My first Python programs with “AI Python for Beginners” course

#AIPythonforBeginners

Recently, I completed the short course "AI Python for Beginners" by DeepLearning.ai. I am not a programmer, so I was thrilled when, immediately after the course—which took about an hour to complete—I managed to create my first program in Python. And then another one. And one more. The next day, I even managed to automate one of my routine tasks, which would have required quite a lot of manual work—if not for the course.

And even though I know there is a huge difference between me and a programmer, I am happy that I can now automate my tasks with Python alone, without relying on Zapier or other third-party tools.

The course, in short, was about using ChatGPT to create Python programs. And here’s my story what happened after the course.

1. Python Temperature Converter

My first program, inspired by the course, was a calculator that converts temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit. I thought it would be nice to be able to tell my overseas colleagues what the temperature is right now in a way they can understand. ChatGPT suggested the program, but the input was complicated, so I asked to simplify the input and improve user experience. ChatGPT came up with a genius solution: depending on the measurement you add, it would convert Celsius to Fahrenheit or back. For example, 20C would be converted to Fahrenheit, and 10F to Celsius.

2. The "Time Machine"

My next idea was to calculate the current time in all of our team members’ time zones. In the way that it is easy to add new locations.

It took me much longer to find the format and the output I needed. At first when I was trying to add locations the program needed me to add exact coordinates beside the exact time zone etc. Another thing which I really wanted was a nice big font with the accent on the most important information. And after about an hour of working with ChatGPT I’ve got what I wanted - easily added locations and nice bold output.

3. The Shabbat

When I showed the program to my friend, she asked if I could create a program that calculates the start and end of Shabbat. It required some more “ChatGPT thinking” and the installation of some libraries to calculate sunset times. And it worked!

4. Summaries of web-pages

The next day, I thought about automating one of my big tasks. I needed to create summaries for our new website pages. The website is still under development, and the content is password-protected to prevent accidental access by the public. There are no secrets, but it’s just a work in progress.

I understood that the task was complex, so at first, I asked ChatGPT to create a simple program that would summarize a publicly available webpage. After this was done, I tried to use Google Colab Notebook’s AI Assistant, Gemini, to add new functionality that would allow summaries for password-protected pages. It refused—probably due to some rules preventing it from assisting with such tasks. So, I turned back to ChatGPT and explained the situation. ChatGPT came up with a solution, but it didn’t work. I copied part of the HTML code from the login page into ChatGPT. That helped, and the next version of the program worked, allowing me to add my password into the system and access the pages I needed to summarize.

Next, I added the ability to include multiple links and save the results in the format I wanted—a .CSV file. After that, I ran my program, and the task was completed in seconds. Even though I wasn’t entirely happy with the summaries themselves—due to the library used, as ChatGPT explained to me—that will be my next task, perhaps.

Conclusion

I would like to say thank you to the course authors. They truly inspired me to start creating some new stuff, to ask questions and get answers. The course also helped me understand that lots of the time is spent on finding and fixing problems after the basic functionality is already working.

If you need more complex programming, come to the real programmers in our company ( First Line Software ), but for small automation tasks like the ones mentioned above, I highly recommend the “AI Python for Beginners Course.” And I’m looking forward to the next course by DeepLearning.ai: AI Python for Beginners: Automating Tasks with Python.