As a C# developer with decades of experience, quickly becoming proficient at Python will be relatively easy.
We've broken the journey down into 20 lessons, where each 10 minute lesson will:
- Focus on a specific concept or feature that distinguishes Python from C#.
- List the key differences for each concept of feature from the perspective of a C# developer new to Python.
- Expand on the concept or feature with examples and code snippets to illustrate its usage and the differences from C#.
In addition, at the end of each less, we will:
- Provide links to additional resources for further reading.
- Include practice projects to apply your knowledge and enhance your skills.
🔗 Python Installation and Setup
- Install Python on your machine.
- Set up a Python development environment.
- Learn how to run Python scripts and interact with the Python interpreter.
🔗 Basic Syntax and Indentation
- Understand Python's significant use of indentation for block structuring.
- Learn about statement terminators, comment syntax, and variable naming conventions.
- Explore Python's dynamic typing system.
- Learn about common data types like numbers, strings, lists, tuples, and dictionaries.
🔗 Control Flow
- Understand Python's control flow statements: if-else, for loops, and while loops.
- Compare them to their C# counterparts.
🔗 Functions
- Learn how to define and call functions in Python.
- Explore function arguments and return values.
🔗 File Handling
- Read and write files using Python's file handling methods.
- Compare with C#'s file I/O.
🔗 List Comprehensions
- Discover a powerful feature unique to Python for concise list operations.
🔗 Dictionaries
- Understand Python dictionaries and their usage.
- Compare with C#'s dictionary or hash table data structure.
🔗 Modules and Packages
- Learn how to organize code into modules and packages in Python.
🔗 Object-Oriented Programming
- Introduce classes and objects in Python.
- Compare with C#'s class-based approach.
🔗 Exception Handling
- Explore Python's exception handling mechanism.
🔗 Lambda Functions
- Understand anonymous functions using lambda expressions.
🔗 List Slicing
- Learn about slicing and indexing in Python lists.
🔗 Generators
- Introduce Python generators for lazy evaluation of sequences.
- Familiarize yourself with the extensive Python standard library.
🔗 Third-Party Libraries and pip
- Learn how to install and use third-party libraries with pip.
🔗 Virtual Environments
- Understand the importance of virtual environments and how to create them.
🔗 Pythonic Idioms
- Discover Python-specific coding styles and idioms.
🔗 Common Gotchas
- Highlight common pitfalls and errors when transitioning from C# to Python.
🔗 Practice Projects
- Start working on small projects to apply your knowledge and enhance your skills.
🔗 Multi-Threading in Python
- Introduce the concept of multi-threading and its benefits.
- Learn how to create and manage threads in Python using the
threading
module. - Discuss the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) and its impact on multi-threading in Python.
🔗 Synchronization and Thread Safety
- Understand the challenges of concurrent access in multi-threaded programs.
- Learn about thread synchronization techniques like locks, semaphores, and mutexes.
- Discuss thread safety and potential issues when sharing data between threads.
🔗 Asynchronous Programming with Async/Await
- Introduce asynchronous programming and its advantages in I/O-bound tasks.
- Learn how to use
async
andawait
keywords to define and await asynchronous functions. - Compare synchronous and asynchronous approaches for I/O-bound operations.
🔗 Combining Threads and Async in Python
- Explore scenarios where multi-threading and asynchronous programming can be combined effectively.
- Discuss best practices and potential challenges when using both techniques together.
- Demonstrate an example of combining threads and async in a Python application.
🔗 Performance Considerations with Threads and Async
- Compare the performance characteristics of multi-threading and asynchronous programming.
- Discuss the trade-offs between the two approaches in different scenarios.
- Explore tools and techniques to profile and optimize threaded and async code.