Python Programming | Advanced | Connected Data w/ the Weather API

In this course, we will continue on in python and write a program that connects to the Open Weather API. This is a great first step into the world of expanding python beyond your computer and connecting to the practically endless sources of API data. We will talk about different connected data applications, and how to take the JSON data the API endpoint returns and transform it into something we can use in our program. Connected applications are how most apps and programs work, taking data from one source, transforming it, and making it do something (in our case, displaying the weather). The end goal is a program that asks the user where they are, and we send that information to the API, and retrieve the temperature in Kelvin. We will then take that variable and convert it to Celsius and Fahrenheit and display it back to the user. Students will learn about passing strings, and working with data that is returned from the server in their python programs. The exciting thing about this program is that by working with live data, it can be customized to show results from any location in the API, and teaches students how to work with live server-based data in their programs. 

In the class, we will code the program collaboratively, and build the user interface. Students will be provided with the code we work on following the class for them to continue working on and expanding. We will write, test, and build the code in an iterative fashion, focusing on each element before we move forward. Students should have previously had exposure to python and understand how lists and dictionaries in python work.