Meetings/help for beginner group

[Becky Strauss]

I'm a PhD student in the Earth Sciences department at UMN. My research group is interested in converting some of our work and home-brew programs to Python, but we don't know where to start. Does PyMNtos offer classes or meetings for larger groups of beginners? If not, can anyone point me toward other resources in the area?

Thanks!

[Christopher Felton]

The pymntos will be a good spot to meet different folks and
discover some options.  You do have a resource at UMN, the
Supercomputing Institute (MSI) gives lectures and workshops
on different Scientific computing platforms including Python.

https://www.msi.umn.edu/

https://www.msi.umn.edu/webcast/archive.html (archive past tutorials)

You could review the "Python" tutorial a the bottom of webcast
archive link, and see if it is interesting.  If so, I imagine, you could
get MSI to organize a Python workshop on campus.

Or maybe pymntos would be interested in organizing some beginner 

workshops outside the monthly meetings or dedicating a couple 

meetings to this specific topic?  

Regards,

Chris

[Kevin Bullock]

On 18 Apr 2013, at 9:58 AM, Becky Strauss wrote:

> I'm a PhD student in the Earth Sciences department at UMN. My research group is interested in converting some of our work and home-brew programs to Python, but we don't know where to start. Does PyMNtos offer classes or meetings for larger groups of beginners? If not, can anyone point me toward other resources in the area?

Hi Becky! There's actually a group for software developers at the U called Code People <http://z.umn.edu/codepeople>. It's not Python-specific, but if you post to the mailing list or come to a meeting there are Python people that can help you get started.

In terms of learning Python, Dive Into Python (a full book) is available to read online <http://www.diveintopython.net>. There's also Udacity <https://www.udacity.com>, whose Intro to Computer Science class is also a good hands-on intro to Python. I took it when it was first being offered, despite having a CS degree, to see what it was like, and was pretty impressed.

pacem in terris / мир / शान्ति / ‎‫سَلاَم‬ / 平和
Kevin R. Bullock
(also kbul...@umn.edu)

[Kevin Marshall]

This isn't a local thing but you might find some helpful resources at http://software-carpentry.org/ That's a non-profit specifically created to train scientists in software dev skills, focusing on Python. They also cover related topics like version control.

Lots of video lessons, etc.

Cheers!
Kevin

[David Fawcett]

Here are a couple of good Python Learning Resources lists:

https://github.com/PyBulls/learning-resources

http://blog.geomusings.com/2013/03/17/a-lazyweb-compendium-of-python-resources-for-beginners/

David.

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[Christopher Felton]

I guess I will add a couple more links/resources to the

"self" study list.

At the last pycon there was a presentation "where to

go" after you learn the basics:

http://pyvideo.org/video/1782/sink-or-swim-5-life-jackets-to-throw-to-new-code

https://github.com/econchick/new-coder

https://github.com/econchick/new-coder/tree/master/dataviz

The presenter provides step-by-step projects for new

programmers.  I have not tried them or look at them 

but given the presentation they seem like they would 

be useful.  The "dataviz" tutorial appears to be the only 

completed tutorial the others are a WIP?

Regards,

Chris Felton

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 9:58:05 AM UTC-5, Becky Strauss wrote:

[Peter J. Farrell]

Becky Strauss said the following on 04/18/2013 09:58 AM:

If you have some programming experience in a language other than Python,
I found Google's free PyQuick videos and materials a really great primer:

https://developers.google.com/edu/python/

We're planning a Back to Basics night at our Thursday June 13th
meeting. You might consider all coming.

All beginners are welcome at PyMNtos. We always have a wide range of
topics plus since we start the meeting with pizza and chit-chat -- it's
a great way to talk shop with everything. I've always felt welcome.

Maybe somebody in July would like to do a deep dive into beginning
Python? The PyQuick outline from Google could be condensed into a nice
well organized talk.

Everybody else gave great suggestions too!

Best,
Peter
Co-Manager of PyMNtos

P.s. On a side note, I just started learning Python in December. We're
moving from Java -> Python at work so I consider myself a newbie still
as we haven't rolled out a Django production app yet. Ironic that I
volunteered to be PUG manager.

--
Peter J. Farrell
Principal Technologist - Maestro Publishing, LLC
http://blog.maestropublishing.com
Identi.ca / Twitter: @maestrofjp

Please do not send me Microsoft Office/Apple iWork documents. Send OpenDocument instead! http://fsf.org/campaigns/opendocument/

[Gregg Lind]

Becky,

I want to second Kevin's suggestion of http://software-carpentry.org/ .

1. Curriculum: shell, Python, version control.
2. They have experience / roots in academic audiences
3. It's partly a Mozilla project :)
4. It's easy to get other departments involved in their workshops.

Gregg

[Edward Vogel]

If you are doing any sort of data acquisition with instruments (magnetometers for instance) I can highly recommend "Real World Instrumentation with Python" by Hughes O'Reilly.  It provides an introduction to Python and an overview of instrumenting principles.  Also a very good section on understanding how to get from needs and wants to requirements and a software description document.   

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 9:58:05 AM UTC-5, Becky Strauss wrote:

[Ravi]

Hi Becky,

 My name is Ravi.  I work at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.  As Christopher Felton pointed out, we do teach Python at MSI.  In fact we are planning to teach an all-day Python workshop sometime this summer.  Please follow our tutorial page (https://www.msi.umn.edu/tutorials/current) for information about the tutorial. We will be posting the summer tutorial soon. Meanwhile, if you need any help, you can email (chityala at msi.umn dot edu) me as well. 

Ravi

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 9:58:05 AM UTC-5, Becky Strauss wrote: