The place of Python projects cannot be overemphasized when learning Python. It is one thing to learn theoretical concepts and yet another to apply those concepts. Doing projects is a quick way of improving your skills and mastering the language quickly. If there is one thing I would change while learning Python, it is doing more projects. In this article, you will get ideas for interesting projects that you can play around with. Before we jump into that, let’s understand in why projects are critically important.
Why you need Projects as a Python Programmer.
- Project builds your confidence: The more projects you work on, the more confident you are about your skills. You would be able to identify your strengths categorically as well as your weaknesses.
- Projects give you a broader view of Python and its packages: Python is very broad, and it would take a lot of reading to get the hang of everything. However, working with projects allows you to get a well-rounded understanding of the tools you would be needing. The more you explore different projects, the more knowledge you gain.
- Projects give you a firmer grasp of the entire software development life cycle (SLDC): Many times, learners think writing codes is all there is to software development. On the contrary, it takes more than that. Software development also involve debugging, managing test processes, deploying into production, and updating the code from time to time. All these you get, when you play around with projects.
- You master the syntax and tools easily. The best way to learn is by doing. Doing projects is an active way of learning which would mean you quickly master concepts. You also master the things that matter and are being used in real-life situations.
- Projects make your portfolio more credible: When beginners are job hunting, hiring managers always want to see what you can do. And one way of showing what you can do is to show previously done projects. You can also enrol for a course and get an online Python certification if you want to look more credible. All these will increase your chances of landing your first job.
Now you know why you need projects, let’s discuss some projects you can try out
Projects Ideas to Try Out
- Number guessing game: This is a simple yet interesting project. You can write a python code that asks a user to guess a number. The user may have 3 trials. If he guesses right before 3 trials, he wins otherwise he loses. At every trial, you may give hints of what the number is. The user is to get insight from the hint to make a correct guess. The game can be in levels. The higher the level, the tougher it is to decipher the hints.
- Binary search algorithm: Building this would solidify your understanding of data structures and algorithms. The code will search for a number inputted by the user from a list of numbers. The list of numbers is to have a difference of 2 between them. Once a user inputs a random number to be searched, the code divides the list of available numbers into two and searches the first part. If the number is found, it rejects the second half of the list. If not found, it continues to split the list into two until all the numbers are exhausted.
- Building a basic calculator: You can build a basic calculator that does simple mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, etc. To do this, you may be needing a python package for GUI such as Tkinter. You would be able to create buttons that execute the functions for each of the mathematical operations.
- Contact Book Simulator: This is a great project for beginners that want to master the use of databases. You will build an application that stores the name, phone number and email of contact. The user would be able to access a contact given their names, delete contacts and add new contacts.
- Building an weather app: You can use Python to build an app that checks the weather of a particular region. This project is a little more advanced than the others but it is a great way of mastering how to use APIs and other third-party services. You will need to connect the application to consume data from APIs such as Google weather. You will also need to deploy the application so that everyone can access it. This would require you to build a front-end interactive webpage. You can use frameworks such as Flask or Django to build the webpage. For deploying the app, Heroku is a great SaaS to explore.
- Tic Tac Toe: Virtually everyone knows Tic Tac Toe and has played it at one time or the other. It is a simple game of 2 players where a player selects a position to either insert X or O. A player that successfully has their letter X or O, in a straight line wins. You can build such an application using Python. You can make it more interesting by incorporating the Pygame package in Python.
- Currency Converter: You can build a Python app that converts from one currency to another. This is quite easy code, however, would require you to constantly update the conversion rate. To make your code more dynamic, you can allow the app to receive the conversion rates from an API that updates the conversion rate in real time.
- Metric converter: This is almost like the currency converter. You can build an app that converts length, mass, weight from one unit to another. For instance, a python app that converts from kilogram to pounds. You can incorporate as many conversion options to make it more robust.
- Website ad blocker: Ads can be annoying sometimes. You can build an app that blocks ads on a website. This can help a couple of people who easily get distracted and always want to focus when they are on a website.
- Create a Twitter bot: You can create a Twitter bot using platforms such as Tweepy. The bot may like Tweets that follow a given pattern. Maybe tweets on Sports, Politics or Entertainment. This may be a little advanced but it is great to solidify the use of APIs in real-life situations.
To wrap up, doing these projects will give you a rounded understanding of Python. You can learn how to do these projects and more by enrolling for a Python online course.
