This course is part of the Python 3 Programming Specialization

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Python 3 Programming SpecializationUniversity of Michigan

About this Course

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This course introduces the basics of Python 3, including conditional execution and iteration as control structures, and strings and lists as data structures. You'll program an on-screen Turtle to draw pretty pictures. You'll also learn to draw reference diagrams as a way to reason about program executions, which will help to build up your debugging skills. The course has no prerequisites. It will cover Chapters 1-9 of the textbook "Fundamentals of Python Programming," which is the accompanying text (optional and free) for this course.
The course is for you if you're a newcomer to Python programming, if you need a refresher on Python basics, or if you may have had some exposure to Python programming but want a more in-depth exposition and vocabulary for describing and reasoning about programs.

This is the first of five courses in the Python 3 Programming Specialization.

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Course 1 of 5 in the

Python 3 Programming Specialization

Beginner Level

Approx. 36 hours to complete

English

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Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Course 1 of 5 in the

Python 3 Programming Specialization

Beginner Level

Approx. 36 hours to complete

English

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Instructors

Instructor rating

4.75/5 (4,102 Ratings)

Offered by

University of Michigan

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This course is part of the 100% online Master of Applied Data Science from University of Michigan. If you are admitted to the full program, your courses count towards your degree learning.

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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating98%(58,625 ratings)

Week

Week 1

12 hours to complete

General Introduction

12 hours to complete

27 videos (Total 172 min), 31 readings, 6 quizzes

27 videos

Introduction to the Specialization11m

How to Use the Interactive Textbook14m

Getting Started7m

Values and Data Types7m

Operators and Operands7m

Function Calls10m

Data Types5m

Type Conversion Functions5m

Variables11m

Statements and Expressions8m

More About Statements and Expressions6m

Updating Variables7m

Hard-Coding3m

Input6m

Introduction - Objects and Turtle Graphics1m

Our First Turtle Program6m

Instances: A Herd of Turtles7m

Repetition with a For Loop5m

More Turtle Methods1m

Importing Modules9m

Conclusion - Turtle Graphics1m

Introduction - Debugging1m

Syntax, Runtime, and Semantic Errors6m

Know Your Error Messages3m

Incremental Programming6m

Common Errors5m

Conclusion - Debugging1m

31 readings

Syllabus10m

Help Us Learn More About You!10m

Values and Data Types10m

Operators and Operands10m

Order of Operations10m

Function Calls10m

Data Types10m

Type Conversion Functions10m

Variables10m

Variable Names and Keywords10m

Choosing the Right Variable Name10m

Reassignment10m

Statements and Expressions10m

Updating Variables10m

Hard-Coding10m

Input10m

Hello Little Turtles!10m

Our First Turtle Program10m

Instances: A Herd of Turtles10m

Object Oriented Concepts10m

Repetition with a For Loop10m

A Few More Turtle Methods and Observations10m

Summary of Turtle Methods10m

Importing Modules10m

Syntax Errors10m

Runtime Errors10m

Semantic Errors10m

Know Your Error Messages10m

Incremental Programming10m

Common Errors10m

Practice Assignment - Drawing with Turtle10m

1 practice exercise

Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?4m

Week

Week 2

8 hours to complete

Sequences and Iteration

In week two you will use the lectures and the Runestone textbook to understand the basics of a few python data types - lists, strings, tuples - as well as a control structure - for loops. By the end of this week, you will be able to write more complex programs that create drawings by incorporating for loops. Finally, we will present the basics of an accumulation pattern to you, which will be expanded on in each week for the rest of the course.

8 hours to complete

15 videos (Total 88 min), 23 readings, 4 quizzes

15 videos

Introduction - Sequence Mutation1m

Strings7m

Lists2m

Tuples3m

The Index Operator7m

The Slice Operator7m

Concatenation and Repetition6m

Count and Index10m

Split and Join6m

The For Loop12m

The Accumulator Pattern4m

The Range Function5m

Naming Your Variables in For Loops3m

Printing Intermediate Results4m

Keeping Track of Your Iterator Variable and Your Iterable4m

23 readings

Introduction: Sequences10m

Strings10m

Lists10m

Tuples10m

Index Operator: Working with the Characters of a String and Accessing Elements in a List10m

Disambiguating []: Creation vs. Indexing10m

Length10m

The Slice Operator10m

Concatenation and Repetition10m

Count and Index10m

Splitting and Joining Strings10m

Introduction: Iteration10m

The for Loop10m

Flow of Execution of the for Loop10m

Strings and for Loops10m

Lists and for Loops10m

The Accumulator Pattern and the Range Function10m

(Optional) Traversal and the for Loop: By Index10m

(Optional) Nested Iteration: Image Processing10m

(Optional) The Gory Details: Iterables10m

Naming Variables in For Loops10m

Printing Intermediate Results10m

Keeping Track of Your Iterator Variable and Your Iterable10m

1 practice exercise

Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?4m

Week

Week 3

5 hours to complete

Booleans and Conditionals

5 hours to complete

7 videos (Total 61 min), 12 readings, 3 quizzes

7 videos

Boolean Expressions8m

Logical Operators10m

The in and not in Operators3m

Precedence of Operators2m

Conditional Execution8m

Unary Selection, Nested Conditionals, and Chained Conditionals16m

The Accumulator Pattern with Conditionals and Accumulating a Maximum Value10m

12 readings

Intro: What We Can Do with Turtles and Conditionals10m

Boolean Values and Boolean Expressions10m

Logical Operators10m

The in and not in Operators10m

Precedence of Operators10m

Conditional Execution: Binary Selection10m

Omitting the else Clause: Unary Selection10m

Nested Conditionals10m

Chained Conditionals10m

Make a Flow Chart before You Write Your Code10m

The Accumulator Pattern with Conditionals10m

Accumulating a Maximum Value10m

1 practice exercise

Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?4m

Week

Week 4

10 hours to complete

Sequence Mutation and Accumulation Patterns

10 hours to complete

22 videos (Total 92 min), 16 readings, 6 quizzes

22 videos

Introduction - Sequence Mutation1m

Mutability12m

List Element Deletion1m

Objects and References4m

Aliasing3m

Cloning Lists2m

Conclusion - Sequence Mutation1m

Introduction - Methods on Lists and Strings1m

Methods on Lists9m

Append vs. Concatenate7m

Non-Mutating Methods on Strings7m

String Format Method8m

Conclusion - Methods on Lists and Strings1m

Introduction - Accumulating Lists and Strings48s

The Accumulator Pattern with Lists4m

The Accumulator Pattern with Strings5m

Conclusion - Accumulating Lists and Strings1m

Introduction - Way of the Programmer47s

Making Reference Diagrams3m

Accumulator Pattern Strategies8m

Conclusion - Way of the Programmer54s

Introduction - Final Course Assignment4m

16 readings

Introduction: Transforming Sequences10m

Mutability10m

List Element Deletion10m

Objects and References10m

Aliasing10m

Cloning Lists10m

Methods on Lists10m

Append vs. Concatenate10m

Non-Mutating Methods on Strings10m

String Format Method10m

The Accumulator Pattern with Lists10m

The Accumulator Pattern with Strings10m

Accumulator Pattern Strategies10m

Don't Mutate A List That You Are Iterating Through10m

Course Feedback10m

Keep Learning with Michigan Online10m

Reviews

4.8

3438 reviews

5 stars
83.75%
4 stars
14.07%
3 stars
1.36%
2 stars
0.33%
1 star
0.46%

TOP REVIEWS FROM PYTHON BASICS

by RSJun 2, 2020

Amazing course. The ActiveCode and CodeLens helped me a lot with the problems in Python. The concepts were explained very well and I developed a great liking to Python! I can't wait to learn more!

by AKApr 19, 2021

Very detailed explanation. Ideal for a beginner. The interactive textbook and exercises were very useful.

Just one feedback : I would love to have more practice exercises to solve and learn.

by KMAug 8, 2019

Coursera has improved my practical skill in programming due a lot of practices and guidance. Taking Python basics has really helped me gain confidence to take over so many programming challenges.

by IZJul 13, 2019

Didn't expected this course to be beginner friendly as many courses out there aren't.

This course really helped me improve my Python. From lectures to assignments everything was praise worthy.

View all reviews

About the Python 3 Programming Specialization

This specialization teaches the fundamentals of programming in Python 3. We will begin at the beginning, with variables, conditionals, and loops, and get to some intermediate material like keyword parameters, list comprehensions, lambda expressions, and class inheritance.

You will have lots of opportunities to practice. You will also learn ways to reason about program execution, so that it is no longer mysterious and you are able to debug programs when they don’t work. By the end of the specialization, you’ll be writing programs that query Internet APIs for data and extract useful information from them. And you’ll be able to learn to use new modules and APIs on your own by reading the documentation. That will give you a great launch toward being an independent Python programmer. This specialization is a good next step for you if you have completed Python for Everybody but want a more in-depth treatment of Python fundamentals and more practice, so that you can proceed with confidence to specializations like Applied Data Science with Python. But it is also appropriate as a first set of courses in Python if you are already familiar with some other programming language, or if you are up for the challenge of diving in head-first.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
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. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
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.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

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Python Basics

About this Course

Instructors

Paul Resnick

Steve Oney

Jaclyn Cohen

Offered by

University of Michigan

Start working towards your Master's degree

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

General Introduction

Sequences and Iteration

Booleans and Conditionals

Sequence Mutation and Accumulation Patterns

Reviews

TOP REVIEWS FROM PYTHON BASICS

About the Python 3 Programming Specialization

Frequently Asked Questions

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Python Basics

About this Course

Instructors

Paul Resnick

Steve Oney

Jaclyn Cohen

Offered by

University of Michigan

Start working towards your Master's degree

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

General Introduction

Sequences and Iteration

Booleans and Conditionals

Sequence Mutation and Accumulation Patterns

Reviews

TOP REVIEWS FROM PYTHON BASICS

About the Python 3 Programming Specialization

Frequently Asked Questions

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Start or advance your career

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