Automate the Boring Stuff with Python

Learn to Code

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Everyone in the 21st century needs to learn to code, right? But not everyone needs to become a software engineer or computer scientist. Automate the Boring Stuff with Pythonis written for office workers, students, administrators, and anyone who uses a computer how to write small, practical programs to automate tasks on their computer.

• Have a folder with thousands of files that need to be renamed?
• Need to look through thousands of rows in an Excel spreadsheet looking for ones to update?
• Have to scrape data off of several web pages?

Normally this would involve hours of tedious clicking and typing. But programming your computer to do it can save you a lot of time and effort.

Automate teaches total beginners with no programming experience the Python programming language. (Though Part 2 will be of interest to seasoned developers as well.) Python has a gentle learning curve yet is also used by professional software developers. You don't need to know all the complexities of algorithms and syntax, you just want to write basic programs to automate mundane computer tasks. In the process, even total beginners will learn to use Python to control their computers without having to learn complex information about computer science. This is a practical programming guide for the rest of us.

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python is released under a Creative Commons license. You can read it, in full, on this website. Programming is a skill that should be in the hands of everyone: No, Seriously, You Should Learn to Code..

You can also support the author by purchasing a book or ebook: Purchase a copy ofAutomate the Boring Stuff with Python.

Table of Contents

Part 1 - The Basics of Python Programming

0. Introduction
1. Python Basics
2. Flow Control
3. Functions
4. Lists
5. Dictionaries and Structuring Data
6. Manipulating Strings

Part 2 - Automating Tasks

7. Pattern Matching with Regular Expressions
8. Reading and Writing Files
9. Organizing Files
10. Debugging
11. Web Scraping
12. Working with Excel Spreadsheets
13. Working with PDF and Word Documents
14. Working with CSV Files and JSON Data
15. Time, Scheduling Tasks, and Launching Programs
16. Sending Email and Text Messages
17. Manipulating Images
18. Controlling the Keyboard and Mouse with GUI Automation

• A - Installing Third-Party Modules
• B - Running Programs
• C - Answers to Practice Questions

Al Sweigart is the author of Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, Making Games with Python & Pygame, and Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python. His books are freely available under a Creative Commons license from http://inventwithpython.com.