Python for Humanists

Digital Humanists are individuals with technical skills and critical awareness. By combining the critical thinking and social consciousness rooted in social theory and humanist thougth with the technical know-how rooted in computer science and software development, digital humanists can help make our technologically saturated society more just, humane, and good.

This text is designed to help digital humanists learn the Python programming language from a humanist perspective. Along with learning the syntax and design patterns, readers will be encouraged to consider what the software they develop does to the human society that it serves. This is very much a survey text, and I would strongly encourage readers to also visit Python for Everybody

For the exercises in this text, starter-code is available. Please feel free to clone it here.

About the Author

I direct the Web, Application, and Technology Studies program at Seattle University’s School of New and Continuing Studies. My research and pedagogy are deeply invested learning and its application to future contexts. My MA and PhD research focuses on how students acquire and deploy rhetorical strategies and skills within the social, material, and technological landscapes in which they work. I teach in the areas of social theory, social science research, writing, web development, and Python.

At heart, I am a maker and have devoted a great deal of energy to creating projects and programs to address problems I see in the world around me. This lead me to develop a transition workshop for service members, which I taught for four years at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. I also lead a team developing Cluster—a suite of tools that work like a personal writing trainer. In the summer, I teach a Python camp for underrepresented kids.

Acknowledgements

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This book is written by Dylan Medina and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.