In just under 30 minutes in the File I/O Tutorial I cover reading text files, writing textfiles, using binary files (with Python Imaging Library as the example) and persisting data with the pickle module.

Now that we’re finished with the raw episodes and our Learning Paths are usable I’m tying together all the Python videos (free+Club) into paths-of-learning that teach you about topics including:

• Starting to Program with Python
• Getting Python Installed
• Walking through fully-written programs (long step-by-step series)
• Python development environments and tools
• Python GUI development
• Django
• Web-application development

The learning-paths, and learning how to use them effectively, are very much a work in progress. As ever we welcome any and all constructive feedback.

Once we’re done with the Python learning paths we’ll start to tie together all the other topics in ShowMeDo (heck – we have well over 1000 screencast tutorials now!) to make learning much easier.

Related posts:

1. Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers Series Completed
2. 15 New Learning Paths (mostly for Pythonistas)
3. Get Going with Python 2: Python Development Environments (IDEs) part 1

The series is short – just two episodes lasting for 14 minutes.  If you’re new to Python and you want to learn how it works, our Club series are just for you.

Club membership is gifted for free to all authors, anyone else can buy access with a simple one-off payment.  You might want to follow new video announces in our blog or on twitter.

Related posts:

1. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration
2. More Club videos for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers
3. Python Beginners – Functions series finished for Club ShowMeDo

“I like the beginner videos, because you are confident on what the student must prepare to accept initially as dogma, and suggest to trust you for later explanation and pragmatize the knowledge-gaps.  You also show the PEPs, as a great way of showing how software is maintained when tens of thousands of people are behind it.” – Gasto

These videos are aimed at new Python programmers who want to understand how to write their own functions and how to avoid making time-eating mistakes.  The 6 episodes last 5-10 minutes each.  The series is available to Club ShowMeDo members.

“So much help for beginners like me, many thanks to Ian.” – hoya

1. Overview (free)
   
2. Defining a Function (Club-only)
   
3. Arguments and Return Values 1 (Club-only)
4. Arguments and Return Values 2 (Club-only)
5. Variable Scope (Club-only)
6. Nested and Private Function (Club-only)

Club videos are for paying members (a year’s membership costs less than a couple of books).  Anyone who contributes a video to ShowMeDo gets free Club membership for life.  Over 140 screencasts exist in the Club now, on top of the 760 free videos in the site.

Related posts:

1. “What does Python look like?” series finished in Club ShowMeDo
2. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration
3. New Club series for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers

Batteries Included – The Python Standard Library has 9 episodes for Club-subscribers which introduce the core elements of file-system access, using the shell, regular expressions, math, dates and talking to websites.

“I will thank you for getting this in-depth basic explanation of the basic modules. It really fills in some missing holes on my knowledge of using this.” – JZA

Each video is around 5 minutes long and includes examples of normal use.

Episodes:

1. Series overview
2. The “sys” module
3. The “os” module
4. The “shutil” module (shell access)
   
5. The “glob” module (file pattern matching)
   
6. The “re” module (regular expressions)
   
7. The “math” module
8. The “urllib2” module
9. The “datetime” module

Other recent Python videos include Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development, Python for Math Education, Database Programming, Google App Engine and pyWin32

Related posts:

1. New Club videos for “Batteries Included” series on The Python Standard Library
2. New series – Batteries included – The Python standard library
3. “What does Python look like?” series finished in Club ShowMeDo

By the end of the series you’ll be able to read other people’s Python code more confidently and you’ll have useful examples for building your own loops.

The complete series runs for 30 minutes, each episode is around 5 minutes long and includes examples:

1. Overview (Loops and Iteration)
2. For on a List
3. For using a range
4. For using enumerate
5. For on a set
6. For on a dict(ionary)
7. While loops

Other recent videos include What does Python Look Like?,  Agile Python/Pylons Development for pySvnManager,  Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development and Python for Math Education, Developing emol!.

Related posts:

1. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration
2. Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers Series Completed
3. More Club videos for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers

For his first series Lucas covers elements of The Python Standard Library.

Half of the videos are published, the series will be fully published in the next two weeks.  Each video is around 5 minutes long and includes examples of normal use.

Episodes:

1. Series overview
2. The “sys” module
3. The “os” module
4. The “shutil” module
5. The “glob” module
6. The “re” module [forthcoming]
7. The “math” module [forthcoming]
8. The “urllib2? module [forthcoming]
9. The “datetime” module [forthcoming]

Other recent Python videos include Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development, Python for Math Education, Database Programming, Google App Engine and pyWin32

Related posts:

1. New series – Batteries included – The Python standard library
2. “Batteries Included” Python beginner Club series now finished
3. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration

We’re very happy to welcome him as a Club author and we’re excited to now be offering a greater range of introductory Python videos to Python beginners each week.

“Useful. It couldn’t be clearer.”, Gasto.

In this series Lucas spends 5 minutes per module giving the new Python user an overview of what’s in each module and how it should be used.  New episodes will be published over the coming weeks.

1. Series overview (Free)
2. The “sys” module
3. The “os” module
4. The “datetime” module [forthcoming]
5. The “urllib2″ module [forthcoming]
6. The “math” module [forthcoming]
7. The “re” module [forthcoming]
8. The “glob” module [forthcoming]
9. The “shutil” module [forthcoming]

Other recent Python videos include Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development, Python for Math Education, Database Programming, Google App Engine and pyWin32

Related posts:

1. New Club videos for “Batteries Included” series on The Python Standard Library
2. “Batteries Included” Python beginner Club series now finished
3. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration

1. Overview (Variables and Containers) (Free)
2. Variables are Objects
3. Variable Scope
4. int and float
5. decimal
6. str(ings)
7. unicode
8. bool(eans)
9. list
10. set
11. dict
12. tuple
13. None
14. printing

We created this series to help guide new Pythonistas into the language based on feedback from our Club members.

“Great video, lots of good basic information to help me start learning Python. Easy to watch the videos and then open up an interactive prompt and try out the new features I just learned. I also like the web links for additional details.”

The Club videos are a part of our 330 Python tutorial screencasts, the majority are free and contributed by our open-source authors (all authors get free access to all the Club videos).  If you’ve got something to share, please come and join us – we’re friendly and we work to publicise great Python tools!

Other recent videos include What does Python Look Like?,  Agile Python/Pylons Development for pySvnManager,  Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development and Python for Math Education, Developing emol!.

Related posts:

1. More Club videos for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers
2. New Club series for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers
3. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration

10 of the 14 episodes are published, the last four follow in the next two weeks:

1. Overview (Variables and Containers) (Free)
2. Variables are Objects
3. Variable Scope
4. int and float
5. decimal
6. str(ings)
7. unicode
8. bool(eans)
9. list
10. set
11. dict [to come]
12. tuple [to come]
13. None [to come]
14. printing [to come]

We created this series to help guide new Pythonistas into the language based on feedback from our Club members.

“Great video, lots of good basic information to help me start learning Python. Easy to watch the videos and then open up an interactive prompt and try out the new features I just learned. I also like the web links for additional details.”

The Club videos are a part of our 330 Python tutorial screencasts, the majority are free and contributed by our open-source authors (all authors get free access to all the Club videos).

Recent free videos include Agile Python/Pylons Development for pySvnManager,  Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development and Python for Math Education.

Related posts:

1. Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers Series Completed
2. New Club series for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers
3. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration

The first 4 of 7 episodes are published, the other 3 will follow over the coming weeks.  Each episodes is about 5 minutes long, by the end of the series you’ll have seen for and while used with a list, sets, dictionary, range, enumerate, len, raw_input, break, continue and else:

1. Overview (Loops and Iteration) (Free)
2. For on a List
3. For using a range
4. For using enumerate
5. For on a set [forthcoming]
6. For on a dict(ionary) [forthcoming]
7. While loops [forthcoming]

This series is a part of Club ShowMeDo, these videos are for paying subscribers (Club membership is given for free to anyone who submits their own screencast).  The Club screencasts are a part of our 330 Python screencasts, most of which are freely available, created by us and our open-source authors.

Other recent Club videos include Database Programming, Google App Engine and pyWin32.

Recent free videos include Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development and Python for Math Education.

Related posts:

1. “Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration” – Club Series fully published
2. New Club series for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers
3. “What does Python look like?” series finished in Club ShowMeDo

In 14 episodes I introduce the user to all the common Python datatypes and containers.  This includes showing common usage and explaining newer ways of doing things with Python 2.5 (and linking to examples of out-dated docs so the user is aware of older techniques).

“Excellent tutorial – Well thought out example, clear, with a logical progression that builds on itself. In the end the goal of the tut is attained very well.”

Each episode is 5-10 minutes long, the first seven are published and the rest follow over the coming weeks:

1. Overview (Variables and Containers) (Free)

2. Variables are Objects

3. Variable Scope

4. int and float

5. decimal

6. str(ings)

7. unicode

The aim of the series is to give a visual introduction to all the common datatypes that the user will see when learning Python.  This backs-up the material that can be found on the web and in books – screencasts are great for building up memories of ’seeing it in action’.

This series is a part of Club ShowMeDo, these videos are for paying subscribers (Club membership is given for free to anyone who submits their own screencast).  The Club screencasts are a part of our 311 Python screencasts, most of which are freely available, created by us and our open-source authors.

“Great video, lots of good basic information to help me start learning Python. Easy to watch the videos and then open up an interactive prompt and try out the new features I just learned. I also like the web links for additional details.”

If you want to try the Club, remember that we offer a full refund guarantee if the Club isn’t what you expect and you are free to cancel your subscription at any time.  We want you to feel comfortable whilst trying us out.  We’re always open to feedback and suggestions for the topics you’d like to see us cover.

Other recent Club videos include Database Programming, Google App Engine and pyWin32.

Recent free videos include Making a Django Dev Environment, TurboGears 2, Agile Python Development and Python for Math Education.

Related posts:

1. More Club videos for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers
2. Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers Series Completed
3. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration

“Thank you for this resource. I appreciate your efforts to help others.”

Here’s the layout for the series:

1. 3 Minute Oveview (What Does Python Look Like?) (Free)
2. Variables and Naming
3. Write and Run (and Unit Tests), No Compiling
4. Indentation and Colons
5. Loops and Conditions
6. Functions and Classes

This series is a part of Club ShowMeDo, these screencasts are available to paying subscribers  (or for free if you author a video for us).

The club videos form a subset of our 311 Python screencasts, many of the Python screencasts are produced by our open-source authors who like to share their skills.

Other recent Club videos include Database Programming, Google App Engine and pyWin32.

Related posts:

1. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration
2. Python Beginners – Functions series finished for Club ShowMeDo
3. New Club series for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers

1. Introduction to the Series (Free)
2. The Python Database API (DBAPI)
3. Connecting Python to the Database
4. Using and Manipulating a Database from Within a Python Progam
5. Creating a Database With Python

The aim of the series is to show you how to start talking to databases from within Python, assuming you already know how to write some Python code.

The Club now has 9 series aimed a new/intermediate Python programmers.  The 10th series on ‘Variables and Printing – Python Beginners’ will be starting soon.

The subscription price will start to rise soon to reflect the larger range of topics that are available, if you subscribe now you’ll always be charged the current lower rate (your costs won’t go up in the future even though we keep publishing new material each week).

Related posts:

1. Introduction to Python web-programming: CGI
2. Python Beginners – ‘if, else, elif’ Introduction
3. Python Beginners Completed! – File Input/Output

“Google has chosen Python as its initial application development language, allowing new users to leverage the considerable power and usability of such frameworks as Django or Pylons. This series will introduce the GAE, focussing on the use of its Python SDK and webapp framework. …”

This series currently looks at:

• Overview of the series
• Installing the SDK + ‘Hello world’
• Using the framework
• Google’s User Service
• Handling Forms

Related posts:

1. Google App Engine videos coming to ShowMeDo (also wx+DB videos)
2. Choosing a Python Web Framework I – bottling it
3. ShowMeDo: Learn Django: Create a Wiki in 20 minutes (1 video)

“If you’re coming to Python from a different language then you’ll want to know how the syntax looks. If you’re new to programming then you’ll probably want an idea of what to expect too! Here I give you a high-level view of Python’s code and common functions and I link to examples from Java, C and C++ to provide comparisons.”, What Does Python Look Like?

This will be a 6-part series lasting 30 minutes.  The first two episodes are up, the next four follow in the coming weeks.

The next series will be much longer (about 12 episodes) and will look at all of Python’s fundamental data types along with normal usage and working examples.  Details will be posted on the Club page.

Related posts:

1. New Club series for Python Beginners – Common Variables and Containers
2. “Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration” – Club Series fully published
3. New Club Series for Python Beginners – Loops and Iteration