fun!

Python’s readable style, quick edit-and-run development cycle, and “batteries included” philosophy mean that you can sit down and enjoy writing code rather than fighting compilers and thorny syntax. As your experiments become prototypes and your prototypes become products, Python makes the experience of writing software not just easier but truly enjoyable. In the words of Randall Munroe, "Come join us! Programming is fun again!"

Table of contents

Course FAQ

What is Python programming?

Python is an interpreted, high-level and general-purpose programming language. Python's design philosophy emphasizes code readability with its notable use of significant whitespace.

What is python used for?

Python is most commonly used to create or edit web applications. Python is not limited to web applictions though, Python can also be used for back end development, software development, data science, and writing systems scripts. Python can also automate a specific series of tasks, making them more efficient.

Who is this course for?

This course is for anyone that wants to learn Python or refresh their Python skills.This course is perfect for Python beginners.

What software is required for this course?

For this course, you will need an active Python download. Python is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.

What will I learn in this Python course?

In this course, you will learn the core fundamentals of Python. You will also learn how to use Python for web development, big data, science, and scripting.

About the authors

Robert Smallshire is a founder of Sixty North, a software product and consulting business in Norway. Robert has worked in senior architecture and technical management roles for software companies in the energy sector processing the masses of information flowing from today's digital oil fields. He has designed, and implemented effective architectures for sophisticated scientific and enterprise software in Python, C++, and C#. Robert is a regular speaker at conferences, meetups and corporate softw... more

Austin is a founding director of Sixty North, a software consulting, training, and application development company. A native of Texas, in 2008 Austin moved to Stavanger, Norway where he helped develop industry-leading oil reservoir modeling software in C++ and Python. Prior to that he worked at National Instruments developing LabVIEW, at Applied Research Labs (Univ. of Texas at Austin) developing sonar systems for the U.S. Navy, and at a number of telecommunications companies. He is an ex... more

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