The workshop on Advanced Python was conducted on Dec 7, 2015 and Dec 9, 2015 in two phases by Nikhil Mishra and Ashwin Ramanathan. The first day of the workshop covered topics such as how Python evolved to become a mainstream language for data analytics and text analytics in particular. The workshop started with basics like downloading and setting up Python and then progressed towards providing examples in social media, natural language processing and other sectors which gave students some context on how Python could be used and of its growing significance in industry. Sentiment analysis using Twitter API’s was demonstrated during the workshop which resonated well with students.
The second day of the workshop covered concepts such as regular expressions, pandas and how to use Python to frame rules for text mining using Simple Grammar. Other concepts like Machine learning were also touched upon during the workshop. The two-day workshop was a great learning experience to students beginning to learn Python and also for those with previous experience.