Welcome!

This website contains all relevant information for the Python course offered by STADS (Students' Association for Data Analytics & Statistics) and the University of Mannheim.

The course will consist of eight sessions starting in the week of 22.09.2025.

Sessions will take place once a week for 90 minutes; the exact day, time, and lecture hall will be announced shortly.

Participation will also be possible online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be provided here as soon as it becomes available.

An additional Q&A session is planned for the week of 17.11.2025.

The exam will take place either in the week of 24.11.2025 or alternatively during the make-up exam week starting 31.01.2026.

More information about the exam can be found here.

Before the first session, please make sure you completed the setup.

All materials will be provided in English, as is typical in the data science world. The sessions themselves will be held in German. You can contact me in either language.

This course mainly consist of two parts:

• Introduction to the topic by working through the w3schools Python Tutorial. The interactive exercises allow us to learn Python efficiently, while focusing directly on its application.
• Hands-on coding projects to reinforce and deepen your knowledge of the fundamentals you have learned. You will be able to directly apply and combine newly learned material to complete mini-projects provided on the GitHub site. The proportion of hands-on projects will increase over time.

Exam

The exam for the Python course will be offered on two dates: in the week of 24.11.2025 and, as an alternative, during the make-up exam week starting 31.01.2026.

Please note that the exam format will differ from previous years.

Further details on the exact schedule and the registration process will be announced in due time.

Setup

1. Python. We will be using Python 3.13 for this course. There are many ways to install Python. If you haven't done so yet, you could use Miniconda or install Python globally.
2. VS Code. We will be working a lot with Jupyter Notebooks. You can use Jupyter Notebooks in your browser, but it is recommended to use Visual Studio Code. Make sure to install the Python and Jupyter Extensions in VS Code.
3. Git. All code will be provided in a GitHub repository
   https://github.com/STADS-Mannheim/python-course-2025.git
   If you haven't already done so yet, you can install Git as described below. Alternatively, you may find it easier to use Github Desktop.
   • Windows: Download Git for Windows or just type in your admin powershell
     choco install git
   • Mac: Download Git for Mac or just type in your terminal
     brew install git
   If you are not familiar with Git, you can find a very short guide here.