Ask HN: Interesting 2-3h coding projects in Python? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Interesting 2-3h coding projects in Python?

9 pointsfdeage13 comments

I recently switched jobs to become a full-time Python teacher. I am going to teach a 60h course next month so I am looking for interesting projects related to algorithmics, basic data processing, OOP, etc. My course is split into 3h sessions so I need rather small projects (2-3h).

Any suggestions?

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Make-like build system. This would expose students to a few useful concepts, and can be a 'jumping-off point' into various more advanced concepts.

- topological sorting the build graph - what is a graph - running child processes - what a process is - process api - interaction with the filesystem - r/w files - mtime comparisons - how computers store time - what is incremental execution

I would suggest to skip parsing, and use a Python literal to hold the 'Makefile'-equivalent dependency graph data structure.

You let students come up with their own fun build graphs, like making sushi:

tuna_maki -> nori, cooked_rice, tuna_fillet, chef, sushi_roller

cooked_rice -> uncooked_rice, rice_cooker, water, rice_seasoning

tuna_fillet -> tuna_slab, knife

tuna_slab -> fishmonger, money

nori -> algae, dehydrator

And then, when executed, it would print the steps, or say that a target was already made.

Very interesting per se, but needs to introduce several concepts (graphs, process management, etc.) that are too low-level for my scope :)

Depending on the level of your students, if you get the chance to talk a little bit about sockets, you can always guide them to build a very simple HTTP Server. In reality, you don't need to go much deep on sockets, just talk about send() and recv(), and in very simplistic terms. You can check this [1] blog post of mine, and the final code is very simple but very useful to learn how the "internet" works..

Good luck!

[1] https://joaoventura.net/blog/2017/python-webserver/

Thank you for that, networking is often the blind spot when teaching Python... Also, you're right, it looks much simpler than expected. I'll have a look!

Maybe a data store?

Persist data -> search it -> too much data, need an index -> search on that index -> keep that index updated

I think you can split that in couple of parts to teach it in a few sessions and then join everything in one project, which when I started with Python it was hard for me to understand.

Like a small DB engine, or something like redis maybe?

Interesting, definitely too large for a single 3h session, but if splitted that would make a cool project.

Pygame is a good library to generate multimedia. I'm sure you could come up with some exercises with it.

Also, convert data in a PDF to a CSV file. I have needed to do that many times over the years and learned a lot of Python by improving my approaches.

Just found this in HN before:

https://app.codecrafters.io/catalog

You can get any of those projects and chop it down to fill the time you need.

Very nice, even though these are quite ambitious projects!

Games are always a good way to learn, imo. I make a lot of little games for my kids and try out programming techniques along the way.

Try building bots in codingame.com, 2 hours should be enough to build something that works :)

RPN calculator? If it's too short project, you can extend it with some extra functions.

Advent of code is always fun.

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