PyClass

As of July 2025, the Python class has ended and there are no meetings. There are currently no plans to start it back up, but you can!

PyClass is an introductory Python course run by the Noisebridge community. It helps students solve common programming problems while learning about the language. WHEN: Mondays from 7PM -9PM. Check Meetup. If you have not been to Noisebridge before, please try to arrive 15 minutes early so that you can be introduced to the space. ORGANIZERS: Travis Briggs (tmoney on Discord)

Welcome to the Noisebridge PyClass!

The class is completely free and open to complete beginners and those with some Python experience alike! We will have lectures as well as some class/group exercises we will work on together, so please bring a laptop if you can.

GitHub

The course materials are on GitHub as well, but if you're using sfpythonlab.com you shouldn't have to look there.

YouTube

Some of the course lessons from series 5 have been recorded and posted on YouTube. Be sure to check them out!

Course schedule and links

The overall class structure is 12 weeks of in person lectures. The first half of lectures, on programming and Python basics, will feature half lecture time and half discussion and practice time. The later lectures will be done with some discussion time but little in person practice. The rough estimate of what week is what is listed below, but note that some lessons aren't assigned to calendar dates yet, because we may take weeks off for holidays or when the instructor is not available.

Series 1

Series 1 took place between May 8, 2023 and August 14, 2023.

Series 2 took place between September 11, 2023 and November 27, 2023.

Series 3 took place between March 11, 2024 and July 8, 2024.

Series 4 took place between October 28, 2024 and Feb 10, 2025.

• May 8, 2023 - Basics featuring Mastodon - Week 1
• May 15, 2023 - Control structures and booleans - Week 2
• May 22, 2023 - No class!
• May 29, 2023 - Review session
• June 5, 2023 - Algorithms - Week 3
• Assignment #1
• June 12, 2023 - No class!
• June 19, 2023 - Review session
• June 26, 2023 - Functions and arguments - Week 4
• July 3, 2023 - Basic SQL in Python - Week 5
• July 10, 2023 - Review session
• July 17, 2023 - Data Analysis using Pandas - Week 6
• July 24, 2023 - Web Scraping - Week 7
• July 31, 2023 - Review session
• August 7, 2023 - Web Apps using Flask part 1 - Week 8
• August 14, 2023 - Web Apps using Flask part 2 - Week 9

Series 2

Series 2 took place between September 11, 2023 and November 27, 2023.

• September 11, 2023 - Basics Featuring Mastodon - Week 1
• September 18, 2023 - Control structures, booleans, exceptions - Week 2
• September 25, 2023 - Function definitions and Algorithms - Week 3
• Assignment 1
• October 2, 2023 - Basic SQL in Python - Week 4
• October 9, 2023 - Review Session
• October 16, 2023 - No class!
• October 23, 2023 - OOP in Python (classes and objects) and decorators - Week 5
• October 30, 2023 - Data Analysis with Pandas - Week 6
• November 6, 2023 - Web Scraping - Week 7
• November 13, 2023 - Quiz Session (come with your laptop, we will work on coding solutions together)
• November 20, 2023 - No Class!
• November 27, 2023 - Web Apps with Flask, part 1 - Week 8
• December 4, 2023 - Web Apps with Flask, part 2 - Link TBD

Series 3

Series 3 took place between March 11, 2024 and July 8, 2024. The first 7 lessons cover language and programming basics, while the last 5 cover interesting things you can do with Python.

• Lesson 1 (Mar 11, 2024) - Introduction and basics, featuring Mastodon - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 2 (Mar 18, 2024) - Control structures and booleans - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 3 (Mar 25, 2024) - Exceptions - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• April 1, 2024 - CANCELLED (Noisebridge #reboot)
• April 8, 2024 - CANCELLED (no instructors available)
• Lesson 4 (April 15, 2024) - Defining and calling functions - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 5 (April 22, 2024) - Algorithms, part 1 - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• April 29, 2024 - CANCELLED (no instructors available)
• May 6, 2024 - Review session (no new material)
• Lesson 6 (May 13, 2024) - Object oriented programming in Python (classes and objects) - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 7 (May 20, 2024) - Install Fest! Regex; Dates; Recursion - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• May 27, 2024 - Review session
• Lesson 8 (June 3, 2024) - Basic SQL/Data analysis with sqlite and Pandas - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 9 (June 10, 2024) - Consuming APIs, AI - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 10 (June 17, 2024) - Web scraping - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• June 24, 2024 - Review session (low attendance)
• Lesson 11 (July 1 2024) - Web apps with Flask, part 1 - sfpythonlab.com Notebook - shared replit
• July 8, 2024 - Review session

Assignments:

• Basic Python assignment (after lesson 5) - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Web scraping/SQL/Pandas assignment (after lesson 10) - sfpythonlab.com Notebook

Quizzes:

• Quiz 1 - sfpythonlab.com Notebook

Random Notebooks:

• Context managers - sfpythonlab.com Notebook

Series 4

Series 4 took place between October 28, 2024 and Feb 10, 2025. The first 7 lessons cover language and programming basics, while the last 5 cover interesting things you can do with Python.

• Lesson 1 (Oct 28, 2024) - Introduction and basics, featuring Mastodon - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 2 (Nov 4, 2024) - Control structures and booleans - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Nov 11, 2024 -- Cancelled, low attendance
• Nov 18, 2024 -- Cancelled, instructor ill
• Lesson 3 (Nov 25, 2024) - More building blocks - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Dec 2, 2024 -- Review session, low attendance
• Lesson 4 (Dec 9, 2024) - Defining and calling functions - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 5 (Dec 16, 2024) - Algorithms, part 1 - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Jan 13, 2025 -- New Year review session
• Jan 20, 2025 - No class, MLK Jr day
• Lesson 6 (Jan 27, 2025) - Object oriented programming in Python (classes and objects) - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 7 (February 3, 2025) - Review (and/or Protobufs/Bazel/gRPC)
• Lesson 8 (CANCELLED) - Basic SQL/Data analysis with sqlite and Pandas - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 9 (CANCELLED) - Consuming APIs, AI - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 10 (CANCELLED) - Web scraping - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Lesson 11 (CANCELLED) - Web apps with Flask, part 1 - sfpythonlab.com Notebook

Series 5

Series 5 took place between February and June 2025.

Series 5 starts fresh on Mon Feb 24. We'll be experimenting with a new format for this series, so please bear with us. The idea is to intentionally repeat lectures, when possible, or otherwise save those repeat sessions for use as review. We also would like to integrate the "enrichment" lessons, which were previously backloaded to the end of the course, into the normal schedule.

A month or two of Series 5 lectures might look like:

Week 1 - Lesson 1

Week 2 - Lesson 2

Week 3 - Lesson 3

Week 4 - Enrichment A

followed by some repeats:

Week 5 - Lesson 2

Week 6 - Lesson 3

Week 7 - Lesson 4

Week 8 - Enrichment B

The downside of this structure is that the course will last 24 weeks (about 6 months). And there will be times when the class is definitively cancelled, such as 4th of July and other holidays. Please be patient as we experiment with this, and we will definitely be collecting feedback from attendees and will be willing to "pivot" if it's not working.

This structure allows for folks to more easily "jump in" when they have time, and not worry too much about missing a lecture or two. It also allows us to leverage additional volunteers besides Travis to teach lessons. The thought is that if it's the second time going over Lecture 3, students are already somewhat familiar with the material and the notebook should be up to date to follow.

If a Lesson has a date, that is the date that it is planned to be taught. Anything TBD will be scheduled later in the course as schedules are better known. There may be weeks when there is no lecture, check: Noisebridge Discord #python channel (best source), this wiki, and almost never rely on Meetup.

Date	Lesson	Title	sfpythonlab.com link
Feb 24, 2025	1	Introduction and basics, featuring Mastodon	Notebook
Mar 3, 2025	2	Control structures and booleans	Notebook
Mar 10, 2025	3	More building blocks	Notebook
Mar 17, 2024	Enrich A	File system operations, organizing media libraries	Notebook
Mar 24, 2025	2 (repeat)	Control structures and booleans	Notebook
Mar 31, 2025	3 (repeat)	More building blocks	Notebook
Apr 7, 2025	4	Defining and calling functions	Notebook
Apr 14, 2025	Enrich B (prev 8)	Basic SQL/Data analysis with sqlite and Pandas	Notebook
Apr 21, 2025		NO CLASS
Apr 28, 2025	3 (repeat)	More building blocks	Notebook
May 5, 2025	5	Algorithms, part 1	Notebook
May 12, 2025		NO CLASS
May 19, 2025	5A	Algorithms, part 2	Notebook
May 26, 2025		NO CLASS (Memorial Day)
Jun 2, 2025	Enrich C (prev 9)	Consuming APIs, AI	Notebook
Jun 9, 2025		NO CLASS (protests)
Jun 16 2025		NO CLASS
Jun 23, 2025	6	Object oriented programming in Python (classes and objects)	Notebook
Jun 30, 2025	self study	NO CLASS (self study)	Part 1Part 2
Jul 7, 2025	Enrich D	Web scraping	Notebook
Jul 14, 2025	6 (repeat)	Object oriented programming in Python (classes and objects)	Notebook
Jul 21, 2025		NO CLASS
		REMAINING LESSONS CANCELLED
		See you in Series 6!

Assignments:

• Basic Python assignment (after lesson 5) - sfpythonlab.com Notebook
• Web scraping/SQL/Pandas assignment (after lesson 10) - sfpythonlab.com Notebook

Quizzes:

• Quiz 1 - sfpythonlab.com Notebook

Random Notebooks:

• Context managers - sfpythonlab.com Notebook

Series 6 (TBD)

Series 6 is not currently scheduled, but may be starting in September 2025.

General course outline and links

Here is a list of lessons/lectures that are generally taught in the class, as of Series 5. The list includes Jupyter notebook links, both for sfpythonlab.com (DM @tmoney on Discord for the password) as well as links to the notebooks directly on GitHub (no password needed).

Lesson	Title	sfpythonlab.com link	GitHub link	YouTube recording
1	Introduction and basics, featuring Mastodon	Notebook	GitHub
2	Control structures and booleans	Notebook	GitHub	YouTube
3	More building blocks	Notebook	GitHub	YouTube
Enrich A	File system operations, organizing media libraries	Notebook	GitHub
4	Defining and calling functions	Notebook	GitHub	YouTube
Enrich B (prev 8)	Basic SQL/Data analysis with sqlite and Pandas	Notebook	GitHub	YouTube
5	Algorithms, part 1	Notebook	GitHub	YouTube
5A	Algorithms, part 2	Notebook	GitHub
Enrich C (prev 9)	Consuming APIs, AI	Notebook	GitHub
6	Object oriented programming in Python (classes and objects)	Notebook	GitHub
Enrich D	Web scraping	Notebook	GitHub
11	Web apps with Flask	Notebook	GitHub

Intended audience and pace

The course is appropriate for both beginners to Python and beginning programmers in general. If you've never done any programming at all before, it might be more challenging because we won't spend much time discussing fundamentals of things such as imperative programming (how programs execute), variable scoping, function execution and program flow, or boolean logic. Some of these you will "pick up" just by seeing the lectures, however.

This isn't an exhaustive tour of every Python language feature, and sometimes we will introduce features or syntax in a lecture that weren't fully discussed previously. There is probably a fair amount of "I don't understand exactly why this works, but I understand it works" if you're completely new.

Online classes

The class is only offered in person at Noisebridge. There is no online Zoom/Jitsi/etc, and no live online component is planned, sorry.

Python Setup

You do not need to install Python to attend this class. All lectures, coursework and assignments are provided via a Jupyter Hub instance, that allows students to create files and run Python code.

The exception of this are the final two lectures on Flask apps, which require Python code on your own machine in order to run the examples. But you can follow along in the in-person lecture as well as the lesson notebooks without an install.

If you would like help getting a Python environment set up on your computer anyway, please speak with one of the instructors, or ask in #python on Discord.

Relationship to Computer Programming Study Group

For a few months in 2024, the Python class was converted into a Computer Programming Study Group. This was intended to be a more open format for discussing topics other than Python programming. As of Oct 21 2024, the time slot has been converted back to this Python class.

Relationship to Python Project Meetup

Some of the people who "graduated" from series 3 of the Python class wanted to continue working together on their skills, so we formed the Python Project Meetup. The project meetup is facilitated by tmoney as well, but is not mutually exclusive with this class: everyone is welcome to attend one or both.

Helping out and getting additional help

Discussions of the class and announcements will take place in the #python channel on Noisebridge Discord (under classes).

PyClass runs on volunteer effort, and we would love to have your help keeping it it excellent! The simplest and most appreciated contributions are simple examples of the projects you want to work on, the bugs you encounter, and the concepts you find difficult. Especially if they are succinct or easy to turn into problems that others can learn from.

We are always looking for more people to teach classes. This is a great way to solidify your understanding, find new and exciting edge cases, and help others. We welcome people teaching existing classes, or their own classes on the subjects they are most excited about. Remember, the only thing that qualifies people to run PyClass is having enough enthusiasm to show up.

If you need help getting started, getting unstuck, or getting someone to look at your code we are happy to help! Feel free to reach out through Meetup or Discord at any time!

Code of Conduct

PyClass holds to the Noisebridge Community Standards, and the Noisebridge Anti-Harassment Policy which we take seriously.

We also follow the Recurse Center social rules, because they are excellent at creating an environment where people are comfortable learning.

Python Resources

For learning programming, we recommend that you consult multiple resources with a variety of formats and priorities. Some of our favorite resources are:

• Roadmap.sh roadmap for python - Lots of stuff here, mostly a lot of keywords so that you can Google them. Learn things when you need to, not a study guide.
• Learn Python the Hard Way - A clear introduction to python intended for people new to programming. Written well enough to be useful for more advanced programmers as well. Available in the Noisebridge library.
  
• Python Documentation - The Python documentation is a well written and comprehensive reference. It isn't a page turner, but should be one of your first stops when confused.
  
• Python Module of the Week - Python comes with batteries included, but it can still be hard find the best tool among the hundreds of modules it provides. Python Module of the Week walks you through each of the standard library modules provided by the language.
  
• pyvideo - A searchable index of Python conference talks. Drop by class for some specific recommendations!
  
• python tutor - pythontutor.com allows you to walk through small pieces of code and understand how Python thinks of them. An excellent resource for debugging mysterious Python behavior.

There are more good resources for learning Python than we can list here. Do you have a favorite that you think is missing? Let us know!

Free to all - please donate to Noisebridge!

This course only happens because the Noisebridge community provides a space for it to exist. Maintaining the space and broader community is difficult and thankless work. The course is free, but if you want to help the community pay rent go to: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Donate_or_Pay_Dues.

Recommended Donations: $15, $50, $200+ Recommended monthly donations: $10, $20, $40, $80+ / month