Introduction and Motivation
=============================================================

The MPIA Python course is a series of hands-on workshops to explore the Python
language and the powerful analysis tools it provides. *The emphasis is on
using Python to solve real-world problems that astronomers are likely to
encounter in research.*

This will be a hands-on experience largely focused on interactive data
analysis using tutorial examples that you type or cut-n-paste into the
Python interpreter. Apart from the first 'keynote' session,
participants should bring a laptop to each session partner-up with
someone who has a laptop.

**Agenda**

The purpose of this section is to motivate astronomers to learn Python and
start using it as a tool for research and analysis.

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1

   why-python
   quick-tour
   who-python
   wrapup
   More examples <examples>

:Author: Originally written by Tom Aldcroft, with changes by Tom Robitaille and Neil Crighton.