Introduction to Programming Using Python

Explore the basics of Python programming with hands-on labs, IDLE practice, and step-by-step guides covering variables, data types, lists, control flow, loops, and exam preparation for the MTA 98-381.

Learn how to work with primitive data types in Python, including booleans, strings, integers, and floats, using variables, assignment, and printing in IDLE.

Learn to use multiple assignment statements in Python to assign the same value to many variables or map corresponding values in one line, improving readability and consistency.

Learn to convert between string, integer, float, and boolean types in Python, inspect types with type(), and avoid unsafe eval with secure, reliable casting.

Create and manipulate lists in Python using list literals, index access, and len to measure length; convert strings to lists and keep elements homogeneous for clarity.

Explore modifying lists in Python by appending elements, deleting by index, popping from the end, and updating specific positions to mutate list data.

Learn to sort and reverse lists in Python with sorted, sort, and reverse, and understand in-place mutation versus new copies, plus ascending and descending options.

Explore Python list slicing to select ranges and create shallow copies without mutating original. Learn start, end, and step, inclusive/exclusive boundaries, and how to reverse or take every other element.

Explore how Python uses operators for mathematical and comparison tasks, including plus, minus, multiply, divide, modulo, power, floor division, and string concatenation, with boolean results from comparisons.

Explore Python operator precedence, including in, not, and is tests, the order of operations, and how identity versus membership affect expressions.

Explore how if statements drive dynamic Python programs, using else and elif for mutually exclusive paths, with booleans, indentation rules, and practical examples like Brussels sprouts and a number-guess game.

Discover how to use compound conditional expressions in Python, mastering and, or, exclusive or, and operator precedence to write clear, maintainable logic with if and elif statements.

Understand Python for loops through iterating over lists, using range for counts, and enumerate for index and value, then apply input and break to build a guessing game.

Explore how to use while loops in Python, compare them with for loops, and build practical examples such as iterating over a string, a game loop, and handling break conditions.

Explore nesting for loops in Python by combining numbers and letters with zip, and illustrate runtime behavior and iteration counts with practical examples.

Learn to read files in Python using relative paths, open and close operations, read and readlines, and iterating lines with for loops, plus safe context managers.

Copy files in Python by reading from a source and writing to a destination, exploring write and append modes, clobbering versus appending, and line-by-line copying.

Learn to automate mail merges with Python by reading a message template and a winners list, then generate personalized letters as separate txt files for each winner.

Explore reading console inputs and formatting outputs in Python by building a grocery calculator that prompts for foods and quantities, computes totals, and uses loops and string formatting.

Explore how to build a Python command line interface that reads arguments with sys.argv, converts them to int and float, formats a purchase total, and handles basic interface design.

Learn how to define and use functions in Python, covering naming, parameters, positional arguments, local scope, and the main guard, with a practical eat function demonstration.

Explore default arguments in Python, using None as a default value to handle missing inputs, and see how food and happy parameters illustrate positional versus keyword arguments for flexible functions.

Learn to use positional and keyword arguments in Python, including *args and **kwargs, with examples showing how to enforce keyword-only calls and avoid ambiguity in function calls.

Learn to handle exceptions in Python by catching specific errors such as ZeroDivisionError and NameError, logging incidents, and using finally for cleanup, while avoiding swallowing errors.

Explore how to import and use Python's math and random modules, including ceil, fsum, randint, and choice, with notes on non-cryptographically secure randomness and best import practices.

Explore how to display datetime, working directory, and file metadata using Python's os and datetime modules, including os.getcwd, os.listdir, os.stat, and path handling.