Python 101

Speakers: Joseph Chilcote

Level: Fundamental, Hands-on (BYOD for attendees)

Excerpt: Scripting aptitude is a fundamental tool in your typical Mac admin’s utility belt. This session will go over the basics of scripting in python, offer some examples of how python can help you with your day to day work, and will finish up with an interactive session to build prototype automation tools.

Description: You may not realize it, but if you’ve ever opened Terminal.app and typed in a series of commands, then you’ve effectively written a bash script. Bash is a great way to run commands in sequence, but tends to fall apart when you need to do any manipulation of data. Python is a favorite scripting language for Mac admins for a variety of reasons: it’s available by default on every install of macOS; and because of the wide adoption in the Mac admin community, there are tons of open source examples from which you can learn (and appropriate!).
In this Python 101 session, we will go over the basics of python, covering lists, dictionaries, and objects. We will discuss how python can tie into the macOS operating system, and how to interact with standard data types used by the applications and tools which we use to manage our fleets.
By the end of the session, you will have written your own python scripts, which can be used as stepping stones towards the path of automation enlightenment.


About the speaker

Joseph Chilcote (Twitter: @chilcote) – Client Platform Engineer – Facebook

Client Platform Engineer at Facebook.

This entry was posted in MacAdmins 2019 Sessions. Bookmark the permalink.