Practical Python is a Python programming course designed to teach foundational language skills to professionals with existing programming experience in other languages.
The course addresses the need for practical, hands-on Python instruction grounded in real-world application rather than abstract theory. It emphasizes script writing, basic data manipulation, and program organization through approximately 130 coding exercises completed over an intensive 25-35 hour period. The approach focuses on the core Python language itself, avoiding tangential topics like web development frameworks or tools written in Python.
The course suits professional scientists, engineers, and programmers who want to write useful Python programs or understand code written by colleagues. It assumes prior programming knowledge and is explicitly not aimed at absolute beginners, those seeking software engineering practices for large-scale applications, or people learning to use Python-based tools. The material has been refined through classroom use with diverse groups including traders, systems administrators, astronomers, and others across many professional domains.
The course represents a stable, mature body of material developed continuously from 2007 through 2019 and released under a Creative Commons license. The project maintains a community discussion space for learners but does not indicate active ongoing development or frequent updates to the core curriculum.
