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Python programming for the humanities

Are you studying a subject in the humanities and interested in learning how to use computer programming in your research? Or are you somewhat familiar with programming and want to work on your skills? This course gives you an introduction to writing scripts in Python and performing tasks such as automating excel and analyzing large collections of texts.

Main content

This course is aimed at students curious about digital methods in the humanities. No prior knowledge of programming is required. We also encourage students familiar with Python to attend and offer more advanced examples and programming exercises. 

During three course days you get a hands-on introduction to programming concepts in Jupyter Notebook – an application allowing you to write and run Python code inside a document in your browser. 

You will be able to run Jupyter Notebook in your browser without installation, although with limited functionality. We therefore recommend installing it on your own machine in advance, preferably by installing the Python-distribution Anaconda

Schedule for the course: 

Day 1 (May 25, Tuesday) 

Main topic: getting started with Python and Jupyter Notebook 
9:00 – 9:30: Introduction 
9:30 – 12:20: Coding tasks and examples in Jupyter Notebook 
12:20 – 12:30 Summary/discussion 
 

Day 2 (May 26, Wednesday) 

Main topic: storing and processing data
9:00 – 9:10: Introduction 
9:10 – 12:20: Coding tasks and examples in Jupyter Notebook 
12:20 – 12:30 Summary/discussion 
 

Day 3 (May 27, Thursday) 

Main topic: simplify your code and expand your toolbox using functions and libraries
9:00 – 9:10: Introduction 
9:10 – 12:15: Coding tasks and examples in Jupyter Notebook 
12:15 – 12:30: Summary/discussion 
 

Additional topics: 

Automate excel using xlwings. 
Visualize word frequencies and relationships between words (collocations) in a text corpus. 
 

Registration 

Sign up for the course here (the course is limited to 30 participants).  

The course will until further notice be held in Zoom due to the corona restrictions and the participants will receive an email with a Zoom-link a day before the course starts.