Introduction

box Although Python is an easy to learn and powerful programming language as it is known in common parlance, there is nevertheless need of a good introduction and tutorial on the Python language.

Why yet another documentation and tutorial on Python? Aren't there enough websites with tutorials and books dealing with Python? Isn't there already everything said about the programming language Python?

These were the questions which came to our mind, when we started this website in June 2010. Yes, there are lots of tutorials and introductions, but we wanted to present a different approach, with other more interesting examples, better explanatory diagrams and so on. We had a lot to build on, above all the longstanding experience of Bernd Klein as a computer scientist and Python lecturer. Actually, this online course is based on the material from the classroom training courses of Bodenseo.

Online Course

You will find a complete introduction into Python in our online tutorial:

Further Topics

  • To understand functions properly, you need a thorough understanding of arguments and parameter passing.
  • In the next chapter of our seminar you will find all you have to know about namespaces.
  • Global and local variables is a topic, which can be different for beginners.
  • A language without the ability to read and write data files would be. So we will introduce you in our course to the essentials of file management.
  • A program, especially a large one, shouldn't be called a program, if it isn't written in a modular way.
  • Memoisation is a technique used in computing to speed up programs by giving functions memory.
  • Text processing without regular expressions is only piecemeal. That's why we present in our tutorial a detailled introduction into regular expressions under Python, continued by a chapter with advanced regular expressions.
  • Something very controversial in Python: Lambda Operator
  • It's no secret, that Guido van Rossum doesn't like lambda Operators. Here we give you an introduction into his preferred way, i.e. List Comprehension
  • Exception Handling is a concept which is comparatively new, i.e. it hasn't been known in programming languages like C and Fortran but in C++ and Java.
  • Generators are not only good for producing electricity, in Python generators are the most powerful tool to create iterators.
  • Yes, Python is a fully object oriented language, so in this chapter of our course you will learn how to use classes in Python.

Last Minute Offer


Our special May offer from the 27th to the 31st of May: Learning Python in Toronto with Bernd Klein, the author of this website at a special price: 10 % off

A Course is not a Course

The question is ambiguous. First we want to explain, why this website is called "A Python Course". This website is seen all over the world and the expression "course" has varying meanings in the English speaking world. Both in the United States and Canada, a course is a teaching unit, which might last e.g. one academic term. The students normally get a grade or some academic credit for attending the course, usually after having passed an exam.

In the United Kingdom and Australia the term "course" usually defines the complete programme of studies required to complete a major or a study path leading to a university degree. The word "unit" is used in the UK to refer to an academic course in the North American sense.

On the one hand, we had the US and Canadian sense in mind: Our Python is one teaching unit and when you have successfully passed it, you are capable of programming in Python. On the other hand, we had the original meaning of the word in mind: A "course of instruction" as it might be used in book titles like "A Course in Programming Python".