CPD Certified Professional Python Programming Course

✓  What is programming?

Understand how programming works and why Python is the ideal starting point.

✓  Python interpreter & Jupyter Notebook

Set up and navigate the tools used to write and run Python code.

✓  Variables & data types

Learn how to store and work with different kinds of data in Python.

✓  Print & input()

Output information and collect user input through the command line.

✓  Basic expressions

Write and evaluate your first lines of Python code using operators and expressions.

✓  Arithmetic, logical & comparison operators

Perform calculations and comparisons to control how your code behaves.

✓  Type conversion

Convert between data types to ensure your code handles information correctly.

✓  Working with strings: methods, slicing & formatting

Manipulate and transform text data using Python's built-in string tools.

✓  f-strings & escape characters

Write clean, readable output using modern Python string formatting techniques.

✓  if, elif & else

Control the flow of your program based on conditions and decision logic.

✓  Nested conditionals

Build more complex decision trees by nesting conditions within each other.

✓  Boolean expressions

Combine conditions using and, or, and not to evaluate true or false outcomes.

✓  Truthy & falsy values

Understand how Python evaluates values as true or false in conditional logic.

✓  for & while loops

Repeat blocks of code efficiently using Python's core looping structures.

✓  break & continue

Control loop behaviour by skipping iterations or exiting early when needed.

✓  Looping over sequences

Iterate through lists, strings, and other data structures with ease.

✓  Basic algorithmic thought

Develop structured, logical thinking to break problems into repeatable steps.

✓  Lists, slicing & mutation

Create, access, and modify ordered collections of data in Python.

✓  List methods

Use built-in methods to sort, append, remove, and manipulate list data.

✓  List comprehensions

Write concise, readable code to build and filter lists in a single line.

✓  Tuples & immutability

Work with fixed, ordered data structures and understand why immutability matters.

✓  def, arguments & return

Define reusable blocks of code that accept inputs and return outputs.

✓  Scope

Understand where variables live and how Python resolves names inside and outside functions.

✓  Recursion

Write functions that call themselves to solve problems through repeated self-reference.

✓  Lambda functions

Create compact, anonymous functions for quick, inline use in your code.

✓  Dict creation & access

Build and retrieve data from key-value pair structures in Python.

✓  Methods: get, setdefault & update

Use built-in dictionary methods to safely read, set, and modify data.

✓  Nested dictionaries

Store and navigate complex, multi-level data structures within a dictionary.

✓  Sets & common operations

Work with unordered, unique collections and perform union, intersection, and difference operations.

✓  Using dictionaries for data processing

Apply dictionaries to organise, count, and process real-world data efficiently.

✓  Classes & objects

Define blueprints for creating structured, reusable objects in your code.

✓  Attributes & methods

Store data and define behaviour within classes using attributes and methods.

✓  __init__ constructor

Use the initialiser method to set up object properties when a class is instantiated.

✓  Encapsulation

Protect and control access to data within a class to keep code clean and secure.

✓  Inheritance & polymorphism

Build class hierarchies and allow objects to take multiple forms through shared interfaces.

✓  Composition

Combine simple objects to build more complex ones without relying on inheritance.

✓  Special methods: __str__ & __repr__

Control how objects are displayed and represented as strings in Python.

✓  Property decorators

Manage attribute access with getters and setters using Python's @property decorator.

✓  Magic methods

Use dunder methods to customise how objects behave with operators and built-in functions.

✓  try / except / else / finally

Handle errors gracefully and keep your programs running when something goes wrong.

✓  Custom exceptions

Define your own error types to make code more readable and easier to debug.

✓  File reading & writing

Read from and write to files to persist and share data outside your program.

✓  JSON processing

Parse and generate JSON data — the standard format for APIs and web applications.

✓  NumPy arrays

Create and work with powerful multi-dimensional arrays for numerical computing.

✓  Vectorised operations

Apply operations across entire arrays at once for fast, efficient data processing.

✓  Pandas Series & DataFrame basics

Work with labelled data structures to organise and analyse real-world datasets.

✓  Slicing & filtering data

Extract and filter specific rows and columns to focus on the data that matters.

✓  Simple aggregation

Summarise datasets using totals, averages, counts, and other statistical measures.