workshop-python

Description

This course provides a practical introduction to the writing of Python programs for the complete novice. Participants are lead through the core aspects of Python illustrated by a series of example programs. Upon completion of the course, attentive participants will be able to write simple Python programs from scratch and to customize more complex code to fit their needs.

Important Dates

Application	Date
…opens on	June 4^th, 2026
…closes on	September 11^th, 2026
…is accepted/denied on	September 14^th, 2026

Register for the course, using this form

If you don’t receive information according to the above dates, please contact edu.intro-python@nbis.se

Audience and Prerequisites

The course is suitable for complete beginners and assumes no prior programming experience (beyond the ability to use a text editor).
A very basic knowledge of UNIX would be an advantage, such as navigating through folders and issuing commands at a shell prompt. We will not teach Unix in detail: Other course are available at SciLifeLab for it.
Bring your own laptop with python installed for the practical exercises.
Due to limited space the course can accommodate maximum of 25 participants in Uppsala and 15 in Umeå and Lund. If we receive more applications, participants will be selected based on several criteria. Selection criteria include correct entry requirements, motivation to attend the course as well as gender and geographical balance.

Course Content

During this course, you will learn about:

Core concepts about Python syntax: Data types, blocks and indentation, variable scoping, iteration, functions, methods and arguments
Different ways to control program flow using loops and conditional tests
Regular expressions and pattern matching
Writing functions and best-practice ways of making them usable
Reading from and writing to files
Code packaging and Python libraries
How to work with biological data using external libraries (if time allows).

Learning Objectives

After this course you should be able to:

Edit and run Python code
Write file-processing python programs that produce output to the terminal and/or external files.
Create stand-alone python programs to process biological data
Know how to develop your skills in Python after the course (including debugging)

Format

This course runs in parallel on-site in Uppsala, Umeå and Lund. Lectures will be streamed from our Uppsala site
Presentations and demonstrations
Practical exercises (both as lab assignments with assistants in the classroom and on your own)

Main teachers: Nina Norgren, Dimitrios Bampalikis, Nanjiang Shu

Prior to the course, you can read a companion book “Programming Python”, or “Learning Python”. Such a book will also prove useful for your programming tasks, after the course is over. It is however not required, and material will be presented in class.

Course fee

A course fee of 3000 SEK will be invoiced to accepted participants. This includes lunches, coffee and fika, and course dinner.

NOTE: NBIS cannot invoice individuals.

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