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10/22/2009 - All About Python

October 11, 2009 - 7:09pm — al3k
This meeting is scheduled for: 
Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 7:00pm
Semester: 
Autumn 2009

On Thursday October 22nd, 2009, in Dreese Labs 266, Michael Yanovich and Brian Kennedy will be presenting to the club on the programming language Python. Michael will be demonstrating the basics of building a Python program, beginning with a Hello World in the interpreter and moving over to building Hello World as a stand-a-lone file. Then, he'll cover functions, documentation, and linking files together. Then, Brian will be demonstrating how to use Python to solve problems for class, work, and research as well as teaching the basic use of some powerful scientific and mathematical tools collected in the SciPy module.

Comments

October 14, 2009 - 11:48am — Anonymous (not verified)

To do a little background reading on the Python language read the excellent, free book Dive in to Python at

http://diveintopython.org/

You can learn about SciPy, the modules to help do mathematical and scientific work in Python, at

http://scipy.org/Getting_Started

Install Python and try out some examples before the meeting to get the biggest bang for your learning buck

http://diveintopython.org/installing_python/index.html

To get you started I'll include the entire contents of a Python hello world application, hello.py, below:

print("Hello World")

October 16, 2009 - 8:35pm — yanovich

Excellent post anonymous! I love the DiveIntoPython book! I have been using that ever since I first "dived" into Python. I must say it is by far the best free book on the Internet for learning Python, especially for those already familiar with programming in other languages. The book does tend to cater to those that know Pearl, but the book does a great job explaining everything.

I would recommend the DiveIntoPython book to anybody looking to "dive" into Python.