Overview and learning goals

This part of the book covers basic programming skills in Python, introduces data analysis with Python, and provides an introduction to basic data visualization. Chapter 1 provides the essential background about computers, programming, and the book’s Python environment so that you are able to get started. Chapter 2 presents an overview of basic programming concepts and how to use them in the Python programming language. Chapter 3 introduces how to perform basic data analysis using modern Python tools. And Chapter 4 covers the basics of how to visualize data using Python.

Learning goals

At the end of this part, you should be able to:

• Write programs that are easy to understand and share

• Record a log of the changes you make to your programs

• Create programs that ensure your science is reproducible

• Produce simple, effective data visualizations that make your results accessible and easy to understand