Seated in his cubicle, Baldric tried to block out the buzz of busy clerks scattered about the office. The usual mix of apathy, grumpiness, and existential dread filled his thoughts, but something was tugging at the back of his mind. It felt vaguely like a sense of…hope. Almost as if there was finally a way […]
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Intro to Python, Prologue – The Door
His feet carried him through corridor after dark corridor, soft steps echoing in the stillness. He could feel something in these halls calling to him, drawing him near. He turned a corner and there it was, what he somehow knew he would find. A door, seemingly hewn from the surrounding stone. While it bore no […]
Intro to Python, Preface – The Journey Ahead
Data Rebellion presents… Demons & Dwarves: An Intro to Python Adventure Course “ouro7” by Rex Housour, used under CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped original Table of Contents Prologue – The Door Chapter 1 – Arithmetic and Variables Chapter 2 – Strings and Lists Chapter 3 – Conditional Statements Chapter 4 – Functions Chapter 5 – Loops […]
Coding in Interactive Mode vs Script Mode
When programming in Python, you have two basic options for running code: interactive mode and script mode. Distinguishing between these modes can be slightly confusing for beginners, especially when you’re trying to follow along with others’ tutorials, so here’s a brief rundown. Interactive Mode Interactive mode (a.k.a. shell mode) is great for quickly and conveniently […]
April Fools’ Day Python Programming Prank
Do you know someone who Karma’s been slacking on lately? Looking for a harmless April Fools’ Day prank that allows you to flex your Pythonic muscles? Well look no further. Here’s a simple little Python programming prank you can quickly code up, customize for maximum effect, and maybe even learn about a couple useful Python […]
Break the Loop and Level Up Your Boring Office Job with Python
In the world of programming, there’s something known as a “loop”. Loops are great because, with a few simple lines of code, they can command your computer to do a limitless amount of work. They force your computer into a repeating cycle of manual labor that you, the programmer overlord, benefit from. Boy, aren’t loops […]
Programming the Hokeydex (Intro to Python Variables and Data Types)
The following post is a simple introduction to variables and the sorts of things commonly assigned to them in Python. If you are new to Python and/or programming, I encourage you to run each code block in your own editor as you read (repl.it is great for quickly running a little code). Think up questions […]
Yes, You Should Start Your First Programming Project
Imagine for a moment that learning to code is like climbing a mountain. The start of the climb is very steep, and most people end up falling back down. But a fair number of individuals get past this initial slope. They finish an online course or get half-way through an ebook or just generally mess […]
Selenium + PhantomJS Tutorial
WARNING: Selenium support for PhantomJS has been deprecated. Both Firefox and Chrome now support headless capabilities. Use one of those instead. This post borrows from the previous selenium-based post here. If you have heard of PhantomJS, would like to try it out, and are curious to see how it performs against other browsers such as […]
Scraping Financial Data with Selenium
Note: The following post is a significant step up in difficulty from the previous selenium-based post, Automate Your Browser: A Guided Selenium Adventure. Please see the start of that post for links on getting selenium set up if this is your first time using it. If you really do need financial data, there are likely […]