Prerequisites — only for Day 2-4 Hands-On Participants¶
Day 1 symposium attendees do not need to meet these technical requirements.
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Laptop with admin rights and a working install of Python 3.12 (or any current 3.x release). A detailed setup guide will be posted here in advance.
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Participants are encouraged to attend a test-run meeting on Monday (time TBA) to ensure the smooth operation of the code during the hands-on sessions. Several back-up computers will be available throughout the workshop in case of troubles with personal laptops.
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Participants are expected to have a basic knowledge of Python:
| Topic | You should be able to… |
|---|---|
| Running Python | • launch the interpreter or Jupyter Notebook • install a package with pip or conda |
| Variables & data types | • create and print int, float, str, bool values• understand simple arithmetic and string formatting |
| Collections | • build and index a list, tuple, and dict• iterate over a list with for item in list: |
| Control flow | • write if / elif / else branches• use for and while loops, including break / continue |
| Functions | • define a function with def my_func(arg):• return a value and call the function from another cell |
| Modules | • import a standard library module (import math, import time) |
| Basic I/O | • read / write a text file with open() |
| Very light OOP awareness | • know that a class bundles data and methods—even if you’ve never written one (we’ll start there on Day 2) |
We recommend these online courses if you would like to refresh your knowledge: