1.6 Getting Started
Before you start learning the Python programming language, I want to introduce you to a set of free resources that will benefit you throughout your programming career.
Table 1.1
| Website URL (Uniform Resource Locator) | Description |
|---|---|
| https://www.python.org/ | Main website for using Python. It includes links to download Python, a getting started guide, a beginner’s guide, Python news, documentation, access to the Python community, events, and much more! |
| https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-programming-language/ | Website that contains information about many different programming languages, tutorials, articles, sample questions, etc. |
| https://pypi.org/project/numpy/ | NumPy add on software package (library) that makes working with numbers easier |
| https://pypi.org/project/pendulum/ | Pendulum package that makes working dates and times easier |
| https://pypi.org/project/Pillow | Pillow package that provides support for image file format (NOTE: used to be known as PIL) |
| https://pypi.org/project/moviepy/ | MoviePy package that supports video editing and processing |
| https://pypi.org/project/requests/ | Requests package that allows you to work with hypertext transfer protocols (HTTP – a protocol used to transfer data over the internet) |
| https://www.tensorflow.org/ | TensorFlow package that assists you in training models used in machine learning and deep learning (neural networking) |
| https://pypi.org/project/PyQt5/ | PyQt package you will import and is used for creating a user interface, location and positioning services, Bluetooth connectivity, and more |
| https://pypi.org/project/pandas/ OR https://pandas.pydata.org/ | A data analysis package that works with structured and time series data and often used in data analytics (series and data frames) |
| https://pypi.org/project/pywin32/ | PyWin package that provides access to Microsoft Windows functionality |
| https://pypi.org/project/pytest/ | PyTest package that provides a framework to write small test cases to determine if complex code is functional |
| https://pypi.org/project/Django/ | Django is a web framework (software that provides a way of building and deploying web applications) |
| https://pypi.org/project/psycopg2/ | Psycopg2 package allows you to connect to a PostgreSQL database from your Python application |
One of the reasons Python is so popular is the community support. There are many more free add-ons or packages that you can use to make writing your Python program easier and quicker. You will learn more about installing packages later on in this course but for now, just realize that if you want to do something in your program, Python probably already has a package that will help you reduce the time required to create, write, test, and deploy your application.