automating boring stuff with python

there's a book called "automate the boring stuff with python" that changed how i think about programming. not because i read the whole thing (i didn't), but because the title planted a seed: what if code could do the annoying tasks for me?

the first automation

it started with something stupid. i was tracking my study hours manually in a spreadsheet, and it was tedious. so i thought, what if i could log time directly from my terminal?

# my first "automation" script
import datetime

def log_study_time(subject, hours):
    with open('study_log.txt', 'a') as f:
        timestamp = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')
        f.write(f'{timestamp} - {subject}: {hours} hours\n')
    print(f'logged {hours} hours for {subject}')

# usage
log_study_time('DSA', 2)

was it revolutionary? no. did it make me feel like a hacker? absolutely.

leveling up with apis

the real game changer was learning about apis. suddenly i could interact with actual services, not just text files.

google calendar integration

i built a script to automatically track my time using google calendar api. the idea was simple: create calendar events for different activities, then analyze where my time was going.

from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build

def get_time_spent(calendar_service, start_date, end_date):
    events = calendar_service.events().list(
        calendarId='primary',
        timeMin=start_date,
        timeMax=end_date,
        singleEvents=True
    ).execute()
    
    time_by_category = {}
    for event in events.get('items', []):
        # parse and categorize events
        # ... (the actual logic was messier)
    
    return time_by_category

setting up google api authentication was painful. the documentation felt like it was written for people who already knew everything. but once it worked, it was magical.

seeing a weekly report of how i actually spent my time was eye-opening. turns out i wasn't studying as much as i thought.

the irctc adventure

anyone who's tried booking tatkal tickets on irctc knows the pain. you need to be fast, really fast. so naturally, i tried to automate it.

# simplified version of what i attempted
from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get('https://www.irctc.co.in')

# login
username_field = driver.find_element_by_id('loginid')
username_field.send_keys('my_username')
# ... password, captcha handling, etc.

the captcha was the hard part. i tried:

basic ocr (didn't work)
finding captcha-solving services (felt sketchy)
training a simple model (way over my head)

i never fully automated tatkal booking. but i learned a ton about web automation, selenium, and session management in the process.

automation ideas that actually worked

not everything was as complex as irctc. here are scripts that i actually use:

file organizer:

import os
import shutil

def organize_downloads():
    downloads = '/path/to/downloads'
    categories = {
        'images': ['.jpg', '.png', '.gif'],
        'documents': ['.pdf', '.doc', '.docx'],
        'code': ['.py', '.js', '.html']
    }
    
    for file in os.listdir(downloads):
        ext = os.path.splitext(file)[1].lower()
        for category, extensions in categories.items():
            if ext in extensions:
                shutil.move(
                    os.path.join(downloads, file),
                    os.path.join(downloads, category, file)
                )

quick note taker:

import sys
from datetime import datetime

def quick_note():
    note = ' '.join(sys.argv[1:])
    with open('quick_notes.md', 'a') as f:
        f.write(f'\n## {datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")}\n{note}\n')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    quick_note()

run it as python note.py this is my quick thought and it appends to a markdown file.

what i learned

automation taught me more than just python:

start with your own problems — the best automation ideas come from personal annoyances
learn to read documentation — apis are powerful once you figure them out
good enough is good enough — my scripts aren't perfect, but they save time
error handling matters — learned this after scripts crashed at 3am
sometimes manual is fine — not everything needs automation

the automation mindset

now whenever i do something repetitive, a little voice asks: "could this be automated?"

sometimes the answer is no (or "not worth the effort"). but sometimes it leads to scripts that save hours. that mindset shift is the real value of learning automation.

also, i still haven't automated irctc tatkal successfully. if you have, please share your secrets.

*automating boring stuff with python