Python Jumpstart by Building 10 Apps: Project-based Course
Course Summary
What students are saying
Source code and course GitHub repository
github.com/mikeckennedy/python-jumpstart-course-demosWhat's this course about and how is it different?
The goal of this online video course is to teach you the Python programming language.
It assumes you have just a small amount of programming experience (e.g. you know what a variable, a function, and a loop are in some language). But otherwise, it is a from the ground up, comprehensive introduction to the Python programming language.
Most courses focus on teaching you hundreds of details and leave putting them together as an exercise for the student. My course is different.
You will learn all the basics, yes. But you will learn them while building 10 stand alone applications. You will see each application built from the ground up in live demos. When we hit new topics (functions for example), we will pause, discuss them, and return to our application we are building.
This way you will continuously be "putting the pieces together". You don't have to wade through many small details before making sense of Python. It starts right from the beginning and grows from there.
View the full course outline.
Who is this course for?
It's for people who have some programming / scripting experience and want to improve their Python knowledge. Maybe you:
- Know JavaScript but you want to learn Python
- Used Python casually, but you want to learn it comprehensively
- Know part of the language well, but want rounded knowledge
- Want to write more Pythonic code (iterators, comprehensions, etc.)
- Are a scientist looking to use the Python data tools and need a foundation
- Are a college student and want more than your university course offers
- Considering becoming a software developer
If any of those descriptions fit you, then you're my target student. I wrote this course for you.
If you've been doing Python for years, maybe this isn't your course. Don't worry though. The very next set of courses I'm starting after this one will be building on this knowledge and diving into advanced areas such as web development, relational and nosql database programming, web service programming, and more.
What applications will we build?
We will build the following apps, which among many other things, focus on the language concepts listed under them.
- Hello world
- test your environment
- Guess that number
- user input
- conditionals
- string parsing
- Birthday app
- dates and times
- Personal journal
- text-based file i/o
- Weather client
- external packages
- pip
- screen scraping
- HTTP clients
- LOLCat Factory
- binary files on the internet
- Wizard battle
- classes
- inheritance
- magic methods
- File searcher app
- lambda expressions
- generator methods
- yield and yield from
- Real estate analyzer
- file formats
- list comprehensions
- generators expressions
- Movie lookup app
- error handling
- exceptions
- Advanced HTTP clients
Concepts backed by concise visuals
While building apps and learning as you go is engaging, it can be hard to fully introduce a topic in that format. That's why when we hit a new topic, we stop and discuss it with concise and clear visuals.
Here's an example for when we will first talk about the structure of classes.
Follow along with subtitles and transcripts
Each course comes with subtitles and full transcripts. The transcripts are available as a separate searchable page for each lecture. They also are available in course-wide search results to help you find just the right lecture.
Who am I? Why should you take my course?
My name is Michael, nice to meet you. ;) There are a couple of reasons I'm especially qualified to teach you Python.
1. I'm the host of the #1 podcast on Python called Talk Python To Me. Over there, I've interviewed many of the leaders and creators in the Python community. I bring that perspective to all the courses I create.
2. I've been a professional software trainer for over 10 years. I have taught literally thousands of professional developers in hundreds of courses throughout the world.
3. Students have loved my courses. Here are just a few quotes from past students of mine.
"Michael is super knowledgeable, loves his craft, and he conveys it all well. I would highly recommend his training class anytime." - Robert F.
"Michael is simply an outstanding instructor." - Kevin R.
"Michael was an encyclopedia for the deep inner workings of Python. Very impressive." - Neal L.
Free office hours keep you from getting stuck
One of the challenges of self-paced online learning is getting stuck. It can be hard to get the help you need to get unstuck.
That's why at Talk Python Training, we offer live, online office hours. You drop in and join a group of fellow students to chat about your course progress and see solutions via screen sharing.
Just visit your account page to see the upcoming office hour schedule.
Is this course based on Python 3 or Python 2?
This course is based upon Python 3. Python 2 is officially unsupported as of January 1st, 2020 and we believe that it would be ill-advised to teach or learn Python 2. This course is, and has always been, built around Python 3.
The time to act is now
Become the Python developer you have always wanted to be. Join this course right now.