python_introduction/learning_python3.md

# What we'll learn

You'll learn **three** things at the same time so don't get discouraged if it feels a bit much at the start.
Everybody's issues will be in these three different domains and at the beginning it can be difficult to differentiate between them.
Keep this in mind, everybody has to go through this stage and the *click* comes at different times for different people but everybody clicks at some point!
The three new things you'll learn:

1. the **concepts** of programming, most notably Object Orientated Programming (OOP)
2. the **syntax** of one particular language, in our case Python3
3. the **tools** needed to start programming in our language of choice

Within each of these topics there are *subtopics* but there are not bottomless!
Below is a small overview of how I would subdivide them.

## Concepts

The subtopics behind the concept of programming can be sliced (in no particular order) as follows:

* objects
* variables
* conditional logic
* functions
* loops

The concept behind these topics are the same in most languages, it's just *how* you write them that is different.
This *how* is part of the **syntax** of the language.

## Syntax

> In computer science, the syntax of a computer language is the set of rules that defines the combinations of symbols that are considered to be correctly structured statements or expressions in that language.
> This applies both to programming languages, where the document represents source code, and to markup languages, where the document represents data.
> The syntax of a language defines its surface form.[1] Text-based computer languages are based on sequences of characters,

The quote above is taken shamelessly from [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntax_(programming_languages)).

## Tools

### Writing code

Scripts are text files, plain and simple.
So in order to **write** a Python3 script all we need is a text editor.
Nano, vim, notepad++ all do a good job of editing plain text files but some make it *easier* than others.
You've noticed that vim colors the code of a shell script no?
One of the many features of an [IDE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_development_environment) is *syntax highlighting*.
It colors things such as [keywords](https://realpython.com/python-keywords/) which makes our life so much nicer when writing code.
We'll come back to these features in a bit.

### Running code

In order to **run** Python3 code you need the Python3 interpreter.
This is because when you **execute** your script, the interpreter will **read and execute** each line of the text file **line by line**.

Most people who want to write and run Python3 code, or any language for that matter, will install an Integrated Development Environment to do so.
There are no *rules* as to what has to be included for a program to qualify as an IDE but in my opinion they should include:

* syntax highlighting
* autocomplete
* *goto* commands such as goto definition, goto declaration, goto references
* automatic *pair* opening and closing
* builtin help navigation

There is a plethora of IDE's available and you can't really make a *wrong* choice here, but to make the overall learning curve a bit less steep we'll start out with a user friendly IDE, [pycharm](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/installation-guide.html).

# The python3 shell

TODO animated overview of the shell and the world of OOP

# Installing pycharm

TODO

# Your first project

TODO helloworld

## How to execute

* within pycharm
* from the command line

## Simple printing

## String formatting

## String replacement

# Taking input

TODO say hello program

## Functions can return something

# Taking input and evaluation

TODO say hello plus ask for age

* slightly insist on *blocking* nature of `input()`

## Conditional logic  

* introduction to `if`, `elif` and `else`

## Class string methods

# Coding challenge - Celsius to Fahrenheit converter

# Creating your own functions 

## Functions that *do* something

TODO pretty_print

## Variable scope

## Functions that *return* something

TODO basic math functions

# Using the standard library

TODO import random exercise (digital dice)
TODO import datetime exercise (will it be Sunday)

# Coding challenge - Memento Mori calculator

# Writing your first library

TODO import pretty print and digital dice

## What are libraries?

## How do we write libraries?

## What is `__name__ == "__main__"`?

## Anatomy of a program

TODO imports, functions, execution

# While loop 

TODO guess the number exercise 

# Lists

## Creating lists

## Picking elements

## Slicing lists

# For loop

TODO say hello to my friends exercise

# Coding challenge - Cheerleader chant

TODO nested for loop exercise

# Dictionaries as data containers

TODO adapt the login generator to output a dict

# Handling files

## Reading from a file

## Writing to a file

## csv, JSON and yaml

# Coding challenge - Login generator

TODO write a login generator as a library with a cli as program
BONUS argparse, save to file, read from file

# Creating our own classes

## Class examples

TODO simple animal or vehicle exercise

## Class inheritance

TODO superhero game

## Improve the login generator

TODO convert the login generator to a class

# Infinite programs

* insist on the nature of scripts we did up until now

## Logic breakdown of a simple game

TODO hangman exercise

## Trivial pursuit multiple choice game

TODO [db](https://opentdb.com/api_config.php)

## Threading

TODO add a countdown timer to the multiple choice game

# GUI programming

## wxpython helloworld

## wxpython guess the number

# Introduction to the `logging` library

# Coding challenge - Login generator with GUI