Overview
Teaching: 10 min Exercises: 0 minQuestions
What is Python and how can I get started?
Objectives
Arrive at the HackWeek with a basic overview of the Python programming language and knowing where key learning resources are available.
If you are very new to the Python programming language, we encourage you to work through some of the resources listed here. The team at the HackWeek will be happy to continue teaching you and discuss any questions you may have, but you will get much more out of the week if you have the basics of the language under your belt when you arrive.
The Programming in Python introductory tutorial developed by The Carpentries starts from the basics but uses a scientific data analysis task to motivate all ideas, so it’s a great way to learn the language if you are a sciencist.
Jake VanderPlas wrote an excellent Whirlwind Tour of Python that covers the core language and is also particularly well suited to scientific audiences.
The Official Python Documentation is always a useful reference to be aware of; in particular its introductory tutorial is well written.
Note: these are resources specific to the core language itself. Python is a broad-spectrum language used in a wide range of problem domains. In the next section we’ll provide you with introductory information regarding its use for scientific data analysis and computation.
Key Points
Python is a free, open source programming language widely used in data analysis and scientific computing. Introductory tutorials are freely available online.