Python Training

Prerequisites

Some familiarity with programming concepts (in any language) is assumed.

Expected Outcomes

By the end of the course, you will have all the knowledge you need to write and interact with Python code for a variety of purposes, with a particular focus on controlling machines, automating system processes, and interacting with APIs. You will understand the elegance and power of Python and have had experience using several important standard and third-party libraries, including for parsing text and log files, matching strings with regular expressions, scripting tasks via SSH connections, network device configuration, and other essential tasks in network and system automation.

Course Syllabus

Session 1: Python Basics

Day 1 covers how to use Python for basic scripting and automation tasks, including tips and tricks for making this easy:

• Why Python? What’s possible?
• The Jupyter notebook for rapid prototyping
• Modules and packages
• Python concepts: an introduction through examples
• Essential data types: strings, tuples, lists, dicts
• Worked example: retrieving real-time data from a REST web API
• Raising and handling exceptions

Session 2: Handling, Analyzing, and Presenting Data in Python

Python offers amazingly productive tools like Pandas for working with different kinds of data. Day 2 gives a thorough introduction to analyzing and visualizing data easily:

• Reading and writing essential data formats: CSV, Excel, SQL, time-series (others on request)
• Indexing and selecting data in Pandas
• Data fusion: joining & merging datasets
• Summarization with “group by” operations; pivot tables
• Visualization and statistical graphics with Plotly Express
• Worked example: creating automated reports
• Creating interactive dashboards with Streamlit

Session 3: System Automation

Day 3 gives you a tour of the amazing standard library and important 3rd-party tools for automating various systems-level tasks with Python:

Morning:

• Files, bytes, and encodings
• Handling files & paths; dates, times, and IP addresses
• Compressing and uncompressing data (zip, tar, bzip2 etc.)
• Cryptographic hashing of file contents (SHA256, MD5 etc.)

Afternoon:

• Parsing JSON, YAML, INI config files. [Optional: XML]
• Automatically creating config files via templating with Jinja2
• Process and system monitoring with psutil
• Automating local commands via subprocess
• Creating scripts with command-line-arguments

Session 4: Network Automation

Day 4 shows you how to automate various tasks involving networks and control network devices:

• Accessing REST web APIs in more depth (sessions, OAuth, ...)
• Network automation via SSH with Fabric
• Automating network device cofiguration via SSH with Netmiko
• Creating REST web APIs with Flask; OpenAPI
• Parsing log files (e.g. Cisco IOS) with regular expressions
• Working with DNS from Python; direct socket connections
• Email automation
• Intro to packet manipulation with Scapy, with applications (network discovery, penetration testing)

Personal help

Other information

Format:

Courses are conducted online via live video meeting and using Python Charmers' cloud notebook server for sharing code with the trainer(s).

Computer:

Hardware: we recommend ≥ 8 GB of RAM and a webcam. Preferably also multiple screens and a quiet room (or headset mic).

Software: a modern browser: Chrome, Firefox, or Safari (not IE or Edge); and Zoom.

Timing:

Most courses will run from 9:00 to roughly 17:00 (AEST) each day, with breaks of 50 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes each for morning and afternoon tea.

Certificate of completion:

We will provide you a certificate if you complete the course and successfully answer the majority of the exercise questions.

Materials:

You will have access to all the course materials via the cloud server. We will also mail you cheat sheets and a USB stick with all the materials for reference.