About This Tutorial

Productive Python with PyCharm is intended as a 2.5 hour tutorial, either self-paced or delivered by an instructor. The focus is on hands-on learning, with enough support to avoid frustrations.

Prerequisites

  • Basic knowledge of Python and some exposure to the web
  • Installation of Python 3.5.1 or later
  • Installation of PyCharm (Community Edition or Professional Edition)
  • A web browser
  • Recent version of git

Note: The examples are targeted at Windows, but everything works fine in macOS or Linux.

Objectives

  • Introduce Python developers to the concept of a Python IDE
  • Show the major PyCharm features in the context of writing an application
  • Provide key productivity features, where PyCharm speeds development
  • Cover web development with PyCharm’s HTML/CSS/JS IDE capabilities
  • This tutorial is not a Flask tutorial...Flask is only used for visual illustration

Tutorial Organization

The tutorial is organized into sections which group the kinds of PyCharm features being introduced. Within each section are tasks, where we develop part of our application, using described PyCharm features.

Each of these tasks is presented as documentation, with sample code in the page but also in a standalone directory in a repository. If you ever get behind, or frustrated, you can use this code to teleport yourself to a good working state.

When delivered in person, each task in a section will be demonstrated first by the instructor. Later, we might bridge that gap for self-paced by including a screencast for each section task.