Book Image

The Python Workshop

By : Olivier Pons, Andrew Bird, Dr. Lau Cher Han, Mario Corchero Jiménez, Graham Lee, Corey Wade
Book Image

The Python Workshop

By: Olivier Pons, Andrew Bird, Dr. Lau Cher Han, Mario Corchero Jiménez, Graham Lee, Corey Wade

Overview of this book

Have you always wanted to learn Python, but never quite known how to start? More applications than we realize are being developed using Python because it is easy to learn, read, and write. You can now start learning the language quickly and effectively with the help of this interactive tutorial. The Python Workshop starts by showing you how to correctly apply Python syntax to write simple programs, and how to use appropriate Python structures to store and retrieve data. You'll see how to handle files, deal with errors, and use classes and methods to write concise, reusable, and efficient code. As you advance, you'll understand how to use the standard library, debug code to troubleshoot problems, and write unit tests to validate application behavior. You'll gain insights into using the pandas and NumPy libraries for analyzing data, and the graphical libraries of Matplotlib and Seaborn to create impactful data visualizations. By focusing on entry-level data science, you'll build your practical Python skills in a way that mirrors real-world development. Finally, you'll discover the key steps in building and using simple machine learning algorithms. By the end of this Python book, you'll have the knowledge, skills and confidence to creatively tackle your own ambitious projects with Python.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Introduction

In Chapter 3, Executing Python – Programs, Algorithms, and Functions, you covered the basics of Python programs and learned how to write algorithms, functions, and programs. Now, you will learn how to make your programs more relevant and usable in the IT world.

First, in this chapter, you are going to look at file operations. File operations are essential for scripting for a Python developer, especially when you need to process and analyze a large number of files, like in data science. In companies that deal with data science, you often do not have direct access to a database, stored on a local server or a cloud server. Rather, we receive files in text format. These include CSV files for column data, and txt files for unstructured data (such as patient logs, news articles, user comments, etc.).

In this chapter, you will also cover error handling. This prevents your programs from crashing and also does its best to behave elegantly when encountering unexpected...