A lot of code is building up from the most basic primitive elements of the language to increasingly faithful and meaningful things. In this course you will see how to author more complex ideas and capabilities in Python. In technical terms, you will learn dictionaries and how to work with them and nest them, functions, refactoring, and debugging, all of which are also thinking tools for the art of problem solving. We'll use this knowledge to explore our browsing history, interrogate a tweet, and draw pictures.
Python Basics: Problem Solving with Code
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Python Basics: Problem Solving with Code
This course is part of Python Basics for Online Research Specialization
Instructor: Seth Frey
Included with 
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Intermediate level
Some related experience required
11 hours to complete
3 weeks at 3 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
What you'll learn
Explore your own web browsing habits and manage code complexity and reading manuals.
Discuss how Python understands complex and real world things, and practice looking under the hood of a single tweet.
Apply the building blocks of Python and turn it into a little language for drawing pictures.
Practice "debugging" code and learn to think the way code thinks.
Details to know
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Assessments
4 assignments
Taught in English
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This course is part of the Python Basics for Online Research Specialization
When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
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There are 4 modules in this course
Can you use code to learn about...yourself? We're starting this course with a module in which you explore web browsing habits. If you installed the plugins for tracking your web history, you'll be able to explore your own. As this code gets more involved, you'll also get more advice on managing code complexity and reading manuals. Let's get started!
What's included
3 videos5 readings1 assignment1 programming assignment2 discussion prompts
Understanding how Python understands the world brings us to "dictionaries", which are kind of like lists, but they allow more variety and structure. This module will build up to representing increasingly complex real world things. We will build up to looking under the hood of a single tweet, and understanding the "social" in "social media".
What's included
10 videos1 assignment1 programming assignment1 discussion prompt
Everything you've learned in this course about Python is just basic building blocks that programmers use to build bigger building blocks of their own. In this module, we'll do precisely that, turning Python into a little language for drawing pictures, a DIY MS Paint.
What's included
8 videos1 reading1 assignment1 programming assignment1 discussion prompt
A major part of programming that no one ever tells you about is "debugging": spending seconds, minutes, hours, or even days going through code that should work to understand why it doesn't. This demoralizing subject stops a lot of beginners, but there is a way to be good at it, and that is a major part of learning to think the way code thinks.
What's included
5 videos2 readings1 assignment2 discussion prompts
Instructor
Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Algorithms
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