Suggest a beginner Python course

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huzaing
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Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

Hi,

Has anyone taken a basic Python online class that you can recommend?
I'm looking for an introductory course with no prior programming experience.

Thanks for any input.
hi_there
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by hi_there »

I would easily recommend this course on Udemy:

The Python Mega Course: Build 10 Real World Applications
https://www.udemy.com/course/the-python-mega-course/

There are many great beginner courses and books about Python, and most have the same general structure, where you start with IDE installation, then coding basics, and then eventually move to more sophisticated programs. However, I think this course is the best, due to the interesting projects towards the end, which will give you a sense of empowerment and drive your interest.
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

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TheHiker
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by TheHiker »

I recommended this MIT course to my wife who did not have programming experience which she completed with some effort:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical- ... fall-2016/
Its edX version: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction ... gramming-7
palaheel
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by palaheel »

huzaing wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 11:35 am Hi,

Has anyone taken a basic Python online class that you can recommend?
I'm looking for an introductory course with no prior programming experience.

Thanks for any input.
Do you want college credit, or is this for personal improvement or curiosity?
Nothing to say, really.
phantom0308
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by phantom0308 »

I find books much better for learning. The book Automate the Boring Stuff is free online and it covers the basics from no programming experience. It shows you how to automate tasks that most people programmer/not will encounter like automating spreadsheets, working with word docs, and web scraping.
https://automatetheboringstuff.com/
The author also has published books targeted at beginners related to game programming. I used some of it to teach my middle/high school aged siblings the basics.

As far as MOOCs, I like Udacity. Udemy always has 90% off and feels a bit scammy. It’s much more variable than the other platforms. Edx and coursera are alright.
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JupiterJones
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by JupiterJones »

Note that, while Coursera will try to get you pay for their courses at nearly every turn, in most cases you can audit them for free.
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huzaing
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

palaheel wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 12:51 pm
huzaing wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 11:35 am Hi,

Has anyone taken a basic Python online class that you can recommend?
I'm looking for an introductory course with no prior programming experience.

Thanks for any input.
Do you want college credit, or is this for personal improvement or curiosity?
No credit needed. Just for personal learning, but in beginner mode without prior programming experience.
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huzaing
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

hi_there wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 11:47 am I would easily recommend this course on Udemy:

The Python Mega Course: Build 10 Real World Applications
https://www.udemy.com/course/the-python-mega-course/

There are many great beginner courses and books about Python, and most have the same general structure, where you start with IDE installation, then coding basics, and then eventually move to more sophisticated programs. However, I think this course is the best, due to the interesting projects towards the end, which will give you a sense of empowerment and drive your interest.
Thank you for these suggestions. I'm looking at the content now.
The MIT and Harvard ones, are they considered 101 level? Seem a little intimidating to me :)
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linuxology
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by linuxology »

phantom0308 wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 1:38 pm I find books much better for learning. The book Automate the Boring Stuff is free online and it covers the basics from no programming experience. It shows you how to automate tasks that most people programmer/not will encounter like automating spreadsheets, working with word docs, and web scraping.
https://automatetheboringstuff.com/
The author also has published books targeted at beginners related to game programming. I used some of it to teach my middle/high school aged siblings the basics.

As far as MOOCs, I like Udacity. Udemy always has 90% off and feels a bit scammy. It’s much more variable than the other platforms. Edx and coursera are alright.
Follow the automatetheboringstuff book advice. I think their is a video course as well. I highly recommend the book as well.
GrowthSeeker
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by GrowthSeeker »

TheHiker wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 12:50 pm I recommended this MIT course to my wife who did not have programming experience which she completed with some effort:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical- ... fall-2016/
Its edX version: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction ... gramming-7
+1 for the edX version. This is a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course). You can take for free for no credit, or you can pay a small amount (e.g. $75) for credit.

There are 2 MIT courses (maybe more) at edX.org on Python (I took both, free versions)
First: MITx - 6.00.1x Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python (same course as linked above)
Second: MITx - 6.00.2x Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science

The one I'm calling "First" is basic Python. It was only offered during the Fall semester (and the "Second" was only during the Spring semester).
But it looks like the "First" one is also offered starting June 2, 2021.

With these 2 MOOCs from MIT, the free version gives you almost everything you'd get with the credit version except you can't take the exams. With these 2 courses you could do most of the little quizzes and have access to AFAIK all the resources.
Other MOOCs I took from other institutions seemed to limit what you could do for free more severely. But I only am basing this opinion on about 5 data points, so it may not be universally true.
Last edited by GrowthSeeker on Tue May 18, 2021 3:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Big Dog
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by Big Dog »

I've taken this course. (But have nothing to compare it to.)

https://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/ ... 04_CS-46-W
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tc101
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by tc101 »

I can't recommend a particular course, but take a look at the Free Code Camp website. They are a very ethical and generous group.
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huzaing
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

The MIT classes don't look to be self-paced, is that correct? Does this mean I need to attend at specific times/days, and not at my own pace?

The Harvard and Coursera one's look to be self-paced as far as I can tell.
TheHiker wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 12:50 pm I recommended this MIT course to my wife who did not have programming experience which she completed with some effort:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical- ... fall-2016/
Its edX version: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction ... gramming-7
GrowthSeeker wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 3:08 pm +1 for the edX version. This is a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course). You can take for free for no credit, or you can pay a small amount (e.g. $75) for credit.

There are 2 MIT courses (maybe more) at edX.org on Python (I took both, free versions)
First: MITx - 6.00.1x Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python (same course as linked above)
Second: MITx - 6.00.2x Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science

The one I'm calling "First" is basic Python. It was only offered during the Fall semester (and the "Second" was only during the Spring semester).
But it looks like the "First" one is also offered starting June 2, 2021.

With these 2 MOOCs from MIT, the free version gives you almost everything you'd get with the credit version except you can't take the exams. With these 2 courses you could do most of the little quizzes and have access to AFAIK all the resources.
Other MOOCs I took from other institutions seemed to limit what you could do for free more severely. But I only am basing this opinion on about 5 data points, so it may not be universally true.
TheHiker
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by TheHiker »

huzaing wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:24 pm The MIT classes don't look to be self-paced, is that correct? Does this mean I need to attend at specific times/days, and not at my own pace?
The ocw courses are. They are just materials/videos from the real MIT lectures.
I like them better than the edx moocs which are only available during certain time windows and are dumbed down somewhat (though for beginner courses this should be fine).
GLState
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by GLState »

Many EdX courses have weekly deadlines, just as traditional classroom course. New material is generally released each week with 2 weeks to complete assignments. We are not required to meet at a certain time as the instructional videos are recorded, not live.

One advantage of a MOOC over a book or an OpenCourseWare course is that Teaching Assistants and other students are available to help with any problems that you may encounter.
rich126
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by rich126 »

This is more for practice but codewars.com has exercises you can do. I use it to practice my python and C since I don't do programming on a daily basis anymore. You can do most "puzzles" by using a book or googling and trying to figure things out. Like how do I extract each character from a string, or how does a for loop work, etc.

Python is one of the easier languages to learn. I'm not a fan of the white space they use but it isn't painful. Also be aware that python was a bit messed up when they transitioned from one version to another. Python went down a strange path from version 2.7 to 3.0 (I think). Code from 2.7 and older won't always work in 3.0+.

I only point out the version issue because when I was learning it a while ago, I had a book that was using 3.0 but it happened the work computer I was on, had 2.7 installed and I was confused why certain "simple" things were not working.
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hi_there
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by hi_there »

Big Dog wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 3:13 pm I've taken this course. (But have nothing to compare it to.)

https://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/ ... 04_CS-46-W
This content, for $555, is less than what is offered by most $20 online courses. Is there something special about the way they teach this?

Tentative Weekly Outline*:
Module 1 (Week 1/2): Installing Python and interactive shell, basics of: data types and variables
Module 2 (Week 3/4): Flow Control: Boolean values, comparison operators, if/else/elif/while,
importing modules
Module 3 (Week 5): Functions: def, return values, arguments, scope
Module 4 (Week 6): Lists: list type and associated operations, operators, methods
Module 5 (Week 7): Dictionaries and structuring data
Module 6 (Week 8): Manipulating strings
TravelGeek
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by TravelGeek »

hi_there wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 10:03 am
Big Dog wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 3:13 pm I've taken this course. (But have nothing to compare it to.)

https://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/ ... 04_CS-46-W
This content, for $555, is less than what is offered by most $20 online courses. Is there something special about the way they teach this?
If I had to guess, this course is targeting employees of companies that provide continuing education reimbursement. I don’t think it’s worth paying that much for an introductory Python course.

Also note the text book:
Textbooks for this course:

(Required) Al Sweigart, Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 1st or 2nd edition (ISBN 978-1-59327-599-0)
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huzaing
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

TheHiker wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 10:09 pm
huzaing wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:24 pm The MIT classes don't look to be self-paced, is that correct? Does this mean I need to attend at specific times/days, and not at my own pace?
The ocw courses are. They are just materials/videos from the real MIT lectures.
I like them better than the edx moocs which are only available during certain time windows and are dumbed down somewhat (though for beginner courses this should be fine).
GLState wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 9:06 am Many EdX courses have weekly deadlines, just as traditional classroom course. New material is generally released each week with 2 weeks to complete assignments. We are not required to meet at a certain time as the instructional videos are recorded, not live.

One advantage of a MOOC over a book or an OpenCourseWare course is that Teaching Assistants and other students are available to help with any problems that you may encounter.
Thanks. This is helpful. I was just reading about the difference between OpenCourseWare and MOOCs versions.
GrowthSeeker
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by GrowthSeeker »

huzaing wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:24 pm The MIT classes don't look to be self-paced, is that correct? Does this mean I need to attend at specific times/days, and not at my own pace?

The Harvard and Coursera one's look to be self-paced as far as I can tell.
TheHiker wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 12:50 pm I recommended this MIT course to my wife who did not have programming experience which she completed with some effort:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical- ... fall-2016/
Its edX version: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction ... gramming-7
GrowthSeeker wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 3:08 pm +1 for the edX version. This is a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course). You can take for free for no credit, or you can pay a small amount (e.g. $75) for credit.

There are 2 MIT courses (maybe more) at edX.org on Python (I took both, free versions)
First: MITx - 6.00.1x Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python (same course as linked above)
Second: MITx - 6.00.2x Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science

The one I'm calling "First" is basic Python. It was only offered during the Fall semester (and the "Second" was only during the Spring semester).
But it looks like the "First" one is also offered starting June 2, 2021.

With these 2 MOOCs from MIT, the free version gives you almost everything you'd get with the credit version except you can't take the exams. With these 2 courses you could do most of the little quizzes and have access to AFAIK all the resources.
Other MOOCs I took from other institutions seemed to limit what you could do for free more severely. But I only am basing this opinion on about 5 data points, so it may not be universally true.
The MIT courses I took roll out a new “episode” once or twice a week until the end of the semester (or summer term). So depending on what month you start, you would have to wait until the next lesson. I discovered it 2/3 the way through the Fall semester, so I was 2 months behind; caught up by the end; but I didn’t do every single assignment.
But I tried a few other courses trying to get further into data science: the others were not teaching me things I didn’t already know. They spent too much emphasis on basics and glossed over the “meat”. The MIT teachers were good teachers.
If time sensitive, find one that’s pure self paced. But if the end of summer term is good enough, I recommend the MIT one
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desconhecido
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by desconhecido »

I agree with others that the MIT courses are very, very good. They are, however, crammed full of useful knowledge and may be a bit much for someone with no programming experience who has never given any thought to how a computer might go about solving problems. The courses spend quite a bit of time discussing general computing techniques and realities as well as the details of the language. If you go through these two courses successfully, though, you should have all the skills necessary to use the vast available Python libraries to solve a whole bunch of problems.

Something else to look at is the free trial of the Python training at jetbrains.com Eventually they will want some money from you but you can get quite a bit of work in before that happens.

For an instruction book, an edition of Downey's "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" for Python can be found on line to peruse for free. I've not looked at it closely, but some people say it's worthwhile.

I think that if you install Anaconda there might be some tutorials that come along with it.

In any event, good luck. Though basic Python may be easier than many other languages, as you get into it you will discover that the learning opportunities know no bounds.
palaheel
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by palaheel »

The last time I looked, the educational version of PyCharm from JetBrains was free, and it has wonderful see-and-do tutorial projects. Their community version is also free.

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist is very good.
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Carousel
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by Carousel »

I'm interested--what are you looking at doing with your Python knowledge? How did you settle on this language?
Thanks!
sully45
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by sully45 »

In my state you can 'audit' college classes with minimal fees. You obtain 0 college credits but are free to attend lecture and get your coursework graded. Might be worth checking out.
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vitaflo
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by vitaflo »

If you have no prior programming experience I would try to focus on an intro programming course that just happens to use Python as its teaching language. This would be slightly different from a Python course that may expect at least some prior programming knowledge.

It's better to learn the basics of computer science anyway as it can be applied to any language, not just Python.
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huzaing
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

desconhecido wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 1:18 am I agree with others that the MIT courses are very, very good. They are, however, crammed full of useful knowledge and may be a bit much for someone with no programming experience who has never given any thought to how a computer might go about solving problems. The courses spend quite a bit of time discussing general computing techniques and realities as well as the details of the language. If you go through these two courses successfully, though, you should have all the skills necessary to use the vast available Python libraries to solve a whole bunch of problems.
Hi,

Are you referring to the two MIT courses?
6.0001
6.0002
desconhecido
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by desconhecido »

huzaing wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 1:23 pm
desconhecido wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 1:18 am I agree with others that the MIT courses are very, very good. They are, however, crammed full of useful knowledge and may be a bit much for someone with no programming experience who has never given any thought to how a computer might go about solving problems. The courses spend quite a bit of time discussing general computing techniques and realities as well as the details of the language. If you go through these two courses successfully, though, you should have all the skills necessary to use the vast available Python libraries to solve a whole bunch of problems.
Hi,

Are you referring to the two MIT courses?
6.0001
6.0002
Yes.
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GeraniumLover
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by GeraniumLover »

Tracking this as I just retired and will want to take a programming course. Past expertise was in Pascal, PL/1, Basic and assembly language.
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JupiterJones
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by JupiterJones »

GeraniumLover wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 3:29 pm Tracking this as I just retired and will want to take a programming course. Past expertise was in Pascal, PL/1, Basic and assembly language.
Oh, well you'll love Python in your case. It's structured, like Pascal (so no jumps or GOTOs and the spaghetti code that goes with them), but also interactive/interpreted like BASIC (so no compile/link interruptions).

The use of whitespace as a block-delimiter might take a bit of adjustment. Very intuitive once you get the hang of it though.
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huzaing
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

vitaflo wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:20 pm If you have no prior programming experience I would try to focus on an intro programming course that just happens to use Python as its teaching language. This would be slightly different from a Python course that may expect at least some prior programming knowledge.

It's better to learn the basics of computer science anyway as it can be applied to any language, not just Python.
Do you mean courses like MIT 6.00.1x and Harvard CS50x? Or some other?

Thanks.
GLState
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by GLState »

huzaing wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 4:39 pm
vitaflo wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:20 pm If you have no prior programming experience I would try to focus on an intro programming course that just happens to use Python as its teaching language. This would be slightly different from a Python course that may expect at least some prior programming knowledge.

It's better to learn the basics of computer science anyway as it can be applied to any language, not just Python.
Do you mean courses like MIT 6.00.1x and Harvard CS50x? Or some other?

Thanks.
Harvard CS50 gives a much wider view of computer science (multiple languages) than does MIT 600.1x. MIT 6.00.1 is more focused on using/learning Python to learn computer science basics. You can enroll in these classes as "Audit" to explore them and discover which style of class most interests you.
If learning Python is the goal, MIT 6.00.1 would be the better choice.

I like the Data Science focused courses, rather than computer science focused courses. The Data Science courses go more into the details of working and analyzing data.
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huzaing
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by huzaing »

GLState wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 9:04 am
huzaing wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 4:39 pm
vitaflo wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:20 pm If you have no prior programming experience I would try to focus on an intro programming course that just happens to use Python as its teaching language. This would be slightly different from a Python course that may expect at least some prior programming knowledge.

It's better to learn the basics of computer science anyway as it can be applied to any language, not just Python.
Do you mean courses like MIT 6.00.1x and Harvard CS50x? Or some other?

Thanks.
Harvard CS50 gives a much wider view of computer science (multiple languages) than does MIT 600.1x. MIT 6.00.1 is more focused on using/learning Python to learn computer science basics. You can enroll in these classes as "Audit" to explore them and discover which style of class most interests you.
If learning Python is the goal, MIT 6.00.1 would be the better choice.

I like the Data Science focused courses, rather than computer science focused courses. The Data Science courses go more into the details of working and analyzing data.
Thanks so much for answering.

Regarding Data Science, do you already have a CS/programming background? Am I correct in assuming that even for Data Science, somone should start with CS50 and/or 6.00.1x if they dont have a CS or Computer Engineering background?
GLState
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by GLState »

huzaing wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 3:09 pm
GLState wrote: Mon May 24, 2021 9:04 am
huzaing wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 4:39 pm
vitaflo wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 12:20 pm If you have no prior programming experience I would try to focus on an intro programming course that just happens to use Python as its teaching language. This would be slightly different from a Python course that may expect at least some prior programming knowledge.

It's better to learn the basics of computer science anyway as it can be applied to any language, not just Python.
Do you mean courses like MIT 6.00.1x and Harvard CS50x? Or some other?

Thanks.
Harvard CS50 gives a much wider view of computer science (multiple languages) than does MIT 600.1x. MIT 6.00.1 is more focused on using/learning Python to learn computer science basics. You can enroll in these classes as "Audit" to explore them and discover which style of class most interests you.
If learning Python is the goal, MIT 6.00.1 would be the better choice.

I like the Data Science focused courses, rather than computer science focused courses. The Data Science courses go more into the details of working and analyzing data.
Thanks so much for answering.

Regarding Data Science, do you already have a CS/programming background? Am I correct in assuming that even for Data Science, somone should start with CS50 and/or 6.00.1x if they dont have a CS or Computer Engineering background?
I don't think it is necessary to take CS50 before taking a Python course. We don't need to know how a computer works to learn python. I took "data processing" courses in college almost 50 years ago (COBOL, RPG, BAL), but never programmed professionally. I picked up R and Python with online courses, books, websites, tutorials, YouTube videos, etc. The time requirements and challenge of online courses can take some getting used to if we have been out of school for a number of years. You just have to get your feet wet.
hank-johnson
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by hank-johnson »

If you have a decent foundation in doing data analysis with Excel then you probably don’t need computer science background for getting started with basic data science, though data analysis/science quickly blends into computer science. Python for Data Analysis is a great book and would be a decent resource to explore to see if data science is something you’d be interested in. Having some knowledge about the data structures in python will definitely help though. The University of Michigan courses on Coursera taught by Dr. Chuck are excellent and would definitely be beneficial prior to getting knee deep in pandas and numpy.
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Hayden
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by Hayden »

The Python for Everybody course on Coursera taught by Dr. Severance is outstanding
halfisglassfull
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by halfisglassfull »

Learning to code using Python is a pending project of mine as well, so thank you all for the suggestions. I just googled Python for Everyone, and it appears Dr. Severance has his own website with all the same material as the Coursera and some assignments with automated grading, all offered for free. Optionally, you can log in with a Google account to track your progress.

Website is here: https://www.py4e.com/
cabould
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by cabould »

Check your local library for free options. My local library offers free Lynda (Linkedin Learning) and Gale courses, both which offer introduction to Python courses. The Gale courses are somewhat instructor led and there is a forum to post questions. Both are free with a library card.
edgeagg
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by edgeagg »

Not directly about courseware, but about how to learn a new language:

Just as someone who writes python (and other) code every day, one of the most important tools you can use to facilitate learning is a debugger such as pdb. That way you can learn how a bit of third party code works and also debug your own code without sprinkling print statements all over.

All code editors have debugging support integrated into them. Editors also make it easy to correctly indent code blocks, catch undefined variables etc.

I taught my now 10 year old python via debugging pieces of sample code that I wrote to demonstrate a concept (such as loops) before we went through more advanced constructs such as classes etc.

BTW if you use Windows, then WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) is really excellent and I highly recommend starting there.

ea
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by KyleAAA »

For data science? For building web apps on Django? What do you want to do with python?
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market timer
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Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by market timer »

I've just completed the MIT OCW 6.0001 course and will do the 6.0002 course next. This is the first computer science course I've taken, and it turns out I really enjoy computer science, both practical and theoretical aspects. I was a math major, and CS is much closer to math than I realized. What I enjoy is finally being able to apply my math/econ knowledge without relying on a programmer. A FANG company recently reached out to me about a research scientist role, which it turns out I had the math knowledge to do, but not the programming knowledge.

After completing these intro courses, what would people recommend? I was thinking to continue with the MIT OCW lessons and do algorithms 1-3, networks, intro to ML, automata, computability, and complexity, artificial intelligence, and grad courses on algorithms for inference and dynamic programming and stochastic control. These are the topics that interest me.
palaheel
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Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:35 am

Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Post by palaheel »

market timer wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:19 pm I've just completed the MIT OCW 6.0001 course and will do the 6.0002 course next. This is the first computer science course I've taken, and it turns out I really enjoy computer science, both practical and theoretical aspects. I was a math major, and CS is much closer to math than I realized. What I enjoy is finally being able to apply my math/econ knowledge without relying on a programmer. A FANG company recently reached out to me about a research scientist role, which it turns out I had the math knowledge to do, but not the programming knowledge.

After completing these intro courses, what would people recommend? I was thinking to continue with the MIT OCW lessons and do algorithms 1-3, networks, intro to ML, automata, computability, and complexity, artificial intelligence, and grad courses on algorithms for inference and dynamic programming and stochastic control. These are the topics that interest me.
The one course I used most day-in/day-out was Data Structures, which will probably be covered in the algorithms course. (Twas a long time ago for me....) It's also useful to have an assembly language/machine organization course, even if you're going to stay far away from the bits. Languages like Python obscure how much the hamsters have to scurry about to do things that appear simple.
Nothing to say, really.
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