Description: This course focuses on automating tasks and improving efficiency using Python. You'll learn how to write scripts for file manipulation, data extraction, web scraping, and interacting with APIs.

Automation and Scripting with Python

Automation and Scripting with Python
This course is part of Microsoft Python Development Professional Certificate

Instructor: Microsoft
Access provided by Vivekananda Global University
9,169 already enrolled
46 reviews
Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Beginner level
H.S. education. No prior computer experience required.
46 reviews
Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Beginner level
H.S. education. No prior computer experience required.
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There are 5 modules in this course
This module provides a foundational understanding of automation concepts and their relevance in the context of Python programming. Learners will explore the "why" and "how" of automation, its historical evolution, and its impact on modern workplaces. They will learn to identify tasks suitable for automation, analyze their feasibility, and prioritize automation efforts based on impact and business value. The module also covers the essential tools and techniques for setting up a Python development environment for automation, including virtual environments, command line operations, and IDE automation features. By the end of this module, learners will be able to recognize automation opportunities, set up their development environment, and write basic Python scripts executable from the command line.
What's included
13 videos9 readings5 assignments1 ungraded lab
13 videos• Total 66 minutes
- What is automation? Why automate?• 5 minutes
- Automation in action: From manual to automated• 2 minutes
- Automation tools overview• 6 minutes
- The automation mindset: Identifying opportunities• 6 minutes
- Your automation detective kit• 6 minutes
- The automation funnel: From idea to implementation• 2 minutes
- Automation assessment: Case studies• 6 minutes
- Prioritizing automation efforts• 6 minutes
- Virtual environments: Keeping your projects organized• 6 minutes
- What are command lines?• 6 minutes
- Command line uses• 5 minutes
- Demo: Setting up your environment for command line automation• 6 minutes
- Demo: Writing and executing Python scripts from the command line• 5 minutes
9 readings• Total 87 minutes
- Automation and scripting with Python syllabus• 7 minutes
- The evolution of automation in the workplace• 10 minutes
- The rise of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)• 10 minutes
- 10 questions to ask before automating a task• 10 minutes
- Easy wins with automation• 10 minutes
- What are virtual environments• 10 minutes
- Command Line Interfaces (CLI) in Python• 10 minutes
- Integrating Python with shell commands• 10 minutes
- Tips and tricks for automating your IDE• 10 minutes
5 assignments• Total 105 minutes
- Overview of automation concepts• 15 minutes
- Identifying tasks for automation• 15 minutes
- Setting up the development environment• 15 minutes
- Activity: Setting up the environment for automation• 30 minutes
- Introduction to automation• 30 minutes
1 ungraded lab• Total 10 minutes
- Activity: Create a "calculate area" snippet• 10 minutes
This module delves into the practical application of Python scripting for automating common tasks, with a focus on file manipulation, data extraction, and web scraping. Learners will gain proficiency in using essential Python modules like os, shutil, and glob to automate file operations, improving efficiency in handling and processing data. They will learn to leverage regular expressions for precise data extraction from unstructured text and explore advanced techniques like NLP and machine learning for more complex data extraction scenarios. Finally, the module introduces web scraping with BeautifulSoup and Scrapy, enabling learners to extract valuable information from websites while adhering to ethical considerations. By the end of this module, learners will be able to write Python scripts to automate file operations, extract data from various sources, and perform basic web scraping tasks.
What's included
14 videos10 readings4 assignments1 programming assignment2 ungraded labs
14 videos• Total 74 minutes
- File manipulation for routine tasks• 2 minutes
- Why file manipulation is important• 6 minutes
- Real-world file manipulation in automation scenarios• 7 minutes
- Troubleshooting common file manipulation errors• 6 minutes
- Practical Regex examples for data extraction• 6 minutes
- Beyond Regex: Advanced data extraction techniques• 6 minutes
- Demo: Automating data processing with Python scripts• 5 minutes
- Web scraping: What, why, and how?• 2 minutes
- Web scraping: Foundations• 6 minutes
- Tools for web scraping• 5 minutes
- Demo: Extracting data from web pages with BeautifulSoup• 6 minutes
- Demo: Building a basic Scrapy spider• 6 minutes
- Recovering from failure: Interpreting scraping errors• 6 minutes
- Ethical considerations in web scraping and data extraction• 6 minutes
10 readings• Total 100 minutes
- Essential Python modules for file operations: os, shutil, and glob• 10 minutes
- Practical file manipulation examples• 10 minutes
- Working with text files: Reading, writing, and appending• 10 minutes
- Introduction to regular expressions• 10 minutes
- Finding patterns in text with Regex• 10 minutes
- Cleaning and transforming data for analysis• 10 minutes
- Reference guide to Regex• 10 minutes
- Introduction to BeautifulSoup: Parsing and navigating HTML• 10 minutes
- Introducing Scrapy: A powerful web scraping framework• 10 minutes
- Web scraping and data processing: A guide• 10 minutes
4 assignments• Total 75 minutes
- Writing scripts for file manipulation• 15 minutes
- Automating data extraction and processing• 15 minutes
- Automating web scraping with BeautifulSoup and Scrapy• 15 minutes
- Basic automation scripts• 30 minutes
1 programming assignment• Total 60 minutes
- Activity: Web scraping and data processing• 60 minutes
2 ungraded labs• Total 20 minutes
- Activity: Organize your downloads• 10 minutes
- Activity: Creating and updating a to-do list• 10 minutes
This module introduces learners to more sophisticated automation techniques, focusing on API interaction, integration with third-party services, and task scheduling. Learners will explore the world of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), learning how to use Python's requests library to interact with REST APIs, handle authentication, and manage rate limits. They will gain experience integrating their Python scripts with popular third-party services like email providers (using smtplib and imaplib), cloud storage platforms (like Dropbox and OneDrive), and even social media, further expanding their automation capabilities. Finally, the module covers various methods for scheduling automated tasks, including cron jobs (Linux/macOS), Task Scheduler (Windows), and Python's schedule module, empowering learners to automate tasks efficiently and effectively.
What's included
11 videos10 readings5 assignments
11 videos• Total 52 minutes
- APIs: Your gateway to automated services• 2 minutes
- Interacting with APIs using Python's requests library• 5 minutes
- Postman: Examining API responses• 6 minutes
- API rate limiting and error handling• 5 minutes
- Leveraging third-party services for automation• 2 minutes
- The power of integrations: Expanding automation possibilities• 6 minutes
- Security considerations for third-party integrations• 6 minutes
- Time-based automation: Scheduled tasks• 2 minutes
- Scheduled tasks: Efficiency in the background• 5 minutes
- Demo: Scheduling tasks with Task Scheduler (Windows)• 6 minutes
- Choosing the right scheduling method• 6 minutes
10 readings• Total 100 minutes
- API reference guide• 10 minutes
- JSON and Python dictionaries• 10 minutes
- Understanding REST APIs: The basics• 10 minutes
- Using Python's requests library• 10 minutes
- API authentication and authorization: Keeping your data secure• 10 minutes
- Overview of automation opportunities with third-party services• 10 minutes
- Email automation with Python: Sending and receiving emails• 10 minutes
- Automating social media with Python• 10 minutes
- Scheduling tasks with Cron Jobs (Linux/macOS)• 10 minutes
- Python's schedule module: Simplified task scheduling• 10 minutes
5 assignments• Total 105 minutes
- Automating tasks with APIs• 15 minutes
- Integrating with third-party services• 15 minutes
- Scheduling and running automated tasks• 15 minutes
- Activity: Practice automating tasks• 30 minutes
- Advanced automation techniques• 30 minutes
This module focuses on optimizing and scaling automation scripts for improved performance and handling larger, more complex tasks. Learners will explore techniques for ensuring script efficiency, including profiling tools like cProfile and line_profiler to identify bottlenecks and optimize code. They will delve into strategies for scaling automation tasks, such as parallel processing with concurrency and multiprocessing, leveraging Scrapy clusters for efficient web scraping, and utilizing cloud platforms like AWS for scalable infrastructure. The module also emphasizes the importance of monitoring and maintaining automation scripts through logging, error alerts, and best practices for code organization and documentation. Finally, learners will be introduced to testing methodologies like unit testing with pytest, integration testing, and end-to-end testing to ensure script reliability and accuracy.
What's included
15 videos9 readings7 assignments1 discussion prompt
15 videos• Total 80 minutes
- The need for speed: Why efficiency matters in automation• 6 minutes
- Demo: Profiling a Python script• 6 minutes
- Coding for efficiency: Best practices and tips• 6 minutes
- Beyond single scripts: Scaling automation to the next level• 2 minutes
- Scaling automation tasks: The why• 6 minutes
- Demo: Setting up Azure• 5 minutes
- When to scale: Recognizing the need and choosing strategies• 6 minutes
- The importance of monitoring• 2 minutes
- Keeping your automation on track• 6 minutes
- Setting up error alerts and notifications• 6 minutes
- Maintenance best practices: Keeping your scripts healthy• 6 minutes
- Why test? The importance of robust automation• 5 minutes
- Demo: What is pytest?• 6 minutes
- Demo: Unit testing with Python's unittest framework• 7 minutes
- Beyond unit testing: Integration and end-to-end testing strategies• 6 minutes
9 readings• Total 90 minutes
- Python profiling tools: Identifying performance bottlenecks• 10 minutes
- Algorithm optimization, choosing the right approach• 10 minutes
- Parallel processing with Python: Concurrency and multiprocessing• 10 minutes
- Scaling web scraping with Scrapy clusters• 10 minutes
- Cloud-based automation: Leveraging scalable infrastructure• 10 minutes
- Logging: Your automation script's diary• 10 minutes
- Types of testing for automation scripts: Unit, integration, and end-to-end• 10 minutes
- Test-Driven Development (TDD) for automation• 10 minutes
- Best practices for automation and scripting with Python• 10 minutes
7 assignments• Total 150 minutes
- Ensuring script efficiency• 15 minutes
- Scaling automation tasks• 15 minutes
- Monitoring and maintaining automation scripts• 15 minutes
- Testing and validating automation scripts• 15 minutes
- Activity: Scraping web quotes with Scrapy• 30 minutes
- Activity: Maintenance best practices in action• 30 minutes
- Optimization and scaling• 30 minutes
1 discussion prompt• Total 5 minutes
- What tasks in your role or past roles would you automate today? How would automation improve your work?• 5 minutes
This module focuses on equipping learners with essential Git skills for effective collaboration in a team environment. Building upon a basic understanding of Git, learners will explore intermediate concepts like branching, merging, and conflict resolution, emphasizing their importance in managing code changes and collaborating on automation projects. The module highlights best practices for teamwork, including communication, code reviews, and utilizing platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket for efficient code sharing and version control. Learners will also gain practical experience in showcasing their skills and projects through a well-structured GitHub portfolio, demonstrating their ability to work collaboratively and contribute to a team's success.
What's included
13 videos5 readings4 assignments1 programming assignment
13 videos• Total 73 minutes
- Intermediate Git: Beyond version control• 5 minutes
- Git for automation: Beyond the basics• 7 minutes
- Demo: Using Git for collaboration• 6 minutes
- Why version control matters• 2 minutes
- Demo: Local vs. remote Git repositories• 5 minutes
- Demo: Undoing mistakes with Git• 6 minutes
- Effective collaboration strategies• 6 minutes
- Demo: Git collaboration: Branching and merging made easy• 6 minutes
- Code review process with Git• 6 minutes
- Collaboration tools and platforms• 7 minutes
- GitHub/GitLab: Your remote collaboration hub• 7 minutes
- Demo: Load your portfolio in GitHub• 6 minutes
- Augmenting your portfolio with side projects• 6 minutes
5 readings• Total 50 minutes
- .gitignore: Why not everything is stored in Git• 10 minutes
- Cheat sheet for streamlining collaboration with Git• 10 minutes
- Code review in action• 10 minutes
- Guide to 'Automation and scripting with Python'• 10 minutes
- Automation and scripting with Python: Putting it all together• 10 minutes
4 assignments• Total 75 minutes
- Collaborating with Git• 15 minutes
- Best practices for collaboration• 15 minutes
- Showcase your skills in GitHub• 15 minutes
- Git collaboration: Essential skills for a team environment• 30 minutes
1 programming assignment• Total 90 minutes
- Activity: Automation and scripting with Python• 90 minutes
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