Learn to Program: The Fundamentals (Coursera)

Course Overview

Behind every mouse click and touch-screen tap, there is a computer program that makes things happen. This course introduces the fundamental building blocks of programming and teaches you how to write fun and useful programs using the Python language.

Syllabus

Python, Variables, and Functions

This module gives an overview of the course, the editor we will use to write programs, and an introduction to fundamental concepts in Python including variables, mathematical expressions, and functions.

Strings and Designing Functions

This module introduces strings (a Python data type used to represent text), and a process to follow when creating a function.

Booleans, Import, Namespaces, and if Statements

This module introduces Booleans (logical values True and False), how to convert between types, how to use Boolean expressions in if statements to selectively run code, and the concept of a Python module.

For Loops and Fancy String Manipulation

This module introduces one way to repeat code (using a for loop), how to manipulate strings, and how to use a debugger to watch a program execute step by step.

While Loops, Lists, and Mutability

This module introduces another way to repeat code (using a while loop), how to properly document your code to help other programmers understand it, Python’s list data type, and the concept of mutation.

For Loops Over Indices, Parallel and Nested Lists and Strings, and Files

This module introduces how to use a for loop over the indexes of a list, how to nest lists, and how to read a write files.

Tuples and Dictionaries

This module introduces tuples (an immutable version of lists), and Python’s dictionary type.

Coach

Jennifer Campbell and Paul Gries