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 straightforward, 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 many 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 integrated development environment (IDE)
• Develop small-to-medium size programs that demonstrate a solid understanding of software development in Python
• Write Python programs using the core elements of variables and flow control structures
• Write Python functions to facilitate code reuse
• Work with the Python standard library
• Write Python programs following a specific style guide
• Explore Python's object-oriented features

Note(s): The pace of this course may be slow for people who are familiar with a programming language. 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).