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Programming

Coding 101 (part 4)

Coding 101 (part 4)

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This post follows on from earlier posts (Coding 101 (part 1) ~ (part 2) ~ (part 3)) and records my responses and learnings from the highly-recommended Python programming book and Coursera specialisation by Charles Severance (see References below).

A quick recap on strings:
Strings are computer-speak for characters, specifically where some object or value has the ‘type’ string. Type is an attribute Python applies to any given object or value so it knows how to handle that object or value, i.e. what kinds of operations can and cannot be applied to it. String, and two numeric types – integer and float – are the most common types within Python.

A string may contain one or more characters, so ‘a’ and ‘0’ are strings, just as ‘abcdefghij’ and ‘Hello world. I am Python.’ are. [Read more…] about Coding 101 (part 4)

Coding 101 (part 3)

Coding 101 (part 3)

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This post follows on from my earlier posts Coding 101 (part 1) and (part 2), and is my responses and learnings from the highly-recommended Python programming book and course by Charles Severance (see References below).

Functions:
Functions are sections of code (a sequence of executable steps) which we want to be able to use and re-use at many points in our program. It may be that we want to read and process a whole range of data over and over (but the process done to all the data is the same) or maybe there are a number of inputs required from the user which all need to be processed the same way. Rather than rewriting the same lines of code again and again in our program, we can give that section of code a name (known as ‘defining the function’). We can then ‘call’ that named function, that is, ask Python to execute the defined sequence of steps, at any future point within our program, and as many times as we want. (In other programming languages this same functionality may be referred to as sub-programs or sub-routines.) [Read more…] about Coding 101 (part 3)

Coding 101 (part 2)

Coding 101 (part 2)

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coding-101This post follows on from my earlier post Coding 101, and is my responses and learnings from the highly-recommended Python programming book and course by Charles Severance (see References below).

Jargon:
I’m working on a glossary here, but still very unstructured and massively incomplete so I suggest staying with Google for now .

Some necessary concepts:
Programming consists of sentences or statements, which may include reserved words, which tell Python what we want it to do, but will also include some values in both numerical and text formats. These take the form of either constants, whose values don’t change, and variables, [Read more…] about Coding 101 (part 2)

Finding My Ideal Job

Finding My Ideal Job

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finding-my-ideal-jobGrowth Analyst
TransferWise
London

Job description
TransferWise is the clever new way to move money between countries. Co-founded by Skype’s first employee and backed by some of planet’s most experienced innovators, including Sir Richard Branson and PayPal founder Peter Thiel, we’re disrupting the world of international money transfer. That means flipping a gazillion dollar industry on its head and taking power away from banks and the establishment. [Read more…] about Finding My Ideal Job

Coding 101

Coding 101

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coding-101A word before I begin
You can do no better in learning Python programming for data handling/analysis than to study for yourself one of Charles Servance’s MOOC’s, or to download and work through his freely-available, ‘remixed’ open-source book (see References below for links to both). I am not even standing of the shoulders of giants here… I am merely scurrying along way behind them all, picking up what few crumbs of knowledge and wisdom I can along the way. Blogging my own educational journey – as a 40-somthing woman heading into the world of tech – is a way to help me consolidate my own learnings. If it can help you too – above all by showing empirically that “if she can, then I can” – it will have served a double purpose. [Read more…] about Coding 101
Tools for Data Science

Tools for Data Science

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data-treeAn Update on Where I’m At Mentally/Emotionally:

Returning to the Data Science stream of my Personal Training Plan, I need to get set up with various tools and online accounts so I can start to go deeper into my studies. As I mentioned when I started this stream, my initial thoughts were of trepidation at signing up and entering into this new world – I felt intimidated by it all. So much so that I did a quick 90 degree detour into Business Analytics where I feel much more comfortable, being on familiar ground.

But I’m also reminded of how motivated I feel to change my career trajectory, and my confidence that this  is possible to do, even now in my late 40’s. And I’ve been given some great opportunities by the company I work at to move in a more systems-and data-oriented direction. I feel very lucky about that. So I’m grabbing that opportunity with both hands. Coupled with my self-led learning (which is, of course, heavily supported by various MOOC’s provided by so many excellent educational institutions) I am sure I can make this work out in the best possible way for me. [Read more…] about Tools for Data Science