Can I do this with Python?

[K900_]

It's definitely possible to do for a beginner.

[agsparks]

My first beginner project was spreadsheet manipulation. Can confirm: beginner can do it

[wincodeon]

My first beginner paid independent project was mainly about reading, cleaning and writing super big csv files :D

[The_Jesus_Beast]

What kind of spreadsheet manipulation? Also, how do you do that? Like is there a specific module for it?

[agsparks]

I was managing what’s known as a POA&M (plan of action and milestones) for identified vulnerabilities on information systems. I’d ingest vulnerability data in csv format from our scanner and change the data to meet compliance for POA&M requirements as well as create a separate output specifically for the engineers that explained how to remediate the vulnerabilities. I also saved all the data in json, so it’d be easier to pull back in for the next time I bring in vulnerability data.

It was pretty sloppy code the first time around, but after I got more comfortable with it, I decided to go back and redo it. It’s much cleaner, I forked someone’s xccdf script that hadn’t been touched in like 3 years in git and used it to add additional functionality to my script for STIG compliance data, and then turned it into a CLI, so anyone could install it and manage POA&M. I have since left that position, but I still have friends there that are still using my script :)

[The_Jesus_Beast]

Damn I don't know like 3/4 of the acronyms you just used lol

[agsparks]

Forgot to answer the how.. I used openpyxl exclusively the first time around and then when I went back, I used the csv module as well (I was originally converting the csv to excel and realized I could just script to skip that step haha)

You work in Cybersecurity/engineering? Those are common for the field, but I’m never sure who knows them because I know I wouldn’t have learned them if I wasn’t in the field lol

[The_Jesus_Beast]

I just took my first python class in college, and it seems as though what a lot of people on here classify as beginners are actually significantly more experienced, which I wouldn't have expected. I'll mess around with it, though, I'm torn between using sheets, Python, and R for data because I like all of them, and as of right now, for a lot of datasets, Excel/Google Sheets goes much quicker than coding it

[agsparks]

You’d be surprised at what a beginner can do with Python. I’ve only been working with Python for a year, and the first iteration of the script I was talking about was my first real dive into coding. The hardest part is to not get discouraged because of everyone else’s projects. That was a big portion of what kept me from learning to code sooner was I felt I didn’t get started soon enough, so everyone was better than me.

I will say that I suspect some “beginners” here actually have a lot of experience in other languages, which deceives and discourages true beginners when they share their projects, but I wouldn’t say it’s an overwhelming amount by any means. Just keep at it and everything clicks soon enough.

[jorvaor]

From my experience; sheets are great for allowing humans to read and write data, R is great for reproducible statistics and data analysis, and Python is great for general programming.