Westchester Community College, State University of New York

This course will give you an understanding of basic programming concepts as implemented in Python. Topics include data types, assignment and conditional statements, basics of flowcharts and analysis. Build programming foundational skills and quickly learn basic programming concepts through practical examples, exercises and practice.

Target Audience
This course is designed for individuals with no prior knowledge of programming, who are interested in understanding basic programming concepts.  The focus is on solving meaningful problems using code, not just about writing code.  Use of several, simple to understand practical examples drives home the concepts that are learned through practice.

Prerequisites
No previous programming experience is required; however, basic typing ability and computer skills are recommended.

Expected Outcomes and Satisfactory Completion
By the end of this course, the student will:

• Learn to write basic Python programs.
• Work with mathematical functions, strings, conditionals, loops, lists, dictionaries.
• Learn to handle obtaining different types of user input.
• Successful completion of this course is determined by the instructor and requires 80% attendance.

Course Outline

Lesson 1: Getting Started and Variables

• Introductions
• Install Python and Python editor
• Run “Hello World!” program
• Introduce variables

Lesson 2: Variables and Simple Data Types

• Continue variables
• Discuss strings, numbers (integers, floats, constants) and comments

Lesson 3: Introducing Lists

• Define and access elements in a list
• Changing, adding, and removing list elements

Lesson 4: Continue Introducing Lists

• Organize a list, sorting, reverse order, list length, etc.

Lesson 5: Working with Lists

• Looping through an entire list
• Avoid indentation errors
• Numerical lists

Lesson 6: Working with Lists continued

• Working with Part of a list
• Tuples
• Styling code

Lesson 7: Conditionals

• Equality/Inequality
• Numerical comparisons
• Value in or not in a list

Lesson 8: Conditionals continued

• Explore the “if” statement
• Explore “if-elif-else” chain, “else” block
• Using “if” statements with list

Lesson 9: Dictionaries

• Accessing values in a dictionary
• Adding new key-value pairs

Lesson 10: Dictionaries continued

• Modifying/removing values in a dictionary
• Nesting dictionaries

Lesson 11: User Input

• Using the input function
• Modify user input

Lesson 12: “while” loop

• Introduce the “while” loop, loop flags, break and the use of continue
• Using loops with lists and dictionaries

Course Description

This course will give you an understanding of programming concepts as implemented in Python. Topics include Functions, Objects and Classes, GUI Programming Using Tkinter, Recursion, Lists, Tuples, Sets, and Dictionaries. Upon successful completion, students may be ready to sit for the Python Institute’s PCEP Certification Exam (exam fee not included).

Prerequisites
Python Programming Basics or equivalent experience.

Course Outline

Lesson 1: Functions

• • Define functions with formal parameters.
  • Invoke functions with actual parameters (i.e., arguments).
  • Distinguish between functions do and do not return a value.
  • Invoke a function using positional arguments or keyword arguments.
  • Pass arguments by passing their reference values.
  • Develop reusable code that is modular and is easy to read, debug, and maintain.
  • Create modules for reusing functions.
  • Determine the scope of variables.
  • Define functions with default arguments.
  • Define a function that returns multiple values.

Lesson 2: Objects and Classes

• • Describe objects and classes.
  • Use classes to model objects.
  • Define classes with data fields and methods.

Lesson 3: Files and Exceptions

• • Read and writing from a file
  • Exceptions to manage errors.
  • Storing data using the json module.

Lesson 4: Testing Your Code

• Test a function using unit tests and test cases.
• Explore handling a passing and failing test.
• Test a class using the asset method and setup() methods.

Lesson 5: Lists

• • Describe why lists are useful in programming.
  • Learn how to create lists.
  • Explore common operations for sequences.
  • Use the len, min, max, sum, and random shuffle functions with a list.
  • Access list elements by using indexed variables.
  • Obtain a sublist from a larger list by using the slicing operator.
  • Use the + (concatenation), *(repetition), and in/not in operators on lists.
  • Traverse elements in a list using a for loop.
  • Compare the contents of two lists by using comparison operators.
  • Create lists by using list comprehension.
  • Invoke methods append, count, extend, index, insert, pop, remove, reverse, and sort on a list.
  • Split a string into a list using the str’s split method.
  • Read data from the console into a list.
  • Copy the contents of one list to another.
  • Develop and invoke functions that include list arguments and return lists.
  • Sort a list by using the selection/insertion sort.

Lesson 6: Multidimensional Lists

• • Learn how a two-dimensional list can represent two-dimensional data.
  • Access elements in a two-dimensional list by using row and column indexes.
  • Program common operations for two-dimensional lists (displaying lists, summing all elements, finding min and max elements, random shuffling, and sorting).

Lesson 7: Tuples and Dictionaries

• • Create tuples.
  • Use tuples as fixed lists to prevent elements from being added, deleted, or replaced.
  • Apply common sequence operations for tuples.
  • Create dictionaries.
  • Add, modify, and retrieve elements in a dictionary using the syntax dictionary Name [key].
  • Delete items in a dictionary using the del keyword.
  • Traverse keys in a dictionary using a for loop.
  • Obtain the size of a dictionary using the len function.
  • Test whether a key is in a dictionary using the in or not in operator.
  • Test whether two dictionaries have the same content using the “==” operator.
  • Use the keys, values, items, clean, get, pop, and popitem methods on a dictionary.

Lesson 8: Recursion

• • Explain what a recursive function is and describe the benefits of using recursion.
  • Develop recursive programs for recursive mathematical functions.

Lesson 9: Polymorphism and Inheritance

• • What is Polymorphism in Python?
  • Polymorphism with class methods.
  • Understand Polymorphism with inheritance.

Lesson 10: Miscellaneous (if time permits)

• Find words in a CSV file.
  • Python tips and tricks.
  • Create a simple GUI application with Tkinter.

This course provides an intensive and comprehensive exam preparation for the Python Institute’s PCEP Exam: Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer.

This certification is a professional credential that measures your ability to accomplish coding tasks related to the essentials of programming in the Python language. “A test candidate should demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the universal concepts of computer programming, the syntax and semantics of the Python language as well as the skills in resolving typical implementation challenges with the help of the Python Standard Library”, as stated on the Python Institute website. Exam voucher and one retake included.

Prerequisites
Python Programming II or equivalent experience.

Course Outline

Perform and review 6 practice exams which will cover the five PCEP-30-01 exam blocks.
Blocks include:

• Python basic concepts
• Data Types, Evaluations, and Basic I/O Operations
• Control Flow – loops and conditional blocks
• Data Collections – Lists, Tuples, and Dictionaries
• Functions

Perform a recap of individual items in each exam block.