Python Tutorials

ACM Student Chapter | KAUST | 2015

Venue: University Library Computer Room,
Level 3
Dates: February 15 - 19, 2015

Announcements

[20/02/2015]: All tutorials are now updated and include solutions. Thanks everybody for attending the tutorials! It was great experience to teach and show you Python in action. We hope you enjoyed our sessions.

[15/02/2015]: Basics tutorials are now updated, and our solutions for the exercises are available. Please check the repository or use the links in the schedule below.

[13/02/2015]: Please note that it is not required to bring your own laptop in any of our sessions. All necessary software has been already installed to the library computer lab workstations. However, if you want to bring your laptop please follow the setup instructions.

[13/02/2015]: We appreciate your high interest for our Python tutorial! Please note that all tutorials are already full. New registration will go into a waiting list. If for any reason you are not able to attend a tutorial, please let us know in advance by sending an email to acm.chapter@kaust.edu.sa.

[05/02/2015]: The ACM KAUST Student Chapter is pleased to invite you to take part in a week of Python tutorials, February 15 - 19, 2015. Before attending, please register.

Schedule & Structure

Topics covered:

Each topic consists of two sessions: The first one provides a general overview with many quick hands-on exercises. The second discusses additional tips, tricks, and Pythonic hacks, and walks you through a couple of short mini-projects (exercises). There will be 10-minute of Q&A at the end of each session. ALL sessions are hands-on.

Day 1:   Sunday, Feb 15th
12:00 - 13:30 Basics: Introduction to Python Maruan Al-Shedivat,
Yiannis Hadjimichael 		Add to calendar
14:00 - 15:30 Basics: NumPy & SciPy Yiannis Hadjimichael Add to calendar
Day 2:   Monday, Feb 16th
10:30 - 12:00 Basics: Mini-project Emaad Ahmed Manzoor Add to calendar
13:30 - 15:00 Plotting and Visualization Maruan Al-Shedivat Add to calendar
Day 3:   Wednesday, Feb 18th
13:30 - 15:00 Advanced Topics:
Object Oriented Programming		 Maruan Al-Shedivat Add to calendar
Day 4:   Thursday, Feb 19th
14:00 - 15:30 Advanced Topics:
Optimization & Machine Learning 		Yiannis Hadjimichael,
Maruan Al-Shedivat 		Add to calendar

Description

Day 1: Basics

This is a beginners' level tutorial where we focus on the basic syntax of the language and essential functionality as well as the fundamental packages NumPy & SciPy. The first session targets to give a comprehensive intro, while second focuses on specific and cool examples.

Session I: Getting started with Python: Using iPython notebook, syntax, I/O, NumPy & SciPy.
Session II: A few cool and interesting hands-on examples of Python usage.


Day 2: Plotting and Data Visualization

The second day focuses on using Python for data visualization and introduces the widely used Matplotlib and other packages such as Seaborn, and Bokeh. During the first session we will discuss the main Python graphics concepts such as figures, axes, etc., and will work through a number of quick examples. There will be a simple mini-project given as a homework. The second session builds upon our knowledge of Matplotlib, and walks through a few more techniques, such as complex plotting.

Session I: Introduction to Python plotting and visualization packages: Matplotlib, Seaborn.
Session II: Advanced visualization techniques using Matplotlib. Interactive graphics with Bokeh.


Day 3: Advanced Topics: Object Oriented Programming

In this tutorial we introduce object-oriented programming (OOP), Classes and objects, functions, scopes and closures, as well as cover useful logging techniques.


Day 4: Advanced Topics: Optimization & Machine learning

During the first part of this session we will cover optimization using SciPy and OpenOpt and in the last part some machine learning techniques with Scikit-Learn.