Introduction to Modern Python

Public repository for the Introduction to Modern Python course.

Instructor: Pietropaolo Frisoni. Computational Scientist, Quantum Software Engineer.

---

How to use this repository

Thank you for visiting this repository!

Each folder corresponds to one chapter or intermezzo of the course. Inside each folder you will find the Jupyter notebook for that unit (the same one recorded in the lecture) and a References.md file with links to the official Python documentation and further reading.

You can follow the folders in the order listed below, which is the same order used in the lectures.

I hope you find it useful, and I wish you a lot of fun!

---

Course order

#	Folder	Unit
1	ch00_brief_overview_of_python	Chapter 0: A Brief Overview of Python (slides only, no notebook)
2	int0_practical_environment	Intermezzo 0: The Practical Environment
3	ch01_python_as_a_calculator	Chapter 1: Python as a Calculator
4	ch02_control_flow	Chapter 2: Control Flow
5	int1_booleans_in_depth	Intermezzo 1: Booleans in Depth
6	int2_mutability	Intermezzo 2: Mutability
7	ch03_data_structures	Chapter 3: Built-in Data Structures
8	ch04_functions_basics	Chapter 4: Functions — Basics
9	ch05_functions_advanced	Chapter 5: Functions — Advanced
10	int3_iterators_generators	Intermezzo 3: Iterators and Generators
11	ch06_decorators	Chapter 6: Decorators
12	ch07_classes_basics	Chapter 7: Classes — Basics
13	ch08_classes_special_methods	Chapter 8: Classes — Special Methods
14	ch09_classes_inheritance	Chapter 9: Classes — Inheritance
15	ch10_exceptions	Chapter 10: Exceptions
16	ch11_file_io	Chapter 11: File I/O
17	ch12_modules_namespaces_scopes	Chapter 12: Modules, Namespaces, and Scopes

---

Setup

Option 1: Local setup (more instructive)

This is the same setup that we used in Intermezzo 0, and the one shown throughout the course videos. I report it here for convenience:

1. Install Visual Studio Code and the Python and Jupyter extensions (both published by Microsoft)
2. Install Miniconda with all default options, then reopen VSCode
3. Create and activate the course environment:

   conda create -n IntroductionToPython python=3.14
   conda activate IntroductionToPython

4. Install the required packages:

   pip install jupyterlab numpy

5. In VSCode: Ctrl+Shift+P → Python: Select Interpreter → choose the one that shows IntroductionToPython in the path
6. Clone this repository and open the chapter folders in VSCode

Note: this is just the setup used in the videos, for consistency. Any other combination (PyCharm, venv/virtualenv, etc.) works just as well. Use whatever tools you're already comfortable with, or whatever you'd like to learn. The Python code itself doesn't change :)

Option 2: Google Colab (no setup required)

Open any .ipynb file directly on Google Colab by uploading it or pointing Colab at this repository.

---

License

The course content (videos, slides, exercises) is available on Udemy. I share the notebooks here for enrolled students and, more generally, everyone who wants to take a look.