Real-World Python : A Hacker's Guide to Solving Problems with Code

A project-based approach to learning Python programming for beginners. Intriguing projects teach you how to tackle challenging problems with code. You've mastered the basics. Now you're ready to explore some of Python's more powerful tools. Real-World Python will show you how. Through a series of hands-on projects, you'll investigate and solve real-world problems using sophisticated computer vision, machine learning, data analysis, and language processing tools. You'll be introduced to important modules like OpenCV, NumPy, Pandas, NLTK, Bokeh, Beautiful Soup, Requests, HoloViews, Tkinter, turtle, matplotlib, and more. You'll create complete, working programs and think through intriguing projects that show you how to: Save shipwrecked sailors with an algorithm designed to prove the existence of God Detect asteroids and comets moving against a starfield Program a sentry gun to shoot your enemies and spare your friends Select landing sites for a Mars probe using real NASA maps Send unbreakable messages based on a book code Survive a zombie outbreak using data science Discover exoplanets and alien megastructures orbiting distant stars Test the hypothesis that we're all living in a computer simulation And more! If you're tired of learning the bare essentials of Python Programming with isolated snippets of code, you'll relish the relevant and geeky fun of Real-World Python! Brief Contents Contents in Detail Introduction Who Should Read This Book? Why Python? What’s in This Book? Python Version, Platform, and IDE Installing Python Running Python Using a Virtual Environment Onward! Chapter 1: Saving Shipwrecked Sailors with Bayes’ Rule Bayes’ Rule Project #1: Search and Rescue The Strategy Installing the Python Libraries The Bayes Code Playing the Game Summary Further Reading Challenge Project: Smarter Searches Challenge Project: Finding the Best Strategy with MCS Challenge Project: Calculating the Probability of Detection Chapter 2: Attributing Authorship with Stylometry Project #2: The Hound, The War, and The Lost World The Strategy Installing NLTK The Corpora The Stylometry Code Summary Further Reading Practice Project: Hunting the Hound with Dispersion Practice Project: Punctuation Heatmap Challenge Project: Fixing Frequency Chapter 3: Summarizing Speeches with Natural Language Processing Project #3: I Have a Dream . . . to Summarize Speeches! The Strategy Web Scraping The “I Have a Dream” Code Project #4: Summarizing Speeches with gensim Installing gensim The Make Your Bed Code Project #5: Summarizing Text with Word Clouds The Word Cloud and PIL Modules The Word Cloud Code Fine-Tuning the Word Cloud Summary Further Reading Challenge Project: Game Night Challenge Project: Summarizing Summaries Challenge Project: Summarizing a Novel Challenge Project: It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s How You Say It! Chapter 4: Sending Super-Secret Messages with a Book Cipher The One-Time Pad The Rebecca Cipher Project #6: The Digital Key to Rebecca The Strategy The Encryption Code Sending Messages Summary Further Reading Practice Project: Charting the Characters Practice Project: Sending Secrets the WWII Way Chapter 5: Finding Pluto Project #7: Replicating a Blink Comparator The Strategy The Data The Blink Comparator Code Using the Blink Comparator Project #8: Detecting Astronomical Transients with Image Differencing The Strategy The Transient Detector Code Using the Transient Detector Summary Further Reading Practice Project: Plotting the Orbital Path Practice Project: What’s the Difference? Challenge Project: Counting Stars Chapter 6: Winning the Moon Race with Apollo 8 Understanding the Apollo 8 Mission The Free Return Trajectory The Three-Body Problem Project #9: To the Moon with Apollo 8! Using the turtle Module The Strategy The Apollo 8 Free Return Code Running the Simulation Summary Further Reading Practice Project: Simulating a Search Pattern Practice Project: Start Me Up! Practice Project: Shut Me Down! Challenge Project: True-Scale Simulation Challenge Project: The Real Apollo 8 Chapter 7: Selecting Martian Landing Sites How to Land on Mars The MOLA Map Project #10: Selecting Martian Landing Sites Strategy The Site Selector Code Results Summary Further Reading Practice Project: Confirming That Drawings Become Part of an Image Practice Project: Extracting an Elevation Profile Practice Project: Plotting in 3D Practice Project: Mixing Maps Challenge Project: Making It Three in a Row Challenge Project: Wrapping Rectangles Chapter 8: Detecting Distant Exoplanets Transit Photometry Project #11: Simulating an Exoplanet Transit The Strategy The Transit Code Experimenting with Transit Photometry Project #12: Imaging Exoplanets The Strategy The Pixelator Code Summary Further Reading Practice Project: Detecting Alien Megastructures Practice Project: Detecting Asteroid Transits Practice Project: Incorporating Limb Darkening Practice Project: Detecting Starspots Practice Project: Detecting an Alien Armada Practice Project: Detecting a Planet with a Moon Practice Project: Measuring the Length of an Exoplanet’s Day Challenge Project: Generating a Dynamic Light Curve Chapter 9: Identifying Friend or Foe Detecting Faces in Photographs Project #13: Programming a Robot Sentry Gun The Strategy The Code Results Detecting Faces from a Video Stream Summary Further Reading Practice Project: Blurring Faces Challenge Project: Detecting Cat Faces Chapter 10: Restricting Access with Face Recognition Recognizing Faces with Local Binary Pattern Histograms The Face Recognition Flowchart Extracting Local Binary Pattern Histograms Project #14: Restricting Access to the Alien Artifact The Strategy Supporting Modules and Files The Video Capture Code The Face Trainer Code The Face Predictor Code Results Summary Further Reading Challenge Project: Adding a Password and Video Capture Challenge Project: Look-alikes and Twins Challenge Project: Time Machine Chapter 11: Creating an Interactive Zombie Escape Map Project #15: Visualizing Population Density with a Choropleth Map The Strategy The Python Data Analysis Library The bokeh and holoviews Libraries Installing pandas, bokeh, and holoviews Accessing the County, State, Unemployment, and Population Data Hacking holoviews The Choropleth Code Planning the Escape Summary Further Reading Challenge Project: Mapping US Population Change Chapter 12: Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Project #16: Life, the Universe, and Yertle’s Pond The Pond Simulation Code Implications of the Pond Simulation Measuring the Cost of Crossing the Lattice Results The Strategy Summary Further Reading Moving On Challenge Project: Finding a Safe Space Challenge Project: Here Comes the Sun Challenge Project: Seeing Through a Dog’s Eyes Challenge Project: Customized Word Search Challenge Project: Simplifying a Celebration Slideshow Challenge Project: What a Tangled Web We Weave Challenge Project: Go Tell It on the Mountain Practice Project Solutions Chapter 2: Attributing Authorship with Stylometry Hunting the Hound with Dispersion Punctuation Heatmap Chapter 4: Sending Super-Secret Messages with a Book Cipher Charting the Characters Sending Secrets the WWII Way Chapter 5: Finding Pluto Plotting the Orbital Path What’s the Difference? Chapter 6: Winning the Moon Race with Apollo 8 Simulating a Search Pattern Start Me Up! Shut Me Down! Chapter 7: Selecting Martian Landing Sites Confirming That Drawings Become Part of an Image Extracting an Elevation Profile Plotting in 3D Mixing Maps Chapter 8: Detecting Distant Exoplanets Detecting Alien Megastructures Detecting Asteroid Transits Incorporating Limb Darkening Detecting an Alien Armada Detecting a Planet with a Moon Measuring the Length of an Exoplanet’s Day Chapter 9: Identifying Friend or Foe Blurring Faces Chapter 10: Restricting Access with Face Recognition Challenge Project: Adding a Password and Video Capture Index Blank Page A Project- Based Approach To Learning Python Programming For Beginners. Intriguing Projects Teach Readers How To Tackle Challenging Problems With Code. Computer Programming Is About Solving Real Problems With Code. Real World Python Is A Collection Of Worked Projects For Readers Who Know Some Basic Python And Want To Do Something With Their Knowledge. The Book's Short Projects All Teach Thought Processes And Problem-solving As Well As Coding Syntax. Readers Learn To Think Their Way Through Challenges Like Predicting The Location Of Sailors Lost At Sea, Discovering New Planets, Determining The Author Of A Novel, Selecting Candidate Landing Sites For A Mars Rover, Programming A Robot Sentry Gun To Detect And Shoot Aliens (not Humans), And More. The Book Should Appeal To Younger Learners And Mature Readers, Especially Scientists And Engineers Looking To Increase Their Python Skills. Most Chapters Give The Reader A Role (nasa Intern, Coast Guard Director Of Operations, Linguistic Detective, Un Diplomatic Associate, Aliens Movie Franchise Colonial Marine, And So On). Vaughan Walks Readers Through Planning And Implementing Solutions To Complex Problems. The Book's Various Projects Introduce Important Python Modules, Like Nltk And Opencv, Which Are Used Extensively In Data Analysis And Machine Learning. By The End Of The Book Readers Will Be Able To Think Through Complex Python Projects And Have The Tools Necessary To Tackle Them. "A book of varied coding projects for readers who know a little Python already and want to expand their skills. Save shipwrecked sailors, discover exoplanets, and more, while gaining experience using free modules like OpenCV, NumPy, Pandas, NLTK, Bokeh, Beautiful Soup, and matplotlib"-- Provided by publisher