Summary

Welcome to Let's Learn Software Development with Python! We extend a warm welcome, especially if this is your first encounter with Python, software development, or programming in general.

In this course, we will embark on a journey through Python, assuming no prior programming experience. Each topic is designed to be beginner-friendly, allowing learners from all backgrounds to comfortably grasp the concepts.

While software development at times uses statistics, we will prioritize simplicity by keeping the statistics and math to a minimum throughout this course.

Python stands out as one of the most popular programming languages for software development due to its user-friendly nature and its powerful capacity in getting things built quickly. The adoption of Python is further amplified by the extensive suite of packages. In addition, Python is increasingly being integrated into academic curricula and embraced across various industries.

Digi Cafe courses are built around the following three pillars:

• User-friendly textbook: Courses are designed as user-friendly as possible, and are text-based so it is easier for a student to find and review material.
• Interactive code: Code editors that can be run in the browser are spread throughout lessons to get hands-on experience learning the programming language.
• Community: If you have any questions or just want to engage in discussion on the course material, you may join the Digi Cafe Discord community where we have a chat room for each programming language.

Learning Goals

Upon completing this course, you will have acquired the following knowledge and skills:

• Datatypes: We begin the course by exploring the foundational datatypes in Python, progressing to data structures.
• Functions: We will learn functions, what they are, how to write them and ways they can be used.
• Iterators: We will learn what a loop is and how to loop through strings, arrays and dictionaries using for and while loops.
• Operators: We will discover how various operators work differently depending on the datatype they operate on.
• Midterm: We take a break from learning with a fun and interactive midterm.
• Files: We move into learning how to open and close files with the ability to read or write to them.
• Imports: We extend our knowledge of files by learning how to import code from other files.
• Print Statements: We will learn some useful string manipulation techniques for printing output to the console.
• Classes: With sufficient fundamentals covered, we're ready to cover one of Pythons most powerful tools - classes - and the power of object oriented programming.
• Recursion: We wrap up our lessons by teaching what recursion is and how it helps solve some difficult software development tasks.
• Final: We finish our course with a Chess-themed final; as a way to demonstrate the acquired skills and knowledge you've gained along the way.

In this course, our primary focus will be on learning Python in the context of software development. Instead of simply memorizing individual commands and functions, we will adopt a comprehensive approach. Each lesson will build upon the previous ones, systematically breaking down Python concepts to ensure a thorough understanding. So that you can gain first hand experience with Python, many of the lessons in this course include interactive code blocks with Python code that can be run directly on the webpage.

By the end of the course, you will possess a strong foundation in both Python programming and software development. This knowledge will serve as a solid base for further exploration and continued learning in these fields.