Overview

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Repetitive computer work, sorting files, copying data between formats, checking the same webpage over and over, drains hours that could go toward more valuable work. Python gives you a direct way to hand that work off to a script instead of doing it by hand every time. In this course, you'll build a working toolkit of Python automation scripts. You'll read, write, and organize files and directories, then parse and validate data pulled from text, CSV, JSON, and XML sources. You'll scrape structured data directly from live webpages using BeautifulSoup, control a real browser with Selenium to fill out forms and wait for dynamic content, and connect to public APIs to request, parse, and chain live data into your own workflows. By the end, you'll have hands-on experience building Python scripts that automate file handling, data extraction, web scraping, browser interaction, and API integration into a single practical skill set.

Syllabus

Getting Started With Python
- Your files don’t have to sit around waiting for someone to open, sort, or clean them up by hand. In this module, you’ll get set up with the tools and prerequisite skills you need to build Python automations, starting with scripts that read, write, run, and organize files and directories automatically.
Parsing and Validating Data With Python
- Real-world data rarely arrives in one tidy format, and a script that breaks the moment something's off isn't one you can trust. In this module, you'll build scripts that pull structured values out of multiple file formats, catch malformed input before it causes damage, and recover gracefully when something still goes wrong.
Web Scraping Foundations With BeautifulSoup
- Every webpage is really just structured text waiting to be read by a program instead of a person. In this module, you'll learn to read that structure, find the exact piece of data you need inside it, and pull it out automatically instead of copying and pasting by hand.
Scraping Data at Scale With BeautifulSoup
- Finding one piece of data on one page is only half the job. In this module, you'll pull out exactly the values you need from parsed HTML, and then scale that same extraction across every page of a multi-page site instead of stopping at page one.
Browser Automation With Selenium
- Websites aren't just something to read, they're something you can drive. In this module, you'll use Selenium to fill out forms, drag elements around a page, and wait for dynamic content to load, all without touching a mouse or keyboard yourself.
Automating Tasks With APIs
- You don't have to build everything from scratch to work with real-world data. In this module, you'll request data from live APIs, parse the JSON they send back, authenticate with an API key, and connect two APIs together so the output of one feeds directly into the next.
Conclusion
- You've built real, working automations across files, data, the web, browsers, and APIs. This module points you toward what to explore next and how to keep building on what you've learned.