APIs and API Design with Python

1. Python Review
   
   • Lists
   • Dictionaries
   • Tuples
   • Conditionals (if, elif, else)
   • Loops (for and when)
   • Functions
   • Variable Scope - Review
   • Converting boiler plate code to functional code
   • Writing Functions (reusable code)
   • Using pip
   • Useful 3rd party modules
   • Publishing a module
   • Documenting modules
     
     
2. OS Interfacing
   
   • Operating System interfacing with OS module
   • OS module - listdir(), getcwd(), mkdir()
   • Common sys Module Attributes & Methods
   • Working With the os Module & Files/Directories
   • Walking File Trees with os.walk()
   • File, Path and Directory Examples
   • Working with os.path
   • os & os.path Module Examples
   • Environmental Variables
   • Running Shell Commands
   • Compressing and archiving (gzip, tar, zip)
     
     
3. Web and RESTful APIs
   
   • REST
   • REST APIS and HTTP CRUD
   • REST and OpenStack
   • URI analysis and formation
   • Wireshark capturing
   • cURL
   • Etcd keystore
   • Creating a Python client to interact with API endpoints
   • API dev keys
   • SSH and Python
   • Secure password retrieval
   • Tokens and APIs
     
     
4. Python Protocol Clients
   
   • Scripting the browser
   • Scripting with HTTP
   • Creating an HTTP Client & Server
   • Python and SSH
   • Building an SFTP Client & Server
   • Python and SFTP limitations
   • Paramiko for SSH
   • Netmiko and Major Network Vendors (Cisco, Juniper, Arista)
     
     
5. JSON, YAML, XML, CSV and Excel
   
   • JSON RFC 7159
   • JSON Formatting
   • YAML intro
   • YAML lists
   • YAML dictionaries
   • YAML line spanning
   • Reading YAML is easy
   • XML
   • CSV
   • Import json
   • Import yaml
   • Decoding json and yaml to use
   • Using python to decode data structures like YAML, XML, CSV, and JSON
   • Reading from Excel
   • Writing to Excel
     
     
6. Generating and Sending Emails
   
   • Overview of email modules
   • Creating simple emails
   • Interfacing with your email account
     
     
7. Dates and Times
   
   • Python and Cron
   • Import time and time.time()
   • Suspending with sleep()
   • Dealing with time
   • Time formatting
   • Time tuples
   • Creating Calendars
     
     
8. Python Regular Expression (Regex)
   
   • Metacharacter review
   • Re modules
   • search() and match()
   • findall()
   • Compiling regex search patterns
   • Creating highly efficient searches
   • Sorting data sets
   • Complex sorts
   • sort() vs sorted()
   • Sorting with functions
   • Applying Regex to file searches
   • Applying Regex to API results
     
     
9. Code Review
   
   • Best practice
   • Using pylint
   • Conventions
   • Underscore
   • Double underscore
   • Monkey Patching
     
     
10. Web API Design with Flask
    
    • Flask Overview
    • Decorators
    • Building APIs with Python and Flask
    • APIs returning Jinja2 templating
    • Returning a ‘cookie’
    • Building Sessions
    • Redirecting from URIs
    • Build an API to accept a file upload
      
      
11. SQLlite
    
    • Overview
    • Connecting to Python
    • Read / Write operations
    • Other useful instructions
    • Connecting APIs and SQLite
    • Reading and Writing to Databases with APIs
      
      
12. Processes and Threads
    
    • Threading
    • Context change
    • Deadlock errors
    • Thread starvation
    • Racing conditions and racing specifics
    • Working with Locks

Develop Python scripts that communicate with RESTful (and non-RESTful) APIs, as well as design RESTful API interfaces themselves. Use Python to open SSH sessions and pass commands to remote servers, move files via SFTP, parse and manipulate popular data structures (JSON, XML, CSV, and YAML), handle errors, interface with the operating system, create highly efficient regular expressions for parsing, and best practice techniques.

Lab 1 - Using vim
Lab 2 - Making a Github account
Lab 3 - Getting dir(obj) help() and pydoc
Lab 4 - Lists
Lab 5 - Dictionaries
Lab 6 - Python Data to JSON file
Lab 7 - Python Data to YAML file
Lab 8 - import time
Lab 9 - List and Dict Modeling
Lab 10 - try and except
Lab 11 - Construct a SimpleHTTPServer and HTTP Client
Lab 12 - RESTful Open APIs
Lab 13 - APIs and JSON Decode
Lab 14 - requests library
Lab 15 - APIs and Dev Keys
Lab 16 - RESTful APIs and Dev Keys
Lab 17 - getpass - Secure Password Retrieval
Lab 18 - Paramiko SFTP with UN and PW
Lab 19 - Paramiko SSH with RSA
Lab 20 - Scripting Commands over SSH
Lab 21 - Argument Parsing
Lab 22 - Making Excel Sheets
Lab 23 - Reading Excel Sheets
Lab 24 - Timestamping Data
Lab 25 - API Tokens and Subjects
Lab 26 - RegEx to Check IP Address
Lab 27 - Use RegEx to Search Text
Lab 28 - Search and Replace Data
Lab 29 - Compiling Search Objects
Lab 30 - Testing of a Match Exists
Lab 31 - Getting sorted()
Lab 32 - Sort Stability and Complex Sorts
Lab 33 - CSV data
Lab 34 - Unpacking Arguments
Lab 35 - XML Parsing with ElementTree
Lab 36 - Automating SMTP and Extended SMTP (Email)
Lab 37 - Archive with zipfile
Lab 38 - Building APIs with Python
Lab 39 - Flask APIs and Jinja2
Lab 40 - Flask APIs and Cookies
Lab 41 - Flask Sessions
Lab 42 - Flask Redirection and Errors
Lab 43 - Flask Uploading Files
Lab 44 - Connecting an API to a Database
Lab 45 - Learning sqlite3
Lab 46 - Tracking API Data with sqlite3
Lab 47 - Tracking Inventory with sqlite
Lab 48 - Working with Threads

Coding experience in another language serves as an adequate prerequisite

System administrators, network engineers, and developers will find this course compelling as they build and interact APIs that not only return highly parsable datasets, but also trigger scripted actions. Some previous experience with Python is ideal, although, coding experience in another language is also enough to find success within this course.