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Basics

of Python

Hands-on Workshop

Laura Kurtzberg

Training Director, IRE & NICAR

https://laurajael.com

laurak@ire.org

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A Few Prerequisites

🍃 Open marimo, create account, and log in

🌐 Download the data from AccessNow Shutdown Tracker Optimization Project (STOP)

Note:

Chrome or Firefox browser is recommended

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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What is Python?

A kind of snake
A programming language that can help you do journalism

(we’ll focus on the second one)

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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What is Python?

https://kutt.it/python-basics

You download some software onto your computer
You set up the software (this can be a pain!)
Now you can write scripts -- instructions for your computer to do a task, written in a way that the software can understand

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What are notebooks?

hex.tech/blog/beginners-guide-to-python-notebook s

"A notebook runs Python code in the same way any .py file you write does; you can use all the same libraries, etc. in the same way a regular Python environment does."
"The outputs are presented inside the document instead of in a terminal, making it easier to see what’s happening with your data as you analyze."

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What are notebooks?

With cloud-hosted notebooks, on molab or colab, we can skip the installation hassles.

But if you decide Python is your jam, you might consider learning how to write and run Python on your computer.

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Marimo and Molab

marimo: Open-source Python notebook
molab: is a cloud-hosted marimo notebook workspace
Later on, you can install marimo on your computer

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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What is pandas?

Open-source library for accessing and analyzing data

import pandas as pd

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Congratulations, you’re already a programmer!

Thanks, Tom !

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Pope Leo X (after Raphael)

Fernando Botero

1964

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From an actual post on listserv NICAR-L:

Here's an example of the formula for calculating % price differential vs. Area score:

=IFERROR(IF(K6=0,0,((COUNT([% price differential vs. Area])+1)-(RANK(R6,[% price differential vs. Area],0)))/COUNT([% price differential vs. Area])*100*(1-IF(AND('GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6>PENALTIES!$B$3,'GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6<=PENALTIES!$C$3),PENALTIES!$D$3,IF(AND('GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6>PENALTIES!$B$4,'GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6<=PENALTIES!$C$4),PENALTIES!$D$4,IF(AND('GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6>PENALTIES!$B$5,'GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6<=PENALTIES!$C$5),PENALTIES!$D$5,IF(AND('GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6>PENALTIES!$B$6,'GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6<=PENALTIES!$C$6),PENALTIES!$D$6,IF(AND('GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6>PENALTIES!$B$7,'GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6<=PENALTIES!$C$7),PENALTIES!$D$7,IF(AND('GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6>PENALTIES!$B$8,'GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6<=PENALTIES!$C$8),PENALTIES!$D$8,IF('GTA CONDO - MAY 2018 - V2'!K6>PENALTIES!$B$9,PENALTIES!$D$9,""))))))))),0)

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Why �Python?

Learning a programming language can help you pursue your analysis in a much cleaner, readable, reproducible way.

Scrape

Get Faster

Bigger Data

Auto-mate

Extract from

PDFs

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Let's try it out!

marimo: Open my notebook link and click on "fork and run"

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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Types of Variables

String

�var1 = "This class is at GIJN in Kuala Lumpur."

var2 = "My name is " + "Laura"

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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Types of Variables

Integer / Float

�int1 = 100000

float1 = 0.5

my_sum = 1 + 2 / 6.5

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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Structures

List

�my_list = ["hello", "hi", "hola", "olá"]

another_list = [1, 5, 10, 15]

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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Structures

Dictionary

�fruit_dict = {'Fruit': 'Orange', 'Weight': 10}

shoe_dict = {'Size': 9, 'Brand': 'Saoi'}

https://kutt.it/python-basics

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Logic

Conditional Statement

score = 1

if score > 2:

print("Win")

else:

print("Lose")

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Logic

For Loop

fruit_list = ['apple', 'pear', 'lychee']

for fruit in fruit_list:

print(fruit)

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Row-wise filtering

import pandas as pd