Overview

Have you ever wanted to learn programming, where you get to write programs tailored to your interests? How about learning to code while also learning how to design, plan, and implement your projects? If yes, welcome to "Practical Python: Starting Your Programming Journey!" In this course, we teach you the beginnings of Python programming while assuming you are starting with no experience. By the end of this course, you will be able to write your own text adventure game, create a personalized calculator, write a poem, and so much more! This course will also introduce you to a process for planning out your programming projects and ideas on how to fix your code when it is not doing what you want. And we will teach you all of this through open-ended assignments that let you decide how to show us what you have learned! Most of our coding assignments have a small set of checks on your code, but otherwise, you get to decide what it does! Want to write code that generates a haiku? You can! Want to write code that generates song lyrics instead? You will get to do that by just week two of the course!

Syllabus

Getting Started

Welcome to Practical Python: Starting Your Programming Journey! This module introduces you to the major learning goals of the course, your instructors, and the VSCode programming environment, which is where you’ll complete major course coding assignments. You’ll also get started with a basic building block of Python: the print function that we will build on in Module 2.

Crafting Your First Interactive Program

Welcome to Crafting Your First Interactive Program! This module, you’ll be introduced to variables, operators, type casting, and user input. You’ll be able to gauge your knowledge of how these elements work in Python through completing practice quizzes, an interactive lab, and a cumulative graded quiz. This module also covers activities to consider when writing a program from start to finish to help you work on your first assignment that generates a poem from user input.

Choosing What Code Blocks Execute and Creating Random Behavior

In this module, you will learn about how to selectively execute or ignore code blocks and generate random numbers to make your program behave differently each time it runs. Learning these skills will help you make your program more interactive. To test your skills, you will be asked to complete practice quizzes, autograded labs, and a cumulative graded quiz.

Using loops to do more with less code

You will learn the basics of using loops in Python, an integral component of making useful (and larger) Python programs while minimizing your time spent coding. You’ll use your new knowledge of loops to do some string processing and identify errors that come up in your code along the way. To test your skills, you will be asked to complete practice quizzes, autograded labs, and a cumulative graded quiz. And you'll wrap with creating your own text game using everything you've learned in this course!