PyNoon Plus Lesson 1

Welcome! Get ready for PyNoon:

  • Connect to the WiFi
  • Check you can access:
  • If you need help, ask a neighbour or
    a helper wearing a lanyard
  • Once everyone’s ready, we’ll kick off the course intro

Thanks

  • To the host for the great venue!
  • To our sponsors

Administrivia

  • Fire escapes
  • Toilets
  • Cleaning up after ourselves
  • WiFi

Lunch Talk: AI-Assisted Python Programming

  • ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, etc. are quite good at generating Python code
  • Will programming become obsolete?
  • Do’s/Dont’s of programming with AI

Will programming become obsolete?

  • Probably not
  • If anything, programming is more important to “glue” AI to data/systems
  • AI-generated code often needs fixing - you still need to know how to fix it
  • The essence of programming is about precisely instructing a computer - you still need to carefully consider and communicate those instructions

xkcd.com/568

Do’s/Dont’s of programming with AI

  • DON’T feed confidential data into public AI tools
  • DON’T use generated code you don’t understand
  • DON’T use it to replace reading documentation
  • DO ask it to explain code (as one perspective)
  • DO use it generate snippets for specific tasks
  • DO be specific in your instructions/requirements
  • DO ask it to try fix code when the result is wrong

Tutorial Objectives

  1. Using AI models from Python
  2. Loading data from a text file to construct a DataFrame

Independent Work/Homework

  1. Exercise Notebook:
  2. Work through the following futurecoder.io section:
    • Boolean operators
  3. Identify a Personal Python Project to work on
    • Start designing your solution