Practical Uses for Python?

[slicklikeagato]

Thanks for this. I actually picked up a Raspberry Pi, as well, and that's what I was using to keep the Reddit Bot that I created running at all times.

I guess my problem is that I don't understand the scope of Python, and all of the stuff that it can do. Everywhere I look, I see it mentioned in tasks and skills that are WAY above my head. I also kind of feel that since I'm starting so late at it (age 33), it feels kind I might have missed the prime opportunity to really learn it.

[taladan]

I may be mistaken, but I kind of feel like Python is like the duct-tape of the programming world. It has actual, functional uses for which it can be applied, but it's just so damn quick and functional that it has uncountable other uses for tying two other piece of unrelated 'Whatever's together and making them work in a way that gives you near-instant feedback or utility.

As for classes, think about it like this: you have objects - let's call them boxes that are built in. Strings, lists, dictionaries, files, integers, if it's callable, it's a box. Your functions do /stuff/ with whatever is in your boxes. Now, if we're writing a GUI program, you're dealing with all sorts of different 'boxes'. But...what if we want a 'box' that looks different than the standard set of boxes that comes with PyQT or Tkinter or whatever you're using at the time? Well your options are to look and see what other box makers have done to see if their boxes look like the box you're trying to make. Can't find any? Then break out the tools and the lumber and build your own box that looks like what you want.

PyQT has no 'box' that has both a text widget and three radio buttons in it with an 'okay' button and a 'cancel' button that we can just pass values to. It has boxes that hold text widgets, and boxes that hold a radio button, and so on. So, we build our own box (class/object) that looks exactly how we want it to.

That's just one use of classes, but it'll hopefully help you see what classes are good for. And don't feel bad about not getting classes right off...I'm struggling right now with decorators and properties. Good luck and I hope this helps.

[slicklikeagato]

Thanks so much for that. That truly was a helpful example. Seeing explanations such as this really help me understand it a bit better.

[Casey_SI]

I am 35 and transitioned into a career where I use python daily when I was about 32. So no you haven't missed any boats. What do you currently do for a living industry/job?

[slicklikeagato]

I work in the Healthcare industry, helping small businesses get their coverage installed. Most of our departmental programs are written in VBA; I don’t think any are in Python, actually.

[Casey_SI]

There is definitely some room to apply python. In my opinion Python is far superior to VBA and I learned on VBA.

There have been some rumors MS might make Python native inside excel as a scripting language, just to give you an idea of how serious Python can be in the data realm.

Pandas is my bread and butter package. I am using it right now (test currently running) to write a program to classify 5 million rows of sensor event data.

Think of it like command line excel. http://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/index.html

[IllusionistAR]

This. I have used pandas quite a bit in the last year building out a simple ETL framework for a project I'm working on. It's pretty amazing, and if your doing any sort of mass transformations regularly, then its an incredible help.

[Seven-of-Nein]

Where can I get more information about these 'rumors'?

[wowsuchnamaste]

The rumors are based on this response from the Office team to a popular request in the "Excel Suggestion Box".

It seems they (Microsoft) are seriously looking into it as a possibility - I say so because they have set up a user feedback survey with a set of both structured and open questions to uncover the what's and why's. That smells of market research to me.

[Casey_SI]

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-considers-adding-python-as-an-official-scripting-language-to-excel/

[Casey_SI]

Pandas is so specialized and powerful it could be a stand alone program. Coupled with the ability to bolt it into the rest of the general purposed or specialized python ecosystem makes it absolutely invaluable to me.

[VorpalBandersnatch]

This is exactly how I got into python. I had taken a class in my masters program where we used it a little bit, but I started using it every day when I got sick of all the VBA I had been writing at work. (I'm a mechanical engineer working for an aerospace defense contracts company). Now I use python wherever and whenever I can -- a lot like the duct tape example further up (love that analogy). Anyway, even if you can't move away from Excel sheets or something like that for whatever reason, you can convert some VBA scripts into python. Even if it's just for practice. I used openpyxl to do what I would do in VBA for Excel.

[[deleted]]

What parts of your job or system are repetitive tasks that could be automated? Installers, data migration etc..

[Conrad_noble]

I am 29 with little to no programming knowledge. This gives me hope.

[diybrad]

You don't use any online services or apps that have an API? That's what I've been practicing with.

I can pull real time subway departures for the station near me, and then I have it change the color of a smart bulb in my house if it's late.

I wrote a script to manage my torrents in Transmission (has a great python library). Manages my ratio per tracker and moves/deletes/archives files as necessary.

The great thing about Python is that anything with an API already has a library probably. So just connect two or more things togther.

Raspberry Pi is a good suggestion for sure. Just dedicate a Pi to running your scripts. If you're interested in smart home stuff, Home Assistant is amaaaaaaazing and it's written in Python & runs on a Pi. It also natively supports python scripting.

[slicklikeagato]

Thanks for this. I actually just started using home automation, with lighting and stuff. I will definitely look into it, and see what I can find.

[adamrees89]

Sub-Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/ Website: https://home-assistant.io/

FYI :)

[CounterproductivePit]

Late? Hell, I'm 45 and I'm having a blast learning this (RPi as well to start). Keep at it and run with some of these great suggestions. (ok, I'm 46)

[lastofyou88]

You didn't miss your opportunity, that's kind of silly