JGSB PYTHON WORKSHOP

Directed by Kerry Back
Rice University
workshop.kerryback.com

2025-09-06

What Will you Learn Today?

At the end of this workshop,

  • You will not be able to write useful Python programs on your own.

But, you will be able to say:

  • I think I remember seeing something like that in the workshop. I’ll ask AI how to do it.
  • Or, I don’t know if Python can do that. But, I’ll ask AI anyway.

  • You will learn where and how to ask AI.
  • And, you will be comfortable with the process of

\[\text{Idea} \; \mapsto \; \text{AI} \; \mapsto \; \text{Python} \; \mapsto \; \text{Result}\]

  • So, you will regard this as a go-to tool that you might use every day.

How Will We Get There?

  • 14 self-guided and AI-guided notebooks
  • Pause at designated points for everyone to catch up and then discuss

Start Slow

  • After first 6 notebooks, you won’t be able to do anything useful.
  • But, you’ll understand the basic building blocks of Python.

Then Speed Up

  • Fire hose of code.
  • You will see what Python can do.
  • Exercises become ask Gemini to …
  • No need to understand or remember every detail. AI can do it!

Get Started

  • You need a Google account.
  • You need to install Google Drive
  • Drive should appear as a folder on your laptop. In Windows Explorer, it is under This PC
  • Create a new folder This PC - Google Drive - My Drive -Workshop

Download and Extract the Zip File

  • Download the zip file linked on workshop.kerryback.com to This PC - Google Drive - My Drive
  • Extract all the files to This PC - Google Drive - My Drive - Workshop
  • Select ‘Ready’ on the Progress Poll when you have completed this step.

Open Colab