**CANCELLED**
Due to a low demand, this course has been canceled. Please contact Andreas Buness (andreas.buness@embl.it) for more detail.
** for Monterotondo staff only**
Course Description
Duration: 2 days (the exact days are yet to be announced)
This course provides an introduction to programming with the Python language.
Participants will learn:
- the basic concepts and building blocks of programming in Python
- how to quickly automate repetitive tasks and calculations
- the best ways of handling different types of data
- how to read data from a file, process, and summarise it
After attending the course, you will have a good understanding of the core themes of programming, and be able to write your own Python programs.
In addition, a short session will be offered as an introduction to the most basic linux commands, so that the participants can learn how to use various Python scripts and other tools in a pipeline in an automated manner.
Why Python?
Python has grown in the last ten years to become one of the most widely-used programming languages in biology. This increasing popularity reflects how easy Python is to learn compared with other languages, and how adaptable it is to a wide variety of different tasks. Simultaneously, the rise of data-driven approaches to science means that programming skills are becoming more and more important for biologists.
The course will include several live coding sections but with enough time for a more informal, practical sessions allowing attendees to get to grips with the language at their own pace. This provides the perfect starting point for scientists who would like to begin programming, while also catering to more experienced programmers who just want to learn the fundamentals of a new language.
Prerequisites: None
Participants should bring their own laptop to work with on the course, with the Anaconda Python Distribution (version 3.5) installed. If you would like help installing Anaconda, please email Malvika Sharan in advance of the course.