Beginner Projects Level 1¶

These projects use only what you learn in the Beginner Core Python track: variables, control flow, functions, data structures, and file handling. Each is small enough to finish, which is the whole point.

1. Number guessing game¶

Goal: the computer picks a random number; the player guesses with "higher/lower" hints.

• Skills: loops, conditionals, random, input, comparison.
• Minimal version: guess a number 1-100, print "higher" or "lower", count guesses.
• Stretch: difficulty levels, limited guesses, play-again loop, track best score in a file.

import random
secret = random.randint(1, 100)
# loop: read a guess, compare, give a hint, count attempts...

2. To-do list (CLI)¶

Goal: add, list, complete, and delete tasks from the command line, saved to a file.

• Skills: lists/dicts, functions, file read/write (JSON), a menu loop.
• Minimal version: add tasks and list them, held in memory.
• Stretch: persist to a JSON file (survives restarts), mark done, due dates, priorities. Turn it into a real CLI with argparse (see Automation & Scripting).

3. Unit / temperature converter¶

Goal: convert between units (C↔F, km↔miles, kg↔lb).

• Skills: functions, arithmetic, user input, a menu.
• Minimal version: Celsius → Fahrenheit.
• Stretch: many unit categories, a reusable conversion table (dict), input validation.

4. Word / character counter¶

Goal: read a text file and report word count, line count, and most common words.

• Skills: file reading, string methods, collections.Counter.
• Minimal version: count lines and words in a file.
• Stretch: top-N words, ignore common stop-words, handle multiple files. (Uses ideas from Code Snippets.)

5. Simple password generator¶

Goal: generate a random password of a chosen length and character set.

• Skills: random/secrets, strings, functions.
• Minimal version: random 12-character password.
• Stretch: options for symbols/digits/case, generate several, estimate strength. Use the secrets module (not random) for anything real — it's cryptographically secure.

6. Basic file organizer¶

Goal: sort files in a folder into subfolders by extension.

• Skills: pathlib, loops, conditionals.
• Minimal version: move .txt files into a text/ folder.
• Stretch: organize by many types, dry-run mode, a summary report. This is literally the tested example in Automation & Scripting — build it, then compare.

Where to go next¶

Once a couple of these feel easy, you're ready for Intermediate Projects — real web apps and APIs. First, though: put one of these on GitHub with a README. Shipping and sharing is part of the skill.