Agenda: Python (2025-10-13 - 2025-10-15)

Idea is to quickly go over Python basics (variables, datatypes, functions, …) on day 1. Then, on day 2, launch a group exercise to make something bigger (see Exercise Kick Off). The remaining material (OO etc., read below) is then covered in support of making something bigger.

Setup

• Python Installation

• Visual Studio Code for Python Programming

Basics

Datatypes

• Blahblah

• Hello World

• Running Python Programs

• Syntax etc.

• Commandline Arguments (sys.argv)

• Variables

• Datatypes

• Compound Datatypes

• Boolean

Exercises

• Exercise: Mixed List (Interactive Interpreter)

• Exercise: Mixed List (Executable Program)

• Exercise: Digit to English Word

• Exercise: Dictionary: Errors?

More On Datatypes

• Sequential Datatypes

• Indexing and Slicing

• References, (Im)mutability

• More About Strings

• Miscellaneous String Methods

• More About Lists

• More About Dictionaries

• More About Sets

• Comprehensions (List, Dictionary, Set)

Control Flow, Sequences, Iteration

• The if Statement

• while Loops

• for Loops

• The range Function

Exercises

• Exercise: Determine Maximum of Two Numbers

• Exercise: Primeness (while)

• Exercise: Primeness (for)

Functions

From Functions:

• Functions (Slideshow)

• Functions: Global and Local Scope (Livehacking Screenplay)

Exercises

• Exercise: Determine Maximum of Two Numbers (Function)

• Exercise: Primeness (Function)

• Exercise: Function: uniq()

Lets keep the following topics in mind, but defer them until later.

• Towards decorators

  • Positional and Keyword Arguments

  • Closures

  • Decorators

• Not functions, but generators. (From Iterating Intelligently: Generators, and the Iterator Protocol)

  • Iteration, Comprehensions, and Generators

  • Iteration, Generators, And yield

File IO

• File I/O

Exercises

• Exercise: Eliminate Empty/Comment-Only Lines

• Exercise: Counting Lines, Words, Characters

• Exercise: Eliminate Empty/Comment-Only Lines

Exercise Kick Off

Note

This exercise (a data logger) is not set in stone. What makes it ideal is that it gives us much opportunity to cover the remaining topics.

Based upon what we have learned, we are ready to enter a larger exercise. Starting with one exercise where each participant is on their own, straightforwardly hack a “data logger” that reads from a number of named input sensors and writes a CSV file.

Future

• Turn inputs (sensors) and outputs (CSV and …) into something more flexible (⟶ OO)

• Unit testing

• Project management and packaging

Modules

• Modules and Packages

(Exercise: split monolithic data logger into something more approachable)

Object Oriented Programming, And Exceptions

From Object Oriented Programming …

• Classes And Dictionaries

• Constructor

• Methods

• str() And repr()

• Properties

• collections.namedtuple

• Inheritance

• Operator Overloading

• Abstract Base Classes (abc), And Duck Typing

Exceptions too,

• Exception Handling

Exercise: OO

Trainer’s note

• Come up with pytest unit tests

• Give a short venv and pip overview

• Give a short pytest overview

• Add more outputs; for example …

  • MQTT

  • Database

  • …

• Polymorphic sensor

  • One that receives UDP datagrams asynchronously (⟶ Multithreading)

  • One over userspace I2C? (here)

• “Main Loop” object

  • configurable interval

  • graceful termination

  • time (and interval) abstracted away with a generator?

Project Work: Virtual Environments, Unit Testing, Packaging, PyPI

From Python: Project/Package Management,

• Python Package Index

• Virtual Environments

• Packaging, PyPI Upload (Link Collection)

• PyTest

Optional Topics

• Using matplotlib to draw graphs from gathered data

• Data analysis using pandas

• Automation using subprocess and shutil