session-01-part-01.md

Session 1 | Part 1

Programming is about solving problems, not just writing code. Labs are not a race; they are a marathon, so take your time. Do not copy and run blindly. Think first, and if you get stuck, ask Stelios.

1. Goal

In this first tutorial, you will prepare your workspace. Pay attention, as you will need to follow these steps in future classes.

2. Workspace setup

1. Install Git if it is not already installed from here. For Mac: brew install git. For Windows: download and install it.
2. Install Visual Studio Code (or another editor you prefer). I will use VS Code in this module. After installing Git, restart VS Code if it was already open.
3. Open a terminal.
4. Clone the class repository:

git clone https://github.com/warestack/bda

Tip

If the repository already exists, run git pull instead of cloning again.

5. Open the project folder in VS Code.
6. Open a terminal inside VS Code.
7. You will need to navigate to folders using the cd command.

3. Check Python installation

Check that Python is installed:

python3 --version

On Windows, you can also run:

python --version
python3 --version
py --version

Depending on your Python installation on Windows, one of the above commands may work while others may not.

This part is a recap of the basics. We will reuse these steps in future sessions.

4. Basics you should know

• Python: the programming language, not the snake 🐍.

• Terminal: a text-based tool where you run commands like python3 --version or pip install.

• cd: changes directory (moves you into another folder).

• pwd: prints your current folder path.

• Virtual environment (.venv): keeps each project’s Python packages separate, so different projects don’t conflict. Different projects often need different package versions; isolation avoids conflicts.

• pip: Python’s package manager; it installs libraries like huggingface_hub or datasets.

• requirements.txt: a list of required Python packages for the project. It lets everyone install the same dependencies and reproduce the same setup.

• README.md: a simple project file where you document what you built, what worked, and what is pending (useful for tracking progress). Not sure about Markdown syntax? Check here.

• solutions/: the folder you need to create to store your answers for each tutorial part (no need to submit now, but you can share it with Stelios later, for example for homework).

• session_solutions/: reference solutions provided by Stelios. Use them only to review your work after you attempt the tasks.

• Naming convention for exercise files in solutions/: use exercise-<session>-<part>.py (for example, exercise-01-02.py). Helper library modules can use underscores (for example, exercise_01_02_lib.py).

You will need to navigate folders in the terminal using cd.

Quick examples (macOS/Linux):

pwd
cd session1
pwd
cd ..

Quick examples (Windows PowerShell):

Get-Location
cd session1
Get-Location
cd ..

5. Create and manage a virtual environment

You will need a virtual environment to install the required packages.

Tip

Make sure you are in the correct folder before creating it. You can create one environment per session (recommended) or use one environment for the entire bda project.

Navigate to the folder using cd session1.

Create a virtual environment:

On macOS/Linux:

python3 -m venv .venv

On Windows:

python -m venv .venv
# or
py -m venv .venv

Activate the environment:

source .venv/bin/activate

On Windows (VS Code terminal):

• PowerShell: .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 (may be blocked by execution policy on some machines)
• Optional temporary PowerShell bypass (current session only): Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass Then run: .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
• If activation is blocked, run scripts directly with: .venv\Scripts\python.exe your_script.py

Deactivate it when needed:

deactivate

Now check the requirements.txt file. It contains the dependencies we need:

huggingface_hub
datasets
requests==2.32.3
quizmd

Tip

A requirements.txt file lists all Python packages a project needs. It helps everyone recreate the same environment. Pin exact versions when reproducibility is critical.

6. Install dependencies

Activate .venv again and install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

If pip is missing, run:

python3 -m ensurepip --upgrade
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip

Check the output to ensure everything installed successfully. You can ignore most warnings for the moment. You are now ready to proceed. You can use the clear command to clear the terminal. Try it out.

7. Exercise 1

For now, minimise the current VS Code window. On your Desktop (or any folder you prefer), create a new folder called test-folder.

1. Open a new VS Code window and open the test-folder.
2. Create and activate a virtual environment.
3. Create a requirements.txt file, add the requests library (2.32.3), and install it.
4. Create a file named exercise-01-01.py and run the script below.

File: test-folder/exercise-01-01.py

import re
from urllib.request import urlopen

url = "https://www.google.com"
with urlopen(url) as response:
    html = response.read().decode("utf-8", errors="ignore")

match = re.search(r"<title>(.*?)</title>", html, re.IGNORECASE | re.DOTALL)
print(match.group(1).strip() if match else "No title found")

This exercise is more about learning how to manage your .venv. When finished, keep exercise-01-01.py as your solution file.

Tip

Why dot in .venv?

The . makes the folder hidden by default, keeping your project directory clean.

8. Quiz

quizmd is a command-line interface (CLI) to run interactive quizzes in the lab (made by Stelios 🙂). You can still install it like this.

pip install quizmd

Run the quiz in your terminal and ask Stelios for help if you’re unsure. Solutions are in the quizzes folder, but don't see them yet.

Start the quiz by selecting a theme that matches your terminal:

Use the default theme (no --theme needed):

quizmd quizzes/python-workspace-setup-quiz.md

Or choose a theme:

Use --theme light if your terminal has a light background or --theme dark if your terminal has a dark background.

quizmd --theme light quizzes/python-workspace-setup-quiz.md
quizmd --theme dark quizzes/python-workspace-setup-quiz.md

For a focus-mode, try:

quizmd --full-screen --theme dark quizzes/python-workspace-setup-quiz.md

For accessibility use this: quizmd --no-color quizzes/python-workspace-setup-quiz.md

Important

Review the quiz rules before you start.

Use the space bar to select an option, then press Enter to move to the next question. Go ahead and complete the quiz 🎉!

You are now ready to move to the next tutorial.