diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 3035740..01906eb 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -12,30 +12,30 @@ to make it freely available under a Creative Commons license. Enjoy! --David Beazley ([https://dabeaz.com](https://dabeaz.com)), [@dabeaz](https://twitter.com/dabeaz) -## Prerequisites and Target Audience +## What is This? The material you see here is the heart of an instructor-led Python -training course. It is typically taught in-person over the span of -three or four days--requiring approximately 25-35 hours of work. This -includes the completion of approximately 130 hands-on coding exercises. +training course used for corporate training and professional +development. It is usually taught in-person over the span of three or +four days--requiring approximately 25-35 hours of work. This includes +the completion of approximately 130 hands-on coding exercises. + +## Target Audience The target audience is scientists, engineers, and programmers who already have experience in at least one other programming language. No prior knowledge of Python is required, but knowledge of common programming topics is assumed. Most participants find the course -challenging--even if they've already been doing a bit of Python +challenging--even if they've already been doing a bit of Python programming. +## Course Objectives + The goal of this course is to cover foundational aspects of Python programming with an emphasis on script writing, data manipulation, and -program organization. The course does NOT focus on Python tooling, -IDEs, or third-party packages (i.e., it's not focused on using data -science libraries, Jupyter Notebooks, or on how to deploy an app to -the cloud). It IS a course that aims to cover fundamental ideas about -how Python programs work and how they are organized. Students WILL -have to write scripts, functions and classes, work with code spread -across multiple source files, deal with modules, and solve various -problems related to refactoring. +program organization. + +## Requirements To complete this course, you need nothing more than a basic installation of Python 3.6 or newer and time to work on it--especially @@ -45,30 +45,16 @@ the latter. This is not a course for absolute beginners on how to program a computer. It is assumed that you already have programming experience -in some other programming language or Python itself. You're not -going to find cute stories about looping--or why you would want to do it. - -This is not a course that aims to cover absolutely everything there is to know -about Python. There is only so much material you can cover in 3-4 days -before heads start to explode. If you're working through the course -and wondering "why wasn't X covered?" there's probably a good -reason--it was once included and it made everyone's head explode. -Either that or there simply wasn't enough time to cover it. - -This is not a course that aims to cover reference material, tricks, or -recipes that you could just look up on -[python.org](https://python.org), Google, or Stack Overflow. Yes, -there is enough reference material given to be functional, but the -course is more focused on how to work with and think about Python -coding. +in some other programming language or Python itself. This is not a course for software engineers on how to write or maintain a one-million line Python program. I don't write programs -like that and neither should you. Delete something already! -Python is a great language for personal productivity, prototyping ideas, -and hacking cool things together. The course is about doing THAT in -a way that's both practical and not so "hacky" that your co-workers -give you stink-eye when they look at your code. +like that, nor do most companies who use Python, and neither should +you. Delete something already! Python is a great language for +personal productivity, prototyping ideas, and getting work done. The +course is about doing THAT in a way that's practical, accessible, and +not so "hacky" that your co-workers give you stink-eye when they look +at your code. ## Take me to the Course Already!