1 Hour to Python Basics

By the end of this hour, you'll have written a working Python CLI tool that reads a file, counts words, and outputs statistics. No prior programming experience required.

🎯 What You'll Build

A command-line word counter:

$ python wordcount.py README.md
Total words: 1,247
Unique words: 423
Most common: "the" (82 times)

⏱️ Time Breakdown

📋 Prerequisites

• A computer (Mac/Linux/Windows)
• A text editor (VS Code recommended)
• 60 minutes of focused time

Step 1: Install Python (0–10 min)

Python 3 is usually pre-installed on Mac/Linux. Check:

python3 --version

If you see Python 3.10+, you're good. Otherwise:

# Mac
brew install python3

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install python3

Windows: Download from python.org/downloads. Check "Add to PATH" during install.

Step 2: Your First Code (10–25 min)

Create hello.py:

name = "World"
print(f"Hello, {name}!")

Run it:

python3 hello.py
# Hello, World!

Try these:

# Numbers
age = 25
print(f"I am {age} years old")

# Math
x = 10
y = 3
print(f"Sum: {x + y}, Division: {x / y}")

Step 3: Functions and Loops (25–40 min)

def greet(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}!"

# Loops
fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
for fruit in fruits:
    print(fruit)

# Conditionals
age = 20
if age >= 18:
    print("Adult")
else:
    print("Minor")

Step 4: Build the Word Counter (40–55 min)

Create wordcount.py:

import sys
from collections import Counter

def count_words(filename):
    with open(filename, 'r') as f:
        text = f.read()

    words = text.lower().split()
    words = [w.strip('.,!?";:()[]') for w in words]
    words = [w for w in words if w]

    total = len(words)
    unique = len(set(words))
    counter = Counter(words)
    most_common, count = counter.most_common(1)[0]

    print(f"Total words: {total:,}")
    print(f"Unique words: {unique:,}")
    print(f'Most common: "{most_common}" ({count} times)')

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
        print("Usage: python wordcount.py <filename>")
        sys.exit(1)
    count_words(sys.argv[1])

Step 5: Ship It (55–60 min)

echo "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The fox is quick." > test.txt
python3 wordcount.py test.txt

Expected output:

Total words: 12
Unique words: 9
Most common: "the" (3 times)

🎉 You just built a working Python tool!

🎁 Bonus

• Add --top N flag to show top N most common words
• Handle multiple files
• Output as JSON

📚 Next Steps

🔗 Resources

• Real Python — Quality tutorials
• Python Cheatsheet — Quick reference
• Automate the Boring Stuff — Free book