Course

Python Programming for Beginners

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This hands-on, lab-based course is intended for newcomers to programming. Python is favored by first-time programmers because it presents engineering concepts in a straight-forward, clear language, while quietly and behind-the-scenes, it takes care of the difficult, tedious and error-prone details that present the major obstacles to writing a program in older languages. Python is an open-sourced language with rich features and is used extensively in the industries.

The course covers the important concepts and programming mechanisms that exist in all programming languages: reading and writing to standard IO, using operators, controlling the flow of execution, using functions, reading and writing files, and basic object-oriented programming concepts. It also includes Python specific facilities such as code introspection, re-use, built-in sequence types, and iteration.

Learning Outcomes:
At the conclusion of the course, you should be able to:

• Develop programs using a basic IDE (Integrated Development Envornonment)
• Master the fundamentals of writing Python scripts/programs
• Learn core Python scripting elements such as variables and flow control structures
• Write Python functions to facilitate code reuse
• Work with the Python standard library
• Learn to write python script/programs following a specific style guide
• Explore Python's object-oriented features

Note(s): If you are already familiar with any programming language, the pace of this course may be slow. If you have a basic understanding of Python, you may want to consider the intermediate level "Python: Object-Oriented Programming" (CMPR.X420). More experienced programmers should take "Python for Programmers" (CMPR.X416).