Clinical Professor, School of Information
Using Python to Access Web Data
What You'll Learn
- Use regular expressions to extract data from strings
- Understand the protocols web browsers use to retrieve documents and web apps
- Retrieve data from websites and APIs using Python
- Work with XML (eXtensible Markup Language) data
6 Modules
18 Hours
3 hrs per module (approx.)
Rating
About Using Python to Access Web Data
This course will show how one can treat the Internet as a source of data. We will scrape, parse, and read web data as well as access data using web APIs. We will work with HTML, XML, and JSON data formats in Python. This course will cover Chapters 11-13 of the textbook “Python for Everybody”. To succeed in this course, you should be familiar with the material covered in Chapters 1-10 of the textbook and the first two courses in this specialization. These topics include variables and expressions, conditional execution (loops, branching, and try/except), functions, Python data structures (strings, lists, dictionaries, and tuples), and manipulating files. This course covers Python 3.
Skills You'll Gain
- JSON
- Python For Data Analysis
- Python (Programming Language)
- Web Development
- Web Scraping
What You'll Earn
- Certificate of Completion:
- Certificates of completion acknowledge knowledge acquired upon completion of a non-credit course or program.
Welcome Message
Welcome to Using Python to Access Web Data, a course focused on treating the internet as a rich source of data for analysis. You will learn how to retrieve, parse, and process web data using Python, working with formats such as HTML, XML, and JSON. Through hands-on practice, you will explore web scraping, APIs, and networking concepts to build practical data access workflows. This course is part of the Python for Everybody series.
This abbreviated syllabus description was created with the help of AI tools and reviewed by staff. The full syllabus is available to those who enroll in the course.
Course Schedule
Module 1: Getting Started
- Video: Welcome to The Course
- Reading: Python Textbook
- Reading: Help us learn more about you!
- Reading: Course Syllabus
- Video: Welcome to Python - Guido van Rossum
- Reading: Notes on Choice of Text Editor
- Reading: Notice for Auditing Learners: Assignment Submission
- Video: Windows 10: Installing Python and Writing A Program
- Video: Windows: Taking Screen Shots
- Video: Macintosh: Using Python and Writing A Program
- Video: Macintosh: Taking Screen Shots
- App Item: Check External Tool Grades
Module 2: Regular Expressions
- Video: Regular Expressions
- Video: Extracting Data
- Reading: Python Regular Expression Quick Guide
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Den Haag
- Video: Bonus Interview: Bjarne Stroustrup - C++
Module 3: Networks and Sockets
- Video: Networked Technology
- Video: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
- Video: Worked Example: Sockets
- Video: Using the Developer Console to Explore HTTP
- Reading: If You Want to Learn More
- Video: Bonus: Leonard Kleinrock - The First Two Packets on the ARPANET
- Video: Bonus Video: Robert Cailliau - co-Inventor of the Web
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Atlanta GA (Buckhead)
- Video: Fun: Dr. Chuck @ CNN Reading the News
Module 4: Programs That Surf the Web
- Video: Unicode Characters and Strings
- Video: Retrieving Web Pages
- Video: Worked Example: Using Urllib
- Video: Parsing Web Pages
- Video: Worked Example: BeautifulSoup
- Reading: Notes Regarding the Use of BeautifulSoup
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Montreal
- Video: Bonus Interview: Tim Berners-Lee - Inventing the Web
- Video: Fun: I Got My Mojo Working - Geneva, Switzerland
Module 5: Web Services and XML
- Video: Data on the Web
- Video: eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
- Video: XML Schema
- Video: Parsing XML
- Video: Worked Example: XML
- Video: Interview: Roy Fielding - Understanding the REST Architecture
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Boston
- Video: Bonus Video: Ian Horrocks / RDF / OWL (Advanced)
Module 6: JSON and the REST Architecture
- Video: JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
- Video: Worked Example: JSON
- Video: Interview: Douglas Crockford - Discovering JSON
- Video: Service Oriented Approach
- Video: Video: Service Oriented Architectures
- Video: Using Application Programming Interfaces
- Video: Worked Example: OpenStreetMap API
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Melbourne, AU
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Santa Monica, CA
- Video: Bonus: Class Reunion at Bletchley Park
- Reading: Please Rate this Course on Class-Central
- Reading: Post-Course Survey
Grading Policy
Learners are assessed through quizzes, programming assignments, and peer-reviewed activities that evaluate understanding of web data access and processing techniques. The course grade is based on five quizzes worth 35% (7% each), seven programming assignments worth 56% (8% each), and a peer review worth 9% of the total 100% final grade.
Course content developed by U-M faculty and managed by the university. Faculty titles and affiliations are updated periodically.
Beginner Level
No prior experience required
