Are you an undergraduate or a rookie in the programming world? Curious to know why is Python the buzzword in the field of technology? Do you want to have a career as a programmer?
If you are looking for a career in the most exciting domains with challenging job roles, then the coding expertise using Python is a must. A career as a data scientist, machine learning engineer, or simply a Python programmer offers you ample opportunities. These are some aspiring careers with the highest pay scale in the technical industry. The critical point is to identify the best way to get started.
There are various online courses. However, it is not easy to choose from them. It can be unclear for aspirants who have minimal knowledge of how to proceed and select the courses that are either too advanced or don’t offer what is being proposed. Therefore, navigating through the ideal beginner’s course is mandatory.
A very useful course is available on Udemy for beginners looking to hone their skills in Python. It’s called Introduction to Python Programming: A Quick and Easy Intro into Python Programming. This online course is designed with a simplistic approach while covering all the foundations of Python. Many aspirants have found it useful to build a solid foundation in Python programming with this course.
The course is equivalent to a one-stop solution for all the foundation concepts you need to learn to get started with Python. The course begins with Python’s basics along with the concepts of strings, variables, and the various data types that are available. The lessons further extend to covering the topics related to loops and conditions used in Python and know-how of file manipulation and functions. This will cover the entire basics of Python thoroughly.
What is Python Programming?
Python is considered one of the fastest-growing programming languages that allow you to work quickly and integrate systems effectively. It is a high-level, object-oriented language that will bring down your developmental time. It is user friendly and easy to learn and use that can be used for both small tasks and complex computations.
Today, Python programming has found its implementations across industries such as scientific computing, research, web development, data science, medical imaging, system automation, automotive industry, finance, computer graphics, and astrophysics, among several other domains of prominence. The list continues to add more sectors preferring Python for its problem-solving purposes. There are a broad scope and diverse opportunities for all the aspirants aiming for a successful career in these industries.
In the introductory course, you will uncover important information on how to run Python and the installation guide, followed by Python’s basics and essential concepts that are very easy to follow. There are no prerequisite programming skills required for the course. All you need is access to a computer and get started to climb the ladder of success.
Python Innovations
There is support for cross-platforms. The vast majority of plugins from different sources or third parties have considered Python a powerful platform for software development in multiple industries. The scope of a Python developer has broadened with multi-disciplines requiring Python for their business operations. In today’s environment of rapid growth technologies, enterprises have adapted and included these technologies to conduct their services successfully.
Industrial innovations with the likes of search engine recommendations, risk analytics for the finance industry, forecast of demand for sales and marketing to the Internet of things, big data, machine learning, natural language processing, smart electric grids, robotics to healthcare, Python forms the core of the programming language involved behind these innovations.
This is a list of popular products and services developed using Python.
- Netflix
- Dropbox
- Spotify
- Uber
Python powers tech giants like Google search engine, Mozilla, YouTube, Reddit, and many others. A career in Python broadens your ideas and skills as a developer as you deep dive into a world of innovations. Thus, enhancing your coding skills with an online course is essential. An online coding course on Python introduces the major concepts and basic coding examples to get started.
It is worth noting that, being a skilled Python programmer, you are likely in line to be hired by such top companies seeking Python programming skills.
Related reading: Udemy Review – Is Udemy Worth It?
What kind of Content Does the Course Offer?
Welcome and Jumpstart Python Programming
The course begins with a quick introduction of the instructor and his journey into the programming world. The introduction is always helpful as it gave insight into the instructor’s background and what to expect in the course’s upcoming lectures. At the end of the section, some resources are provided related to Python’s additional help from his platform called TheCodex. While the course on Udemy covers only the fundamentals, the Codex platform offers a more comprehensive study along with beginner-friendly projects for further practice.
Getting Started with Python
There was a smooth transition from the introduction to the first section that deals with Python’s installation and an additional explanation of Python IDE and its alternative, such as PyCharm. It was also mentioned how you could avail the PyCharm free premium version for students only. For those who are not students, it was informed that there is a possibility of downloading the community version.
The PyCharm interface and starting a new project is displayed stepwise. A simple project with “Hello World” was shown. The reason for selecting PyCharm as a choice of IDE by the instructor is because Python IDE is very functional, as stated by him. On the contrary, PyCharm provides many productivity features and provides intelligent code completion, on the fly error checking, quick fix possibilities, and easy navigation of a project.
Variables and Multiple Assignment
The second part introduces variables. This section defines variables and their initialization. It begins with defining variables as memory locations to store values. It was further shown by compiling an easy- to follow the example. The example is a basic example of keeping the matter in a variable. The value in this example is related to the age of a person. The example is further extended by showing how to store a sentence in a variable. Another additional part is defined as how to create a new variable for multiple assignments in a single line. The compilation was displayed on the console while guiding where to type the code.
Arithmetic Operators and Strings
This section dealt with arithmetic operators’ concepts that allow performing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and modulus functionalities. How they can be applied to variables was explained with a follow-along example. Strings are known to be very popular in Python programming that has been discussed as well. It is possible to create strings by enclosing the required characters in quotes.
The examples demonstrated the implementation of addition and multiplication to strings. The concept of splicing was introduced along with the possibility of obtaining the segment of strings and characters using a format. Splicing, referred to as splice function, is the part of several in-built functions in the Python library. The purpose of splicing enables to partition an image in width and height. The space that remains after the partition is filled by the available background color. The concept of splicing was also shown with an example.
Placeholders in Strings
Placeholders in strings are used to refer to a variable that needs to be used. Each placeholder signifies a data type, and a percent is used to indicate what type of string it is in command. The concept was demonstrated using an example for single and multiple variables, respectively.
Lists in Python
Generally, what do you think of a list? It is a set of items placed in order with a set of values assigned to it from a given index. The same concept is used for the Python list, which is covered in this lesson. Lists are considered similar to arrays that contain different types of variables without a limit. It is a comma-separated value between square brackets that provides access to any of the index items. The concepts of lists were covered that included what plans are and how to create them. Although several usages of the list, a quick introduction of the list was provided with a simplified example.
Introduction to dictionaries
The lesson focuses on the introductory concept of a Python dictionary that includes a key and value when dealing with sorting. The dictionary definition is explained as the data type that works similarly as arrays, but it consists of keys and values instead of indexes. It is also explained that the values stored in a dictionary can be accessed with a key that can be in any object, such as a string or a number.
The related concepts on associated values, updating the values, using a key, and performing deletion in the dictionary were covered. An important idea was highlighted, stating that repeating a dictionary is not considered a proper programming practice in a dictionary.
Tuples
A tuple consists of a collection of objects that are ordered and immutable. Tuples act as sequences similar to the concept of lists with a significant difference that a tuple can’t be changed. Tuples must be in parentheses, whereas lists must be in square brackets.
Other relevant concepts associated with tuples such as deleting items in a tuple, updating items in a tuple, and creating a tuple are covered. It was explained that tuple is the data structure in Python and the core feature is they are immutable.
Conditional Statements
The lesson touched upon the conditional statements such as if and else when some conditions are to perform a function else. The six types of relational operators were discussed, along with examples. The use of multiple if statements and elif are also covered in this lesson.
For Loops
The core concepts of loops and range are covered in this section. It has been explained effortlessly with more straightforward examples that are easy to implement and practice even later for better understanding. The functionality of for loop is expressed as executing a sequence of statements that several times.
While Loops
The usage of while loop statement in Python programming is discussed along with its functionality, which allows repetition of statements or a group of statements when a given condition is TRUE. The condition is checked before the execution of the body of the loop. The explanation of conditions being true or false is covered. The use of break as a control statement and continue statement is being introduced along with the while loop concepts.
Try and Except
The explanations of how to test block allow to test a block of code for the errors and except block for handling the error has been covered in this lesson. The try () is used for error exception handling. The errors include syntax error and exception-based error. The errors are the problems in Python codes that result in stopping the execution of the program.
Exceptions arise when an internal event occurs, causing changes to the program’s regular flow, such as keyboard interruption due to the wrong key being pressed. The import error occurs due to the inability to find the module, and a value error occurs because of receiving a false argument by an in-built function.
The examples were compiled and shown for better understanding in this section. The use of commenting when writing multiple codes are explained as well.
Functions
The lesson covers function and is defined as a block of codes that are reusable to perform a single action. The use of functions in a code is to provide better modularity and code reusability. Additional tips have been offered, such as using the def keyword for function blocks, defining the parameters inside the parentheses, using the docstring, and using colon while calling a function along with brackets parameters.
In-built Functions
There are several in-built functions in Python, and the instructor focused on specifying some of them. The mathematical function, Boolean functions, uppercase, and lowercase were discussed more precisely. It is also important to note that Python allows you to create your user-defined functions as well.
Object-Oriented Programming and Inheritance
The final two sections of the course focus on object oriented programming concepts such as class and object. The basic definition is explained and a discussion on how it is different from other programming languages.
On the other hand, the inheritance section defined the use of parent and child class with examples as the concepts could be confusing initially. The parent class is known as the base class. It is the class being inherited from. The child class inherits from another class therefore it is termed as the derived class. Any class can be considered as the parent class but the child class must inherit the functionalities from another class.
About the Instructor
The course is created and taught by Avinash Jain, CEO of TheCodex.me. He is a sophomore at UC Berkeley, pursuing majors in electrical engineering and computer science. The number of students that the instructor is teaching stands at over 600,00 with over 59,000 reviews is an exceptional achievement and speaks volumes of his caliber as an instructor.
Although a sophomore, his programming journey started at the age of 10 with simple Python programming scripts related to crawling the weather. Since then, his career has been on the rise and worked for numerous tech companies with Python, iOS development, to name a few. Among his achievements, he has won several hackathons and has several applications credited to his name with multiple downloads in the app store.
Takeaways from this Course
Learning Path
The primary benefit of taking this course on Python programming language is the learning path. It is exceptionally well-crafted Content that contains the introduction and all the essential concepts for a beginner. It is not full of theory but explained concisely such that a beginner with no background in technology will also grab the concepts quickly. The follow-along format of the coding examples is simplified for a better understanding.
This is extremely important as a theory is followed by an immediate example that helps understand how it is implemented. The simplified examples are suitable for beginners and differ from most courses where the examples are not easy to comprehend and create confusion. Another added advantage of the Content is the short duration of each lesson as longer explanations of a specific concept may not be suitable for a beginner.
Certification and Instructor Support
The course provides full access to online video content with lifetime access, certification of completion, and direct access to Q & A with the instructor. Additionally, the instructor provides direct messages to your Q & A in your profile. However, this is available for the paid version, whereas the free course allows access to the Content without access to the remaining options.
It is essential to be informed that Udemy courses are very affordable, unlike many online platforms that charge a considerable amount. It is important to note that the reasonable amount doesn’t lead to compromise on the quality of the Content.
Access to Learning Community
The course offers access to the Udemy learning community. It comprises students and instructors involved in discussions about several topics and providing assistance and additional information. Several resources are being shared by a different individual, thus enriching the learning experience.
Setting the Right Foundations for Advanced Courses
The introductory Content that is covered in this course forms the foundations of being capable of capturing more advanced explanations further. There are many preparatory courses, but they don’t start with Python’s introductory sections as there are pre-requisites for such classes. However, this course is built upon Python’s core concepts that are the most essential to writing complex codes for solving advanced problems and being considered for more significant projects.
Hands-on experience
All the technical courses on Udemy have the right balance of theory and practical. The most important part of learning a programming language is understanding the theoretical aspects of a particular function or operation.
However, the most crucial factor that will highlight your career is hands-on experience with your coding skills. It is essential to have a course that strikes a balance between theory and plenty of practical examples, that helps to understand and have an idea on how to implement it right away. This course achieves that required balance, and each concept is explained with a simple example practically.
Who is the Introduction to Python Programming: A Quick and Easy Intro into Python Programming Course on Udemy Best for?
If you are someone with a technical background or an individual looking to switch careers as a Python developer, acquiring the right foundational concepts is extremely useful to build your career as a programmer.
This course is the right fit for those aiming to begin their journey in the world of programming and technology. Even if you have never come across programming, it won’t be a concern. This course is an easy stepwise series of lectures that will give a quick guide to all the essentials for learning to code in Python. The lessons let you get accustomed to Python and the relevant syntax associated with it.
For graduate or undergraduate and job seekers, you will find this course valuable to invest your time and gain the maximum of all the concepts covered in the course. The examples are simple and let you explore and practice them until you gain expertise. This approach will ensure to master the coding skills in Python in the shortest time.
The course is excellent for beginners who want to learn from scratch and gain additional tips and resources to get acquainted with Python and its console. So, don’t wait for allowing yourself to embark on the journey of wonderful opportunities in the programming world. It is the ideal time to cash in on the greatest career prospects that await you in the rapidly evolving digital era.
