Python 🐍 Introduction

Welcome to this introductory course on Python! This course is intended to help you start programming in Python from little or no prior experience. There are video tutorials for each exercise if you have questions along the way. One of the unique things about this course is that you work on basic elements to help you with a temperature control project. You will see your Python code have a real effect by adjusting heaters to maintain a target temperature, just like a thermostat in a home or office.

One of the best ways to start or review a programming language is to work on a simple project. These exercises are designed to teach basic Python programming skills to help you design a temperature controller. Temperature control is found in many applications such as home or office HVAC, manufacturing processes, transportation, and life sciences. Even our bodies regulate temperature to a specific set point. This project is to regulate the temperature of the TCLab. Each TCLab has thermochromic (changes color with temperature) paint that turns from black to purple when the temperature reaches the target temperature of 37°C (99°F).

Final Project Objective: Program the TCLab to maintain the temperature at 37°C. Display the heater level with an LED indicator as the program is adjusting the temperature. Create a plot of the temperature and heater values over a 10 minute evaluation period.

To make the problem more concrete, suppose that you are designing a chicken egg incubator. Temperature, humidity, and egg rotation are all important to help the chicks develop. For this exercise, you will only focus on temperature control by adjusting the heater.

1. Overview
2. Debugging
3. Variables
4. Printing
5. Classes and Objects
6. Functions
7. Loops
8. Input
9. If Statements
10. Lists and Tuples
11. Dictionaries
12. Plotting

[marcoliberatore]

I think these are some of the clearest tutorials on python! Really thanks, I'll keep following you

[AJ-etvf]

Thank you for this! Using this playlist to re-learn Python.

[miladchalipa]

guarantee, I will follow each and every lessons

[TXfoxie]

I am excited to finish these tutorials this weekend. Even though I pass the beginner level of Python, I still have a hard time to start my own project. I want to design a temperature control for a garage as well as distance sensors, and camera security systems experimenting with raspberry pi and python.

[benrobinson]

I’m a 2nd year chemical engineering student in the UK. I’m wanting to learn code in my spare time and this looks awesome! Will the TCLab and software in the program be compatible with MAC? Thank you!

[TXfoxie]

I hope by the time i am done with this course, the egg I just bought will be hatched. My kids are already excited.

[ecem]

It just discovered TCLab and it looks very interesting and exciting for me! Thank you for sharing this great content. I am a chemical engineer with intermediate level programming knowledge. I like process modelling and process control very much. I also did projects with Matlab during university and my master thesis. However I couldn't find any job in this field in Berlin (I had to look just in Berlin) unfortunately and therefore I work in another field at the moment, however I miss process modelling and control field very much! For me it's such a great field, I will definitely look for the course and try doing the project. And I hope I can find a job in this field in the future 😊

[husseinkokash]

First of all thanks a lot for the efforts in putting this course together, as a beginner in programming and coming from Mechanical engineering background, what should I do after watching the videos? I see that this language has thousands of commands and functions that I will never be able to memorize? what to do next? also I see that there are libraries, interfaces and frameworks related to python? how to work with them? sorry but as a newbie its hard to put it together on knowing what are the steps to become a (decent) programmer.

[serajsersawi]

Hi! i'm excited to follow up with this course. I'm interested in temperature control systems, however, in my country it wouldn't be feasible to get the TCLab kit, will I be able to follow up with the rest of the course material?

[mukonank]

Just subscribed because I think you can help me to master python. I am doing chemical engineering, third year I am a novice in python. Can you make a video listing what engineers need to focus on in python.