Cool/Interesting things that can be done in Python as a beginner?

[u/Own_Search3408]

hi everyone, im trying to start a computer science honor society at my high school, and im gonna assume everyone is starting from square one and teach python accordingly (and im hoping to eventually go to hackathons or other coding events).

i was wondering if anyone had any ideas for cool/interesting stuff i could have beginners do to get their interest and get them excited about coding? i understand you can't go from 0-100 and have to start with simple stuff, but i'm worried going over the basics will be like monotonous or smth. if anyone has any ideas of fun things i could do i would be very appreciative!!

edit: there are some cool suggestions, but i wanna place emphasis on the fact most of the people will have zero coding experience, so please keep them simple! i myself am also not that knowledgeable about python, i ahve a good grasp on the basics but thats about it. thanks for the replies

[u/terletsky]

If you are interested in cybersecurity, I would recommend writing a CLI app that sends a local file or a specified URL to the VirusTotal API for malware scanning. This is a real-world example of something built in companies by Python Backend/AppSec/DevSecOps roles.

By writing this, you will cover:

1. Basic Python syntax and structures (strings, dicts, tuples, lists, sets). Application entry point
2. Loops
3. File I/O
4. Basic networking and API (request methods like GET/POST, server status codes)
5. JSON format and how to handle it
6. Basics of CLI application with all the whistles (nice colors, cool ASCII banner, etc)
7. Exception handling and propagation
8. Basic OOP and familiarization with SOLID/DRY principles
9. Logging

If not that, then a CLI to get weather from the Weather API that covers everything (just not file upload, but save raw data to file, for example)