by Vincent Noel for EuroPython 2011
This training session will introduce the Python scientific stack to Engineers who use matlab in their day-to-day job and want to switch to an open solution or explore other alternatives. The basics of Python will first be presented: syntax, variable types and data structures, functions and flow control, exceptions. Python modules and tools required for matlab-like programmation in Python will be presented: ipython, numpy and matplotlib. Several Python applications typical of engineering problems will be presented and compared with their matlab version, as time will allow: plotting (time series, histograms, pseudocolor plots, etc.), basic I/O (e.g. ASCII, CSV, matlab mat-files, Excel), signal processing, mapping, etc. The creation of user interfaces with PyQt will be briefly introduced. Differences between Interactive and non-interactive programming will be described. Along the session, key differences with matlab will be underlined and discussed. Sources of information and documentation, online and offline, will be presented.
These concepts will be introduced as coding exercises using the Python programming environment provided by the Python(x,y) distribution, which is freely downloadable and includes recent versions of Python, numpy and matplotlib. This session will also focus on using Python(x,y) efficiently for Python programmation. Attendees should bring their own laptop running Windows. It is also recommended that they download and install the pythonxy distribution from http://www.pythonxy.com/.
The entire talk (PDF), code samples and data files can now be downloaded from the following archive
