How does this course aim to empower all learners?

<text variant="body1">Our Coursera course is designed to give you more than just coding skills. We dive into Computer Science (CS) in a way that helps you understand its impact on our world, how to use it for your own needs, and its broader societal impacts. We believe in the power of CS not just as a technical tool, but also as a way to shape the world around us. Considering this, not only do we guide you through the technical skills of coding, but we also go into the process of designing your own coding project and considering its potential impact. We also aimed to design assignments that allow you self-expression so that just like you all are diverse, what you code can be diverse! <text variant="body1">Recognizing the importance of diversity in shaping the future of CS, we have taken deliberate steps to try to make this course accessible to everyone. We are aware that in the past, CS was often dominated by certain groups based on race and gender. We are committed to changing that and to move towards an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued. Additionally, your feedback is important to us. We have a suggestion box where you can tell us how to improve the course for everyone. By offering this comprehensive approach to CS, we aim to empower all learners, regardless of their backgrounds, and help to enable a richer, more diverse understanding of computing in our daily lives.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Practical Python: Start Your Programming Journey

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Practical Python: Start Your Programming Journey

Instructors: Susan H. Rodger

Included with Learn more

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Beginner level

Recommended experience

4 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Beginner level

Recommended experience

4 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Read and write code that takes user input and manipulates different kinds of data types (strings, integers, doubles and booleans) and prints results.
Read and write code that makes decisions (conditionals), can do random behavior, and involves repetition (while loop).
Explain that programming often involves similar strategies to solve problems and provide an example.
Plan an outline for a program, translate that plan to code, step through code to check variable values, and recognize parts of an error message.

Skills you'll gain

Tools you'll learn

Python Programming

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

18 assignments

Taught in English

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There are 4 modules in this course

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!

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.

What's included

4 videos6 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt1 ungraded lab

4 videosTotal 18 minutes

Welcome to the Class!3 minutes
Your Coding Environment-VS Code [Demo]3 minutes
Printing in Python 2 minutes
How to Run a Python Program [Demo]9 minutes

6 readingsTotal 60 minutes

Course Information10 minutes
Meet Your Instructors10 minutes
Course Entry Survey10 minutes
Discussion Guidelines10 minutes
Report a problem with the course 10 minutes
Give Us Your Feedback!10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 30 minutes

Quiz: Which Print Call Is Correct?30 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Make Suggestions on How to Improve the Course10 minutes

1 ungraded labTotal 10 minutes

Practice Lab: "hello world" 10 minutes

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.

What's included

15 videos5 readings6 assignments1 programming assignment2 discussion prompts1 ungraded lab

15 videosTotal 217 minutes

Storing Simple Data: Types, Names, and Values 11 minutes
Storing Data in Variables [Demo]18 minutes
Using Math Operators in Python: Part I14 minutes
Using Math Operators in Python: Part II7 minutes
Using Math Operators in Python [Demo] 19 minutes
Changing a Value's Type13 minutes
Changing a Value's Type [Demo]13 minutes
Floats: Decimal Numbers in a Computer 14 minutes
Making your Program Interactive 14 minutes
Making your Program Interactive in VS Code [Demo] 22 minutes
Making your Program Interactive in Python Tutor [Demo]5 minutes
How to Write a Program: Design and Plan23 minutes
How to Write a Program: Verify and Debug12 minutes
What to Do When Your Autograder Score Is 0 [Demo]22 minutes
What to Do When Your Autograder is Some Points [Demo]9 minutes

5 readingsTotal 90 minutes

Make the Code Your Own: Using Math Operators30 minutes
Make the Code Your Own: Changing Types30 minutes
How to Use the Autograder 10 minutes
How to Handle Potential Errors10 minutes
Give Us Your Feedback!10 minutes

6 assignmentsTotal 180 minutes

Quiz: End of Module 230 minutes
Practice Quiz: Variables, Types30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Operators30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Type & Type Casting30 minutes
Practice Quiz: input()30 minutes
Practice Quiz: How to Write a Program 30 minutes

1 programming assignmentTotal 90 minutes

Lab: Poem Generator90 minutes

2 discussion promptsTotal 20 minutes

Need Help with Make the Code Your Own: Using Math Operators?10 minutes
Need Help with Make the Code Your Own: Changing Types?10 minutes

1 ungraded labTotal 60 minutes

Lab Practice Environment60 minutes

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.

What's included

19 videos1 reading6 assignments4 programming assignments

19 videosTotal 303 minutes

Comparing Values: Relational Operators12 minutes
Selective Execution: Working with Conditionals 24 minutes
if … elif or if … if?8 minutes
If Statements [Demo] 28 minutes
Decisions with Multiple Factors: Nested ifs and elifs22 minutes
Handling True or False? Boolean Values and Variables18 minutes
Python Tutor: Nested ifs and elifs with Boolean Variables [Demo]21 minutes
Python Tutor: Nested ifs and elifs with Boolean Variables, Part 2 [Demo]10 minutes
Python Tutor: Nested ifs and elifs with Boolean Variables, Part 3 [Demo]7 minutes
Compound Boolean Expressions15 minutes
Complex Boolean Expressions and Short-Circuiting18 minutes
Logic Operators and Short-Circuiting [Demo]21 minutes
if...if, elif or else? When to Use What8 minutes
Generating Random Choices: The Random Module14 minutes
Generating Random Choices — Example: Walking and Choosing a Shirt12 minutes
Generating Random Choices — Example: Future Age [Demo]16 minutes
Generating Random Choices — Example: Which Fruit [Demo]22 minutes
How Are Random Numbers Generated?15 minutes
Random Numbers with Random Seed [Demo]13 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

Give Us Your Feedback!10 minutes

6 assignmentsTotal 160 minutes

Lab Quiz: Decision Advisor with Randomness10 minutes
Quiz: End of Module 330 minutes
Practice Quiz: Conditionals and if Statements30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Nested If and Boolean Variables 30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Logic Operators and Short Circuiting30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Random Module30 minutes

4 programming assignmentsTotal 195 minutes

Lab: Currency Converter 60 minutes
Lab: Menu Generator60 minutes
Lab: Decision Advisor45 minutes
Lab: Decision Advisor with Randomness30 minutes

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!

What's included

20 videos6 readings5 assignments7 programming assignments

20 videosTotal 297 minutes

Re-executing Code - while loop and Adding Receipts14 minutes
Re-executing Code Example - Finding Largest Number8 minutes
While loop - Simplified Tennis Scoring [Demo]21 minutes
While Loop - Many Random Numbers [Demo]17 minutes
Control Length of Strings - Using len()8 minutes
Looking Inside Strings - Using the Keyword in11 minutes
Stopping Conditions - while with booleans12 minutes
String Indexing - Accessing Characters in Strings12 minutes
Count characters in word - More with indexing8 minutes
Doubling the Vowels in a Word [Demo]16 minutes
Making an Abbreviation of a Word [Demo]24 minutes
Code Patterns - Accumulator Pattern14 minutes
Tracing Through Loops 14 minutes
Tracing Through Loops [Demo]15 minutes
Types of Errors18 minutes
Debugging Strategies 9 minutes
Debugging a Game, Part 1 [Demo]25 minutes
Debugging a Game, Part 2 [Demo]13 minutes
Debugging a Game, Part 3 [Demo]31 minutes
Making Python Logo Cookies 8 minutes

6 readingsTotal 65 minutes

How to Stop an Infinite Loop10 minutes
Escape Characters '\n' and '\t'10 minutes
Debugging by Code Expansion15 minutes
Give Us Your Feedback!10 minutes
Course Exit Survey10 minutes
Share your learning experience10 minutes

5 assignmentsTotal 125 minutes

Quiz: End of Module 430 minutes
Practice Quiz: While Loop Syntax30 minutes
Practice Quiz: While loop with booleans, in and len, and string indexing30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Accumulator Pattern and Loop Tracing15 minutes
Practice Quiz: Debugging20 minutes

7 programming assignmentsTotal 340 minutes

Lab: Generate Art with while loop60 minutes
Lab: Generate Art with while and indexing - Part 130 minutes
Lab: Generate Art with while and indexing - Part 225 minutes
Lab: Generate Art with while and indexing - Part 330 minutes
Lab: Accumulator Pattern45 minutes
Lab: Temperature Conversion Debugging60 minutes
Assignment: Make Your Own Game90 minutes

Instructors

Susan H. Rodger

Duke University

10 Courses938,346 learners

Offered by

Duke University

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Frequently asked questions

Our Coursera course is designed to give you more than just coding skills. We dive into Computer Science (CS) in a way that helps you understand its impact on our world, how to use it for your own needs, and its broader societal impacts. We believe in the power of CS not just as a technical tool, but also as a way to shape the world around us. Considering this, not only do we guide you through the technical skills of coding, but we also go into the process of designing your own coding project and considering its potential impact. We also aimed to design assignments that allow you self-expression so that just like you all are diverse, what you code can be diverse!

Recognizing the importance of diversity in shaping the future of CS, we have taken deliberate steps to try to make this course accessible to everyone. We are aware that in the past, CS was often dominated by certain groups based on race and gender. We are committed to changing that and to move towards an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued. Additionally, your feedback is important to us. We have a suggestion box where you can tell us how to improve the course for everyone. By offering this comprehensive approach to CS, we aim to empower all learners, regardless of their backgrounds, and help to enable a richer, more diverse understanding of computing in our daily lives.

To access course materials, assignments, and earn a Certificate, you'll need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. Eligible learners may also have the option to start with a Free Trial. Some courses may also offer a Full Course, No Certificate option. This lets you access course materials, submit required assessments, and receive a final grade, but you won't be able to earn or purchase a Certificate.

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.