Advanced Skill Test: Python Professional Level 2 (PCPP2™)

The PCPP2™ certification is a prestigious achievement for Python developers, recognizing their advanced programming skills and their ability to work on professional-level Python applications. This course prepares you for the PCPP2™ exam by covering the essential topics and providing hands-on experience with complex programming challenges. By completing the course, you will not only be ready to pass the certification exam, but also gain valuable experience that will be directly applicable in the workplace.

What You Will Learn

This course covers a wide range of advanced Python topics, designed to expand your knowledge and make you a more effective and efficient Python developer.

1. Advanced Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

• Key Topics: Classes, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction, multiple inheritance, and metaclasses.
• Why It’s Important: Object-oriented programming is at the core of Python. In this course, you’ll delve into more advanced OOP concepts like metaclasses and abstract base classes. These concepts are vital for writing reusable, modular, and maintainable code in large projects. You’ll also learn how to design Python applications that are scalable and easy to maintain.

2. Software Design Patterns

• Key Topics: Singleton, Factory, Observer, Strategy, and other design patterns.
• Why It’s Important: As software systems become more complex, using design patterns to structure your code in a logical and reusable way is crucial. In this course, you will learn several common design patterns that will help you solve common software design problems. These patterns are widely used in professional development environments, and knowing how to apply them will make you a more efficient Python developer.

3. Multithreading and Parallelism

• Key Topics: Threading, multiprocessing, concurrency, synchronization, and Python’s threading and multiprocessing modules.
• Why It’s Important: Modern applications often require handling multiple tasks at once, and this course teaches you how to achieve that with Python. You will learn how to create multithreaded and parallel programs that can efficiently handle concurrent tasks. This is especially useful in real-time applications, web servers, or any system requiring high performance and responsiveness.

4. Networking and Socket Programming

• Key Topics: Client-server communication, sockets, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, building network applications.
• Why It’s Important: Understanding how to create networked applications is critical for many fields, from web development to IoT. In this section, you will learn how to build client-server applications using Python’s socket library. Additionally, you will gain experience working with various protocols like HTTP and FTP, which are essential for building networked services and applications.

5. Advanced File Handling

• Key Topics: File I/O, binary files, file compression, and advanced data serialization (pickle, JSON).
• Why It’s Important: Working with files is an essential skill in any Python project. This section of the course teaches you how to efficiently read and write large files, handle binary data, and perform advanced file operations like file compression and encryption. You’ll also learn how to serialize complex Python objects using the pickle and JSON libraries, which is crucial for persisting data.

6. Working with Databases

• Key Topics: SQL, NoSQL, relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL), NoSQL databases (MongoDB), and Object Relational Mappers (ORMs).
• Why It’s Important: Most real-world applications rely on databases for storing and retrieving data. In this course, you will learn how to interact with both relational and NoSQL databases using Python. You will also gain experience with SQLAlchemy, a popular ORM that simplifies database interaction in Python. This knowledge is essential for anyone working on data-driven applications or backend systems.

7. Performance Optimization

• Key Topics: Profiling Python code, optimizing loops, memory management, algorithmic optimizations.
• Why It’s Important: Optimizing your Python code is crucial for building high-performance applications. This section covers tools and techniques for profiling Python code to identify bottlenecks and optimize performance. You’ll also learn how to manage memory efficiently and use advanced data structures and algorithms to improve the speed and scalability of your applications.

8. Security and Cryptography

• Key Topics: Encryption, hashing, secure communication, SSL/TLS, and Python’s cryptography module.
• Why It’s Important: In today’s digital world, security is paramount. This section teaches you how to implement security features in your Python applications, such as encrypting data, securely transmitting information over the internet, and working with secure communication protocols like SSL/TLS. This knowledge is essential for developers working on web applications, banking systems, or any software that handles sensitive information.

9. Testing and Debugging

• Key Topics: Unit testing, integration testing, mocking, debugging with pdb, and test-driven development (TDD).
• Why It’s Important: Writing clean and bug-free code is a critical skill for any professional developer. In this course, you will learn advanced testing techniques to ensure your Python applications are reliable and maintainable. You will also gain experience with debugging tools to help troubleshoot issues in your code more effectively.