Coding in Python – Based on Python All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition, this program guides you through the Python language and then takes you on a tour through some cool libraries and technologies (the Raspberry Pi, robotics, AI, data science, and more) that all revolve around the Python language. When you work on new projects and new technologies, Python is there with a diverse number of libraries just waiting for you to use.
This is a hands-on project, with examples and code throughout. You are expected to enter the code, run it, and then modify it to do what you want. You don’t just buy a robot; you build it so you can understand all the pieces and can make sense of the way Python works with the robot to control its motors and sensors. Artificial intelligence is complicated, but Python helps make a significant part of it accessible. Data science is complicated, but Python helps you do data science more easily. Robotics is complicated, but Python gives you the code that controls the robot. And Python even enables you to tie these pieces together and use, say, AI in robotics.
In this program, we take you through the basics of the Python language in small, easy-to-understand steps. After we have introduced you to the language, we step into the world of artificial intelligence, exploring programming in machine learning and neural networks using Python and TensorFlow and working on real problems and real software, not just toy applications.
After that, we’re off to the exciting world of big data and data science with Python. We look at big public data sets such as medical and environmental data.
Finally, you get to experience the magic of what we call physical computing. Using the inexpensive, small, and incredibly popular Raspberry Pi computer, we show you how to use Python to control motors and read sensors. This is a lead-up to the final minibook, “Building Robots,” where you build a robot and control it with Python and your own programs, even using artificial intelligence. This is not your mother’s RC car.
