[Python Wpg] Meeting this Wednesday - Python 101 (Introduction)

[Stuart Williams]

This week at the Winnipeg Python Users Group meeting I'll be
rehearsing part of a tutorial I'm scheduled to give at PyCon
(http://us.pycon.org/2008/tutorials/Python101Williams/) in Chicago in
March.  Here are some excerpts from the proposal I submitted:

  Intended audience: Programmers who want a fast introduction to the
  basics of Python.

  Tutorial format: Frequently alternating presentation of concepts and
  exercise sets.  Each pair of concepts and exercises will range in
  length from 5 minutes (for both) on simple topics, to 10 or 15
  minutes on more involved topics.

  Requirements: Bring a laptop computer with Python 2.5 installed.
  Try to get as much of an overview of Python before the tutorial as
  you have time to in order to get more out of it.  Two angles on this
  are the Python Quick Reference at
  http://rgruet.free.fr/PQR25/PQR2.5.html and the Python website's
  tutorial at http://docs.python.org/tut/tut.html.

  Notes: ... Most of this tutorial introduces Python in a
  non-traditional way -- from the inside out.  Instead of starting
  with the standard "Hello, world!" program we'll start with just the
  string "hello".  We'll use the interactive nature of the interpreter
  to focus first on what goes on in the innermost loops of programs,
  then moving to block constructs such as loops, and only later how to
  put together a standalone program.

For our meeting I'll adjust the format, assuming not everyone will
have a laptop along so we'll do the exercises together.  I'll also be
going more slowly that the similar lightning introduction I gave back
in September.  Of course I won't finish the entire three hour tutorial
on Wednesday but if there's interest I could present again in early
February or at our February meeting.  The tutorial is still a work in
progress and I'm hoping for good critique and feedback.

Feel free to invite others who are interested in learning Python.

I hope to see many of you on Wednesday.

Stuart.