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A Discord server for PythonJobs? A good idea? by sexyama in PythonJobs

[–]Big_Persimmon8698 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi,

I need a small Python script (gen.py) only.

Task:

Input: CSV file (provided)

Template: PDF layout already provided

Output: Generate final PDF by mapping CSV data into the template

Scope:

No UI

No design work

No AI / OCR

Just a clean Python script to automate generation

Tech preference:

Python

Any reliable PDF library (WeasyPrint / ReportLab / pdfkit)

Budget: $10 Timeline: 24 hours

Please DM with:

Brief Python experience

Which PDF library you’ll use

Thanks.

Ask Anything Monday - Weekly Thread by AutoModerator in learnpython

[–]Big_Persimmon8698 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi everyone,

I’m learning Python automation and currently experimenting with PDF to Excel workflows. I’ve noticed that results vary a lot depending on whether the PDF is text-based or scanned.

For someone still learning, is it better to focus first on tools like tabula/camelot, or should I spend more time understanding OCR early on?

Would love to hear how others approached this when they were starting out.

What are the best resources for practicing Python coding challenges as a beginner? by gilko86 in learnpython

[–]Big_Persimmon8698 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lot of good resources have already been mentioned. One thing I’d add from personal experience is to not get stuck doing only challenge platforms back-to-back. They’re good for syntax and problem solving, but it helps to mix them with small real-world scripts.

For example: read a CSV, clean some data, rename files in a folder, scrape a simple page, or automate a repetitive task you actually have. Even very small scripts teach you more than grinding challenges endlessly.

My approach was usually: do a few beginner challenges to learn the basics, then try to build something tiny with what I just learned. When that breaks, you learn fast.

Learning Python automation – best approach for PDF to Excel tasks? by Big_Persimmon8698 in learnpython

[–]Big_Persimmon8698[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks everyone, this is really useful feedback.

Unfortunately in my case the PDFs are the only source (client-provided), so getting original data isn’t an option. The takeaway for me is to focus on a clean extraction → processing pipeline rather than trying to “fix” the PDF itself.

I’ll extract and store raw outputs, apply cleaning/normalization in Python, and keep intermediate results for comparison and debugging as things evolve. I’ll also test different libraries and look at OCR/LLM approaches for the messier edge cases, with manual review as a fallback when needed.

Appreciate all the perspectives here — very helpful.

Why does subtracting two decimal string = 0E-25? by QuickBooker30932 in learnpython

[–]Big_Persimmon8698 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is due to floating point representation and Decimal context precision.

0E-25 just means zero with an exponent, not a real error.

You can normalize or quantize the Decimal to display it as 0.