Turning your Python scripts into reusable, general-purpose software

Overview

When using Python, you will use many external packages (pandas, numpy etc.). This course will introduce how to develop your software into a general-purpose tool that can be used inside or outside a Python environment. We will also cover some tools to make developing robust, maintainable code a bit easier.

For this course you will need a very basic knowledge of Python, and a laptop with conda (miniconda or anaconda) installed. If you need any help prior to the course (e.g. if you have a different Python installation) contact Adam Tyson (adam.tyson@ucl.ac.uk).

Contents

• Designing a Python package

• Creating command line entry points

• Structuring your project

• Automated tools for formatting your code

• Running automated tests on your software

• Versioning your code

• Packaging your code and releasing your software

Links

• Slides

• Sample .gitignore file

• BSD-3-Clause license

• GitHub markdown guide

• black config

• pre-commit config file

• GitHub actions workflow