AI Path L1→L2 Upgrade Guide

This is Day 5 of Week 2 in the “AI Path L1→L2 Upgrade Guide” exercises. Read Part 2 first, then come back here. The batch_summarize.py script from Part 2 handles .md and .txt files. But real files come in many more formats. PDF reports, Word contracts, CSV data tables, JSON config files. They’re sitting on your desktop right now, and the script can’t touch them. Today’s goal: write a read_file() function that picks the right reader based on file extension, then plug it into the Part 2 batch script. ...

This is Part 2 of the “AI Path L1→L2 Upgrade Guide” series. Complete Part 1 and the first three days of exercises (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) before continuing. Part 1 taught you to make one API call. Today you’re going bigger: make your program ask AI 100 questions. Manually pasting text into a chat window 100 times is grunt work. Writing a 10-minute script to automate the task is worth it. You get the time back. ...

This is the Day 3 companion exercise. Complete Day 1 first. Part 1 covers the theory (“Understanding API Parameters”). Today you verify it with your own eyes. Part 1 explained parameters in theory. But theory without practice is just noise. Today you run three experiments and see for yourself how parameters affect output. Setup Make sure your Day 1 project still works: uv run python hello_api.py If the AI replies, your environment is ready. All experiments below build on this code. ...

This is the Day 2 companion exercise. Complete Day 1 first. Yesterday you ran your first API call through DeepSeek’s official API. Today you do one thing: switch to a different platform, change two parameters in the same code, and run it again. You’ll see that learning one platform’s API means you’ve learned them all, as long as they’re compatible with the OpenAI interface. What Is an Aggregator Platform An aggregator platform is a middle layer. You register one account, top up once, and get access to dozens of AI models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.) without signing up at each official platform separately. ...

This is the Day 1 companion exercise for the AI Path L1→L2 Upgrade Guide. Read Part 1 first, then come back here to practice. Today you do exactly one thing: run hello_api.py from Part 1 and see AI reply in your terminal. Prerequisites Complete these steps from Part 1 (skip if already done): Register a DeepSeek developer account (Part 1, “Register for API Accounts”) Get your API key and save it to a .env file (Part 1, “API Key Safety”) Install uv and Python 3.12 (Part 1, “Install Python”) Create a virtual environment and install dependencies (Part 1, “Create a Virtual Environment”) Confirm your project directory looks like this: ...

TL;DR: This is Part 1 of the “AI Path L1→L2 Upgrade Guide” series. Four parts total, one per week of practice. This article takes you from chat windows to APIs, automating your AI interactions through code, laying the foundation for batch processing and autonomous task-execution AI. Introduction: From “I Ask AI” to “Programs Ask AI” If you finished the L0→L1 graduation checklist, you might remember one line from the graduation post: “Register for an API account and use Python to print your first AI reply.” Today is that day. ...