Python and Docker Learning Roadmap & Checklist
Python Learning Roadmap
Phase 1: Python Fundamentals (Now)
Goal: Write and understand Python scripts confidently.
- Python installation and setup (IDLE / VS Code / Terminal)
- Variables, data types, input/output
- Conditional statements (if, elif, else)
- Loops (for, while)
- Functions and arguments
- Lists, dictionaries, tuples, sets
- String manipulation
- Basic error handling (try / except)
- Writing your own .py scripts
Tools: VS Code, Python terminal (integrated or system shell)
Phase 2: Programming Best Practices
Goal: Build clean, modular, and manageable code.
- Modules and importing Python files
- Organising code into folders
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) - classes, objects
- Reading and writing to files
- Virtual environments (python -m venv)
- Using pip and requirements.txt
- Intro to using external libraries (e.g. requests, pandas, matplotlib)
Tools: Git (local use), VS Code extensions: Python, Pylance, etc.
Phase 3: Projects + Web Development
Python and Docker Learning Roadmap & Checklist
Goal: Build real-world mini-projects; understand web applications.
- Build small apps (e.g. To-do list, Weather app, Budget tracker)
- Intro to Flask or FastAPI (basic web apps)
- Basic HTML/CSS for templates (Flask)
- Use Postman or browser to test APIs
Tools: GitHub, Postman
Phase 4: Getting Docker-Ready
Goal: Understand how to package your project into a container.
- Basic CLI navigation
- Understand project dependencies and environments
- Learn Docker: containers/images, Dockerfile, docker build/run
- Use Docker to run a Flask/FastAPI app
- Store image on Docker Hub
- Use Docker Compose (for apps with DB + API)
Tools: Docker Desktop, VS Code Docker Extension
Phase 5: Deployment + DevOps Basics
Goal: Move from local project to hosted app.
- Deploy Docker containers to cloud
- Use CI/CD tools (e.g., GitHub Actions)
- Learn about nginx, reverse proxies (optional)
- Connect app to database in containers (e.g., PostgreSQL with Docker Compose)
Tools: GitHub Actions, Railway / Render / DigitalOcean / AWS / Azure
Python and Docker Learning Roadmap & Checklist
Python + Docker Learning Checklist
Beginner Checklist
- [ ] Install Python and VS Code
- [ ] Write basic Python scripts
- [ ] Use variables, loops, and conditionals
- [ ] Define and call functions
- [ ] Use lists and dictionaries
- [ ] Handle simple errors
Intermediate Checklist
- [ ] Create and import your own modules
- [ ] Understand and use OOP (classes and objects)
- [ ] Read/write files with Python
- [ ] Install libraries using pip
- [ ] Create a requirements.txt
- [ ] Set up and activate a virtual environment
Projects and Web
- [ ] Build a Python project with external libraries
- [ ] Create a Flask or FastAPI web app
- [ ] Interact with APIs (GET/POST requests)
- [ ] Publish your code on GitHub
Docker Introduction
- [ ] Install Docker
Python and Docker Learning Roadmap & Checklist
- [ ] Understand what a container and image is
- [ ] Write a basic Dockerfile for a Python script or Flask app
- [ ] Build and run a Docker container
- [ ] Use Docker Compose for multi-container apps
Advanced/Deployment
- [ ] Push image to Docker Hub
- [ ] Deploy Dockerized app to a cloud platform
- [ ] Automate with GitHub Actions
