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10 Resources To Help You Get Started Programming with Python

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There’s no question that if you want a head start in your career as a GIS Analyst, programmer, or other technology professional that Python programming is a must. Just look around on twitter, follow some geo hacks on Google +, check out the developer resources, and attend a GeoGeek meetup of WhereCamp and you’ll hear about python.

Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming

Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming

Professionals will tell you that Python, plain and simple, will make your life easier. Just check out this recent blog post from James as an example and be sure to read  the comments. If you also browse some of the topics in popular LinkedIn Geotech groups on threads about what skills should people have if they want to increase their chances of scoring a job that Python programming will top the list.

So, if Python isn’t part of your language where to start? Well, you can search out some developers and geeks on social media (always a good resource) and you can also bookmark a few of the following resources.  The following are 10 Must Bookmark Resources to get you started with Python:

  1. Google’s Python Class – a free class for people with a little bit of programming experience who want to learn Python
  2. The Python tutorial – This tutorial does not attempt to be comprehensive and cover every single feature, or even every commonly used feature. Instead, it introduces many of Python’s most noteworthy features, and will give you a good idea of the language’s flavor and style
  3. The Python Standard Library – this library reference manual describes the standard library that is distributed with Python. It also describes some of the optional components that are commonly included in Python distributions.
  4. Non-Programmer’s Tutorial for Python 2.6 – A wiki-style book for the novice with loads of good intro material for the budding programmer – See Also A primer on Python written by a beginner for beginners – http://www.sthurlow.com/python/
  5. Hands on Python Tutorial – From the U of Chicago, a comprehensive online tutorial
  6. Python for ArcGIS – From the ArcGIS resource library, a section devoted to Python including links to articles, developer docs, blog posts, presentation galleries and more
  7. Python Code Recipes – From the cafe python, a developer blog specifically focused on Python. Lots of gems here
  8. ArcGIS quick tour of ArcPy – ArcPy is a site package that builds on (and is a successor to) the successful ArcGIS scripting module.
  9. Free training – Using Python in ArcGIS Desktop 10 – This course introduces Python scripting in ArcGIS Desktop and shows how you can use scripts to increase productivity and the quality of your maps and data.
  10. Penn state U – Introduction to GIS modeling and Python – Online content from Penn state from their Geog 485 course

What is Python? Python is an easy to learn, powerful programming language. It has efficient high-level data structures and a simple but effective approach to object-oriented programming – See http://python.org/

Got a Python resource to share?  Send a tweet about #python to @GISuser on twitter

A couple of resources shared by readers include:

See Also:

Best Python Books

Presentation – Python Scripting for ArcGIS
An intro to Python scripting with ArcGIS and how to use the Model Builder to create Python Scripts – note, this is from 2008.

Python Scripting in FME – Get an overview of Python scripting in FME from con terra GmbH with a guest appearance from Safe Software’s Ken Bragg in this technical webinar. Recorded June 2012

Suggested Python training tips from edX

If you like this article then here’s a few other pages on GISuser that may be useful:

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About Editor

Glenn is a geographer and a GIS professional with over 20 years experience in the industry. He's the co-founder of GISuser and several other technology web publications.