jtmx / pycar

The Python mini boot camp for NICAR 2015 in Atlanta.

  _____        _____          _____  __ _____ 
 |  __ \      / ____|   /\   |  __ \/_ | ____|
 | |__) |   _| |       /  \  | |__) || | |__  
 |  ___/ | | | |      / /\ \ |  _  / | |___ \ 
 | |   | |_| | |____ / ____ \| | \ \ | |___) |
 |_|    \__, |\_____/_/    \_\_|  \_\|_|____/ 
         __/ |                                
        |___/                                                         

##Python mini boot camp at #NICAR15 in Atlanta

We'll use the Anaconda distro of the iPython interactive interpreter in Windows PowerShell as we explore Python. At the end of the day, we'll give you everything working in Github.

###Schedule for the day ####Introduction

• Who are you, what do you do, what do you want to learn?
• What will we learn
• what can I do with it?
• The goal of the day is to start to learn how to think about solving problems.

####Project #1 Start with a CSV. Let's write some basic scripts to see what we're working with. Then we'll introduce some key Python types like strings, integers, lists, slicing and loops. After a white board exercise, we'll start with a file of pseudocode, and we'll walk through writing the program in Python code, running the file at the command line. We'll hold your hand through it, step by step.

####Project #2 We have a CSV of baseball player salaries. Let's figure out who makes the most money and examine some other biographical information about them, using dictionaries.

LUNCH

####How to debug your code, aka "Google and StackOverflow are your new best friends"

####Project #3 This section covers webscraping with Python using a get request, writing the data to a CSV.

####Project #4 Let's use an API to get information programatically to create a spreadsheet. Our data comes in a new format: JSON. Show on the whiteboard how it's basically a combination of data structures we already know about: Lists and dicts (arrays and objects).

At the end of the day, we'll send you home with with:

• A lightning dash through basic variables, types and functions.
• the working, commented code for each project from our git repo
• a walkthrough for setting up your machine at home with Python, version control and virtualenvs.
• Good libraries to explore with strong tutorials
• lifetime support guarantee from us & PythonJournos

###Help! If you're working through this code at home and have trouble, please let us know. The best option is to file an issue report of the bug so we can help you. You can also reach out to any of us on Twitter or ping PythonJournos.