Python Basics
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Python Basics
This course is part of Python 3 Programming Specialization
Instructors: Paul Resnick
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18,432 reviews
What you'll learn
Learn Python 3 basics, including conditional statements, loops, and data structures like strings and lists.
Develop practical programming skills by creating drawings and building your debugging abilities.
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Tools you'll learn
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There are 4 modules in this course
This course introduces the basics of Python 3, including conditional execution and iteration as control structures, and strings and lists as data structures. You'll program an on-screen Turtle to draw pretty pictures. You'll also learn to draw reference diagrams as a way to reason about program executions, which will help to build up your debugging skills. The course has no prerequisites. It will cover Chapters 1-9 of the textbook "Fundamentals of Python Programming," which is the accompanying text (optional and free) for this course.
The course is for you if you're a newcomer to Python programming, if you need a refresher on Python basics, or if you may have had some exposure to Python programming but want a more in-depth exposition and vocabulary for describing and reasoning about programs. This is the first of five courses in the Python 3 Programming Specialization.
In week one you will be introduced to programming in python through lectures and the Runestone textbook - an interactive online textbook built for this course. By the end of the module, you will have run your first python program, and learned how to draw images by writing a program.
What's included
30 videos2 readings1 assignment36 app items
30 videos•Total 174 minutes
- Introduction to the Specialization•11 minutes
- What’s New? Updates and Improvements in the Second Edition•2 minutes
- How to Use the Interactive Textbook•14 minutes
- Getting Started•7 minutes
- Introduction - Programming in Python•1 minute
- Values and Data Types•7 minutes
- Operators and Operands•6 minutes
- Function Calls•10 minutes
- Data Types•6 minutes
- Type Conversion Functions•6 minutes
- Variables•11 minutes
- Statements and Expressions•8 minutes
- More About Statements and Expressions•7 minutes
- Updating Variables•7 minutes
- Hard-Coding•3 minutes
- Input•6 minutes
- Conclusion - Programming in Python•1 minute
- Introduction - Objects and Turtle Graphics•1 minute
- Our First Turtle Program•7 minutes
- Instances: A Herd of Turtles•7 minutes
- Repetition with a For Loop•6 minutes
- More Turtle Methods•2 minutes
- Importing Modules•9 minutes
- Conclusion - Turtle Graphics•1 minute
- Introduction - Debugging•1 minute
- Syntax, Runtime, and Semantic Errors•6 minutes
- Know Your Error Messages•4 minutes
- Incremental Programming•6 minutes
- Common Errors•6 minutes
- Conclusion - Debugging•2 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Syllabus•10 minutes
- Help Us Learn More About You!•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 4 minutes
- Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?•4 minutes
36 app items•Total 396 minutes
- Assessment - Programming in Python•15 minutes
- Assessment: Turtle Graphics•15 minutes
- Gamut Goal Setter•4 minutes
- Values and Data Types•10 minutes
- Use the Practice Tool•1 minute
- Operators and Operands•10 minutes
- Order of Operations•10 minutes
- Function Calls•10 minutes
- Data Types•10 minutes
- Type Conversion Functions•10 minutes
- Variables•10 minutes
- Variable Names and Keywords•10 minutes
- Choosing the Right Variable Name•10 minutes
- Reassignment•10 minutes
- Statements and Expressions•10 minutes
- Updating Variables•10 minutes
- Hard-Coding•10 minutes
- Input•10 minutes
- Interactive Textbook Practice Opportunity•1 minute
- Hello Little Turtles!•10 minutes
- Our First Turtle Program•10 minutes
- Instances: A Herd of Turtles•10 minutes
- Object Oriented Concepts•10 minutes
- Repetition with a For Loop•10 minutes
- A Few More Turtle Methods and Observations•10 minutes
- Summary of Turtle Methods•10 minutes
- Importing Modules•10 minutes
- The Random Module•10 minutes
- Syntax Errors•10 minutes
- Runtime Errors•10 minutes
- Semantic Errors•10 minutes
- Know Your Error Messages•10 minutes
- Incremental Programming•10 minutes
- Common Errors•10 minutes
- Practice Assignment - Turtle and Object Mechanics•10 minutes
- Gallery Tool: Turtle Drawing•60 minutes
In week two you will use the lectures and the Runestone textbook to understand the basics of a few python data types - lists, strings, tuples - as well as a control structure - for loops. By the end of this week, you will be able to write more complex programs that create drawings by incorporating for loops. Finally, we will present the basics of an accumulation pattern to you, which will be expanded on in each week for the rest of the course.
What's included
22 videos1 assignment24 app items
22 videos•Total 110 minutes
- Introduction: Lists and Strings•1 minute
- Strings•8 minutes
- Lists•3 minutes
- Tuples•3 minutes
- The Index Operator•8 minutes
- Length•7 minutes
- The Slice Operator•11 minutes
- Examples of Slicing and Indexing•7 minutes
- Concatenation and Repetition•6 minutes
- Count and Index•10 minutes
- Split and Join•7 minutes
- Conclusion: Lists and Strings•1 minute
- Introduction: Iteration•1 minute
- The For Loop•12 minutes
- The Accumulator Pattern•5 minutes
- The Range Function•5 minutes
- Conclusion: Iteration•1 minute
- Introduction: The Way of the Programmer•1 minute
- Naming Your Variables in For Loops•3 minutes
- Printing Intermediate Results•4 minutes
- Keeping Track of Your Iterator Variable and Your Iterable•4 minutes
- Conclusion: The Way of the Programmer•1 minute
1 assignment•Total 4 minutes
- Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?•4 minutes
24 app items•Total 250 minutes
- Assessment - Lists and Strings•15 minutes
- Assessment - Week Two•15 minutes
- Interactive Textbook Practice Opportunity•10 minutes
- Introduction: Sequences•10 minutes
- Strings, Lists, and Tuples•10 minutes
- Index Operator: Working with the Characters of a String and Accessing Elements in a List•10 minutes
- Disambiguating []: Creation vs. Indexing•10 minutes
- Length•10 minutes
- The Slice Operator•10 minutes
- Concatenation and Repetition•10 minutes
- Count and Index•10 minutes
- Splitting and Joining Strings•10 minutes
- Introduction: Iteration•10 minutes
- The for Loop•10 minutes
- Flow of Execution of the for Loop•10 minutes
- Strings and for Loops•10 minutes
- Lists and for Loops•10 minutes
- The Accumulator Pattern and the Range Function•10 minutes
- (Optional) Traversal and the for Loop: By Index•10 minutes
- (Optional) Nested Iteration: Image Processing•10 minutes
- (Optional) The Gory Details: Iterables•10 minutes
- Naming Variables in For Loops•10 minutes
- Printing Intermediate Results•10 minutes
- Keeping Track of Your Iterator Variable and Your Iterable•10 minutes
In week three you will learn a new python data type - the boolean - as well as another control structure - conditional execution. Through the use of video lectures and the Runestone textbook, you will learn what Binary, Unary, Nested, and Chained Conditionals are, as well as how to incorporate conditionals within an accumulation pattern.
What's included
13 videos1 assignment17 app items
13 videos•Total 77 minutes
- Introduction: Boolean Expressions•1 minute
- Boolean Expressions•8 minutes
- Logical Operators•11 minutes
- The in and not in Operators•3 minutes
- Precedence of Operators•2 minutes
- Automated Tests with assert•8 minutes
- Conclusion: Boolean Expressions•1 minute
- Introduction: Conditional Execution•1 minute
- Conditional Execution•9 minutes
- Unary Selection, Nested Conditionals, and Chained Conditionals•16 minutes
- Testing Conditionals•5 minutes
- The Accumulator Pattern with Conditionals and Accumulating a Maximum Value•11 minutes
- Conclusion: Conditional Execution•1 minute
1 assignment•Total 4 minutes
- Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?•4 minutes
17 app items•Total 175 minutes
- Assessment - Week Three•15 minutes
- Interactive Textbook Practice Opportunity•10 minutes
- Intro: What We Can Do with Turtles and Conditionals•10 minutes
- Boolean Values and Boolean Expressions•10 minutes
- Logical Operators•10 minutes
- The in and not in Operators•10 minutes
- Precedence of Operators•10 minutes
- Introduction: Test Cases•10 minutes
- Checking Assumptions About Data Types•10 minutes
- Checking Other Assumptions•10 minutes
- Conditional Execution: Binary Selection•10 minutes
- Omitting the else Clause: Unary Selection•10 minutes
- Nested Conditionals•10 minutes
- Chained Conditionals•10 minutes
- Make a Flow Chart before You Write Your Code•10 minutes
- Testing Conditionals•10 minutes
- The Accumulator Pattern with Conditionals•10 minutes
In week four we will present deeper knowledge on using lists, strings, and python objects in general. We will also cover how to use the accumulation pattern with lists and with strings. The final assignment will test your knowledge and skills through application, much like previous assessments and assignments did, though with a more difficult set of tasks now that you have learned the basics.
What's included
23 videos2 readings21 app items
23 videos•Total 96 minutes
- Introduction - Sequence Mutation•1 minute
- Mutability•12 minutes
- List Element Deletion•2 minutes
- Objects and References•4 minutes
- Aliasing•3 minutes
- Cloning Lists•3 minutes
- Conclusion - Sequence Mutation•1 minute
- Introduction - Methods on Lists and Strings•1 minute
- Methods on Lists•9 minutes
- Append vs. Concatenate•8 minutes
- Non-Mutating Methods on Strings•8 minutes
- String Format Method•8 minutes
- f-strings•5 minutes
- Conclusion: Methods on Lists and Strings•1 minute
- Introduction - Accumulating Lists and Strings•1 minute
- The Accumulator Pattern with Lists•5 minutes
- The Accumulator Pattern with Strings•4 minutes
- Conclusion: Accumulating Lists and Strings•1 minute
- Introduction - Way of the Programmer•1 minute
- Making Reference Diagrams•4 minutes
- Accumulator Pattern Strategies•9 minutes
- Conclusion - Way of the Programmer•1 minute
- Introduction - Final Course Assignment•4 minutes
2 readings•Total 20 minutes
- Course Feedback•10 minutes
- Keep Learning with Michigan Online•10 minutes
21 app items•Total 280 minutes
- Assessment - Sequence Mutation•15 minutes
- Assessment - Methods: Lists and Strings•15 minutes
- Assessment - Accumulating Lists and Strings•15 minutes
- Assessment - Way of the Programmer•15 minutes
- Assignment: Final Course Assignment•60 minutes
- Interactive Textbook Practice Opportunity•10 minutes
- Introduction: Transforming Sequences•10 minutes
- Mutability•10 minutes
- List Element Deletion•10 minutes
- Objects and References•10 minutes
- Aliasing•10 minutes
- Cloning Lists•10 minutes
- Methods on Lists•10 minutes
- Append vs. Concatenate•10 minutes
- Non-Mutating Methods on Strings•10 minutes
- String Format Method•10 minutes
- f-Strings•10 minutes
- The Accumulator Pattern with Lists•10 minutes
- The Accumulator Pattern with Strings•10 minutes
- Accumulator Pattern Strategies•10 minutes
- Don't Mutate A List That You Are Iterating Through•10 minutes
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Reviewed on May 30, 2020
This course is very good for beginners. The content and flow of the course is amazing. online practice tool to run our codes online without installing any software makes is even more user friendly.
Reviewed on May 1, 2023
Great course and easy to follow. The only suggestion I have is to do lesson 2 the best you can then move on because some of the practice questions have answers from lessons that come after this one.
Reviewed on Aug 8, 2020
It was really a fantastic course, my first ever online course. I enjoyed taking this course and have learned almost all the basic concepts of Python. The lectures were so good through the course.
Frequently asked questions
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.
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