Key Information

Tutor: Dr Chris Cooling 
Course Level: Level 2
Course Credit: 1 credit 
Prerequisites: It is recommended that you have completed Introduction to Python for Researchers (Online Course)
Duration: Approximately 10 hours 
Format: Self-paced asynchronous online Blackboard course 

Python is one of the most popular coding languages in the world. This course builds upon the skills learnt in Introduction to Python for Researchers and therefore requires a certain level of pre-existing Python knowledge. To take this course it is suggested that you complete the Introduction to Python for Researchers (Online Course) course or have a good level of understanding of the following topics from elsewhere:

  • Running Jupyter notebooks
  • Basic usage of ints, floats, strings and lists
  • Booleans and if-elif-else blocks
  • For loops and ranges
  • Functions
  • Importing modules
  • Errors and exception handling

Ideally, you will have worked independently on at least one small Python project before taking this course.

This course builds upon the fundamentals of programming with Python and you will learn more advanced aspects of the building blocks of the language and work with examples using the Jupyter notebook environment.
 

Syllabus
 

  • Assert statements
  • Augmented assignment
  • String formatting and manipulations 
  • List comprehension
  • Truthiness and Boolean arithmetic
  • Dictionaries, Tuples and Sets
  • Reading from and writing to files
  • While loops
  • More loops
  • Function arguments

Learning Outcomes: 

After completing this course, you will be better able to: 

  • Use more advanced constructs relating to loops
  • Create more complicated and flexible function interfaces
  • Utilise and efficiently generate a wide range of collections 
  • Write code which reads from and writes to files

Course Enrolment Information


This course is available to be studied by everyone at Imperial, including postgraduate students, undergraduates, and staff. Only doctoral students will receive an ECRI credit. To complete the course, you are required to achieve a threshold level of understanding which will be tested through a final exam. Instructions on how to receive a certificate as proof of completion can be found in the course in the section ‘Course Info.’

In order to self-enroll onto the course, please follow these instructions: Enrolment for Intermediate General Python