Women in Big Data got together at Cloudera for “Just Enough Python” course on February 27, 2017. The class was specifically designed to give both an overview and deep dive into Python. It was designed to teach Python as rapidly and directly as possible. Fifty women professionals got together to learn “just enough” Python so that learning the language would not be a distraction from learning to develop with Hadoop or Spark, and to work with big data.

The training was led by Dr Mary Myers, who has already taught Hadoop Essentials at Women in Big Data Forums in the past. The class was heavy on hands-on exercises. Each attendee had their own server to work on, and used a laptop as a browser.

Through instructor-led discussion, as well as hands-on exercises, the participants of the training have learnt:
• How to define, assign, and access variables
• Which collection types are commonly used, how they differ, and how to use them
• How to control program flow using conditional statements, looping, iteration, and exception handling
• How to define and use both named and anonymous (Lambda) functions
• How to organize code into separate modules
• How to use important features of standard Python libraries, including mathematical and regular expression support
After completing this exciting and intensive training, we can all say that now we know “just enough” Python!