Tech Foundations

Your toolkit

Tools you will use from day one

All free – install them in week 1.

Worked examples

Code you can run today

Small, real examples for each foundation – try them on your own laptop.

Example 1 – Make an HTTP request and read the response

curl -i https://api.github.com/users/octocat        # -i shows the status line and headers
# HTTP/2 200
# content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8
# { "login": "octocat", "public_repos": 8, ... }

Example 2 – The everyday Git workflow

git switch -c feature/remote-checkbox      # 1. new branch
git add search.html search.js              # 2. stage changes
git commit -m "Add remote-only checkbox (#17)"   # 3. snapshot
git push -u origin feature/remote-checkbox # 4. upload, then open a pull request on GitHub
git switch main && git pull                # 5. after merge: update your main branch

Example 3 – Python: lists, dictionaries, loops and functions

import json

jobs = [
    {"title": "Junior Python Developer", "city": "Austin", "remote": True},
    {"title": "QA Automation Intern", "city": "Dallas", "remote": False},
    {"title": "Cloud Support Associate", "city": "Austin", "remote": True},
]

def remote_jobs(items):
    """Return only the remote jobs."""
    return [job for job in items if job["remote"]]

counts = {}
for job in jobs:
    counts[job["city"]] = counts.get(job["city"], 0) + 1

print([j["title"] for j in remote_jobs(jobs)])
print(counts)                                # {'Austin': 2, 'Dallas': 1}
print(json.dumps(remote_jobs(jobs), indent=2))

Example 4 – SQL: create, insert, filter, group and join (works in SQLite or PostgreSQL)

CREATE TABLE companies (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT NOT NULL);
CREATE TABLE jobs (
  id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  title TEXT NOT NULL,
  city TEXT,
  remote BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
  company_id INTEGER REFERENCES companies(id)
);
INSERT INTO companies (id, name) VALUES (1, 'Epitomsoft'), (2, 'Acme Cloud');
INSERT INTO jobs (id, title, city, remote, company_id) VALUES
  (1, 'Junior Python Developer', 'Austin', TRUE, 1),
  (2, 'QA Automation Intern', 'Dallas', FALSE, 2),
  (3, 'Cloud Support Associate', 'Austin', TRUE, 2);

SELECT title, city FROM jobs WHERE remote = TRUE ORDER BY title;   -- filter
SELECT city, COUNT(*) AS openings FROM jobs GROUP BY city;         -- summarise
SELECT j.title, c.name AS company                                  -- combine
FROM jobs j JOIN companies c ON c.id = j.company_id;

Example 5 – A Python API in a Docker container (requirements.txt contains: flask)

# app.py
from flask import Flask, jsonify
app = Flask(__name__)

@app.get("/jobs")
def jobs():
    return jsonify([{"title": "Junior Python Developer", "remote": True}])

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(host="0.0.0.0", port=5000)

# Dockerfile
FROM python:3.12-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
EXPOSE 5000
CMD ["python", "app.py"]

# terminal
docker build -t jobs-api:1.0 .
docker run -p 8080:5000 jobs-api:1.0
curl https://epitomsoft.com/jobs

Further learning

Free official documentation & open-source references

Primary sources and free hands-on resources to go deeper.

• MDN – How the web works – clear introduction from Mozilla
• MDN – An overview of HTTP – requests, responses and status codes
• Pro Git (free book) – the complete, free Git book
• Learn Git Branching – interactive, visual Git practice
• GitHub Skills – free hands-on GitHub courses
• Linux Journey – free beginner Linux lessons
• Docker – Get started – official Docker tutorial
• The Python Tutorial – official Python documentation
• SQLBolt – free interactive SQL lessons
• CS50x (Harvard) – free introduction to computer science
• freeCodeCamp – free curriculum and certifications
• The Odin Project – free, open-source full-stack curriculum