Module 1
Module 1 - Python: From First Script to Objects
You will be able to write, debug, structure and package real Python programs.
Python is the language the rest of this bootcamp is written in. This module covers it as a language, not as a set of recipes: the type system, control flow, functions and scope, the four core data structures, file and text handling, the error model, the module and package system, and classes.
This is what you write in every module that follows. A cleaning script that reads a comma-separated values file and writes a corrected one, a function that computes a metric, a loop that sweeps a hyperparameter, a class that wraps a model, a package with a pinned environment so the code runs the same tomorrow. Modules 2 through 6 spend their time on libraries, and every one of those libraries is called from code that looks like this module's code.
Without it, you are copying snippets. The moment a library's example does not exactly match your data you are stuck, because you cannot read the traceback, cannot tell a type error from a logic error, and cannot restructure someone else's function into your own. Module 0 gave you the machine. This one gives you the ability to make it do something new.
What you will build
One project, the capstone, at the end of the module.
The Run Registry (PAID, $29, or $14 at the half price), your own leaderboard of training runs, built from nothing but the standard library, the modules that ship with Python itself. It starts from an empty directory and its bootstrap writes everything it starts from, so nothing you did or skipped earlier changes where you begin.
The sections
- Python Foundations - 4 lessons. Running Python, the core types, variables, operators and conversion.
- Control Flow - 4 lessons. Conditionals and truthiness, the while loop and the accumulator pattern, the for loop and iterables, then break, continue and nesting.
- Functions - 4 lessons. Defining and calling, arguments in depth, scope and side effects, then decomposition and composition.
- Collections - 4 lessons. Lists, tuples, dictionaries and sets, then nesting, comprehensions and choosing the right one.
- Strings, Files, and Data Formats - 3 lessons. String work, safe file reading and writing, and parsing comma-separated values and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).
- Errors and Debugging - 3 lessons. The three kinds of error and how to read a traceback, exception handling, then defensive code and systematic debugging.
- Modules, Packages, and Environments - 3 lessons. Imports, the standard library and entry points, then packages, pip and virtual environments.
- Object-Oriented Programming - 3 lessons. Classes and methods, instance versus class data and encapsulation, then inheritance, overriding and composition.
Prerequisites
Module 0. You are assumed to be able to navigate a filesystem, run a script from a terminal, and read output and errors as separate streams.
What the exam proves
PAID, $29, or $14 at the half price. That you can predict what a Python program prints, catch the program that runs clean and returns the wrong result, and decide where a failure is caught, checked or raised. The pass covers the capstone and the exam with every attempt, for the life of the product.
Set up your machine first
Lesson 1.1.1 runs Python from a terminal, so before it starts you need the machine Module 0's setup page builds: a Unix terminal (WSL on Windows), uv, Python 3.12.8 inside a virtual environment at ~/dev/bootcamp, and VS Code opened on that folder. Module 1's setup page checks that machine, says where this module's files go, and ends with a checklist that must pass line for line. Read it before Lesson 1.1.1 even if your prompt already shows (bootcamp). Section 7 explains what that virtual environment is, and how a project builds one of its own.