/programming-lessions

Python programming lessons for the absolute beginner

Prerequisites

Important: you must first complete Prerequisites before starting this course.

Chapter 1

(30 minutes)

Skip the "Setting Up Python" sections. They are already covered in Prerequisites.

When you get to the "Introducing IDLE" section,

  1. Under "Writing your first program" just open your Mac Terminal, type "python" and hit Enter.
  2. Under "Writing your first program (again)"
    1. Open Atom
    2. The screenshot in the Book is not relevant because we're using Atom - in Atom there will be no "Run" button. Instead will use a keyboard shortcut Ctrl-x
    3. Write the program
    4. At the very top of the program add this line (copy-and-paste): #!/usr/local/bin/python3.6
    5. Press Ctrl-x to run the program [instead of the "Run" button as described in the book]

Chapter 2

(2+ hours)

When you need to "Save" the .py files (your program), just save it to your Desktop for now. In later chapters you will learn how to save code to github.

  1. When you get to typing the ASCII art "GAME OVER" on page 17, you'd probably want to look ahead and read about ASCII art on page 21. When typing up the code, you can give it more zest by doing a copy-and-paste of the ASCII art from http://patorjk.com/software/taag/#p=display&f=Star%20Wars&t=Game%20AOver yet I encourage you to to "draw" some of your own ASCII art. This helps develop comfort with editing raw text (which is what programming is) and muscle memory to better handle the text editor.
  2. When you get to "Sounding the System Bell" section, open your Terminal and type "python" instead of using Atom to run the code. Make sure the sound is "On" on your Mac.