| Version 235 (modified by , 10 months ago) ( diff ) |
|---|
Programming in Python (for quantitative biologists) ¶
Learning objectives and expected learning outcomes ¶
The course introduces students to imperative programming by referring to the Python language.
The course is divided in two parts:
- Python and its object-oriented features;
- Python libraries that can be useful in scientific computation and data analysis, in particular NumPy and pandas.
Students will acquire the ability to write and tune a program that automatizes simple computational tasks; they will be able to understand how a small piece of Python code works, to find the reasons of a malfunction and to correct it appropriately. Moreover, students will be able to use the NumPy and pandas library to analyze tabular data.
A.A. 2024/25 ¶
The course will take place in the first semester. Currently, we expect to lecture on-premises, lectures will NOT be streamed. You can find some videos from last year course in the 2020/21 web page linked below.
The course will have a total of 40 hours of lessons and 16 hours of lab practice. The exact schedule will be announced during the lessons (the first lesson is on October 1st).
Syllabus ¶
- The Python programming language.
- Native data types.
- Functions, selections and iterations.
- Basic data structures: lists, tuples, dictionaries.
- Object-oriented encapsulation.
- Iterators and generators.
- Files.
- Numpy multi-dimensional arrays and matrices.
- Data manipulation and analysis with pandas.
Any Python3 book can be used to support the learning of the general part, for example J. Hunt "A Beginners Guide to Python 3 Programming" (The electronic version is free for Unimi students). NumPy and pandas have excellent online documentation.
The examination is based on laboratory exercises. A final mark (on a 30 point scale) is given, by taking into account the knowledge of the subject and tools, and the clarity of the solutions.
