Learning goals#
During the Geo-Python course you will learn the basics of programming and scientific data analysis in the Python programming language. This course will also teach you several skills related to open science. Each week you will learn new skills building upon the content of the previous weeks.
After each week of the course, students will be able to:
Week one#
Understand tools we are using during this course
Explain the basic concepts of a
computer
program
programming language
Define and use variables
Describe the concept of a data type
Determine the data type of a variable in Python
Week two#
conduct basic data type conversions
store and access values in a list
explain the concept of an index value
understand the basics of version control
use git and GitHub to record changes to your files
use Jupyter notebooks for writing and documenting your code
Week three#
create a for loop and use it to repeat a section of code
understand the logic of conditional statements and comparison operators
write a short piece of pseudo-code
format and indent code when using for loops and conditional statements
Week four#
explain how functions are used and why they are useful
create simple functions with parameters and return values
save functions to a separate script file
write docstrings for functions and script files
Week five#
explain what a Python module is and how they can be used
search for documentation about a module
read tabular data from a file using the pandas module
understand the structure and basic functionality of a pandas DataFrame
explore data in a pandas DataFrame
Week six#
manage and analyze tabular data using pandas
repeat an analysis workflow for several input files
understand common Python errors
follow a simple set of guidelines to debug programs efficiently
Week seven#
visualize tabular data using Matplotlib
manipulate plot formatting
save plots as image files