Python Basics

Who this course is for

First-year BCA and B.Tech students of every branch (CSE, IT, ECE, Mechanical, Civil and others) studying the “Python Programming” or “Programming for Problem Solving” paper. Also B.Sc Computer Science and IT students, polytechnic students, Class 11 and 12 Computer Science students, and anyone who wants to start coding with Python.

You do not need to know any programming. You do not need a powerful laptop. You do not need perfect English.

What makes this course different

Every example is from student life. A marks calculator, a grade checker, a shop bill, an electricity bill, a password checker, a word counter and a small student-record program. No difficult maths.

Run the code right on the lesson page. Under every video, the lesson’s programs are ready to run with one click, and there is an editor for your own code. No Google account, nothing to install. From Lesson 2 on, the videos use this same editor, so what you see is exactly what you get.

Every code has its output. Every program in the notes was run before it was printed, and the real output is shown under it. You always know what you should see.

Errors are shown on purpose. Every lesson makes one mistake on screen, reads the error and fixes it. Students who see the teacher make an error are less afraid of their own.

It follows the usual first-year syllabus. Five modules, three lessons each, in the order most universities teach them. See the full map below.

What you get

• 15 video lessons, 3 to 7 minutes each, about an hour and a quarter in total
• A Python editor on every lesson page, with the lesson’s programs ready to run
• A notes PDF of about 95 pages, watermarked in your name, yours to keep
• A 20-exercise practical workbook with model solutions
• A final test, graded the moment you submit it
• A verifiable certificate with a unique ID and a public verification page
• Lifetime access, including every future update to the course

How it matches your syllabus

Every topic of a typical first-year Python paper is taught in a lesson and has its own section in the notes.

• Module 1, Getting started with Python (lessons 1 to 3; notes 1.1 to 1.13): What Python is; installing Python, and IDEs such as VS Code; your first program; variables and data types; type conversion; print() and f-strings; input(); arithmetic, comparison, logical and assignment operators.
• Module 2, Decisions and loops (lessons 4 to 6; notes 2.1 to 2.12): Indentation; if, if-else, if-elif-else and nested if; while and for loops with range(); looping over text and lists; break, continue and pass; else with a loop; nested loops, patterns and the Fibonacci series.
• Module 3, Functions, modules and strings (lessons 7 to 9; notes 3.1 to 3.15): Defining and calling functions; parameters, arguments and return; default and keyword arguments; local and global scope; recursion; lambda; modules such as math and random; string indexing, slicing and methods.
• Module 4, Lists, tuples, sets and dictionaries (lessons 10 to 12; notes 4.1 to 4.11): Making and changing lists; list methods; list comprehensions; nested lists; tuples and unpacking; sets and set operations; dictionaries and looping through them; which data structure to use.
• Module 5, Files, errors and classes (lessons 13 to 15; notes 5.1 to 5.11): Writing, reading and appending text files; CSV files; errors and exceptions; try, except, else and finally; raising an exception; classes, objects, init and self; inheritance; a mini student-record project.