Impractical Python Projects: Playful Programming Activities to Make You Smarter

Impractical Python Projects is a collection of fun and educational projects designed to entertain programmers while enhancing their Python skills. It picks up where the complete beginner books leave off, expanding on existing concepts and introducing new tools that you’ll use every day. And to keep things interesting, each project includes a zany twist featuring historical incidents, pop culture references, and literary allusions.

You’ll flex your problem-solving skills and employ Python’s many useful libraries to do things like:

• Help James Bond crack a high-tech safe with a hill-climbing algorithm
• Write haiku poems using Markov Chain Analysis
• Use genetic algorithms to breed a race of gigantic rats
• Crack the world’s most successful military cipher using cryptanalysis
• Derive the anagram, “I am Lord Voldemort” using linguistical sieves
• Plan your parents’ secure retirement with Monte Carlo simulation
• Save the sorceress Zatanna from a stabby death using palingrams
• Model the Milky Way and calculate our odds of detecting alien civilizations
• Help the world’s smartest woman win the Monty Hall problem argument
• Reveal Jupiter’s Great Red Spot using optical stacking
• Save the head of Mary, Queen of Scots with steganography
• Foil corporate security with invisible electronic ink

Simulate volcanoes, map Mars, and more, all while gaining valuable experience using free modules like Tkinter, matplotlib, Cprofile, Pylint, Pygame, Pillow, and Python-Docx.

Whether you’re looking to pick up some new Python skills or just need a pick-me-up, you’ll find endless educational, geeky fun with Impractical Python Projects.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Silly Name Generator
Chapter 2: Finding Palingram Spells
Chapter 3: Solving Anagrams
Chapter 4: Decoding American Civil War Ciphers
Chapter 5: Encoding English Civil War Ciphers
Chapter 6: Writing in Invisible Ink
Chapter 7: Breeding Giant Rats with Genetic Algorithms
Chapter 8: Counting Syllables for Haiku Poetry
Chapter 9: Writing Haiku with Markov Chain Analysis
Chapter 10: Are We Alone? Exploring the Fermi Paradox
Chapter 11: The Monty Hall Problem
Chapter 12: Securing Your Nest Egg
Chapter 13: Simulating an Alien Volcano
Chapter 14: Mapping Mars with the Mars Orbiter
Chapter 15: Improving Your Astrophotography with Planet Stacking
Chapter 16: Finding Frauds with Benford’s Law