Welcome to Advanced Python Programming - Web Data and Scraping - Flex Course!

In this four module course, we are going to cover different ways of interacting with webpages using Python programming. From building programs that control the browser, to automating clicks (very useful for clicker games), and downloading and parsing HTML data, we will learn lots of neat ways to gather and analyze web data using Python. We will build both Python and command line programs that will take data from the clipboard, the web, and the browser to download data and images. We will also discuss HTML and the construction of web pages, and the way that web servers work to identify the browsers that use their content, among many other topics.

This course is divided into four parts which involve hands on projects as well as covering new content in each module. Our goal is to learn about how we can interact with hard to access web data (when perhaps there is no API for the data), and build useful programs that search, download, and parse web data. 

Required experience:
Some basic knowledge of HTML would be helpful but is not required, Python knowledge of variables, lists, dictionaries, functions is required. For this particular course, students should have access to a Mac, PC, or Linux computer, a Chromebook or tablet is not recommended. We will be programming both on the computer and online using the free online repl.it collaborative coding site. 

Learner Interaction:
One of the fantastic things about programming is that there is a whole community of people who are working on the same problems and looking for answers. In our class we are going to interact frequently by sharing and commenting on each other's code, looking at different ways to solve the same problems, and providing feedback to each other in order to learn and approach problems with new and creative ways. Students will submit weekly code homework assignments, and will review and comment on each other's work. Building our programming community in the course is important, and by sharing and collaborating, we will all get better at solving coding challenges.

Course contents:
Module 1:
Project: webbrowser Module
Downloading Files from the Web with the requests Module
Saving Downloaded Files 

Module2:
All about HTML
Parsing HTML with the beautiful soup 4 (bs4) Module

Module 3:
Project: Opening All Search Results
Project: Downloading Comics

Module 4:
Controlling the Browser with the selenium Module 
Project: Clicker controller