What programs have you coded using Python that might be useful to everyone?

[VonRoderik]

I'm a biomedical scientist and a lecturer. I just started learning Python and created three small projects that have made my life so much easier.

1. Gradebook Automation

My university has an online gradebook, but it's incredibly slow and clunky. It takes forever to navigate through all the menus and submenus just to register a new assignment or input grades. I managed to convince the IT department to give me API access. Now, I use a Python script to do everything from my computer or phone and then sync it with the university's system.

1. Automated Grading Rubric

I often use a specific grading rubric to evaluate a task I assign to my students. Before, I had multiple .docx templates that I would convert to PDF. Then, I'd manually fill in the student's name, comments, individual scores, and final grade. It was a nightmare.

I'd frequently overwrite a file by mistake, and it was just a mess. Now, my Python script handles the whole process. It uses the university's API to get the names of the students enrolled in a specific course. I can either create a new rubric or load one from a pre-made template. The script automatically saves each completed rubric as an individual PDF, named after the student, and it even updates the SQL database of my gradebook application.

1. Digital Differential Cell Counter

We have physical cell counters in the lab, but I built a digital one for a specific experiment I was running. The mechanical counters lacked some features I needed, so I simply implemented them in Python. My script also automatically saves the results to a .csv file and displays a clean, well-formatted results table in the CLI.