About this course: This course will introduce the core data structures of the Python programming language. We will move past the basics of procedural programming and explore how we can use the Python built-in data structures such as lists, dictionaries, and tuples to perform increasingly complex data analysis. This course will cover Chapters 6-10 of the textbook “Python for Everybody”. This course covers Python 3.
Created by: University of Michigan
Taught by: Charles Severance, Associate Professor
School of Information
| Basic Info | Course 2 of 5 in the Python for Everybody Specialization |
| Commitment | 2-4 hours/week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Chinese (Simplified) |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Chapter Six: Strings
In this class, we pick up where we left off in the previous class, starting in Chapter 6 of the textbook and covering Strings and moving into data structures. The second week of this class is dedicated to getting Python installed if you want to actually run the applications on your desktop or laptop. If you choose not to install Python, you can just skip to the third week and get a head start.
7 videos, 5 readings
- Video: Video Welcome - Dr. Chuck
- Reading: Reading: Welcome to Python Data Structures
- Reading: Textbook
- Reading: Welcome to Python 3
- Reading: Submitting Assignments
- Video: 6.1 - Strings
- Video: 6.2 - Manipulating Strings
- Video: Worked Exercise: 6.5
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours New York City
- Video: Bonus: Monash Museum of Computing History
- Video: Fun: The Textbook Authors Meet @PyCon
- Reading: Audio Versions of All Lectures
Graded: Chapter 6 Quiz
Graded: Assignment 6.5
WEEK 2
Unit: Installing and Using Python
In this module you will set things up so you can write Python programs. We do not require installation of Python for this class. You can write and test Python programs in the browser using the "Python Code Playground" in this lesson. Please read the "Using Python in this Class" material for details.
5 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: Important Reading: Using Python in this Class
- Reading: Notes on Choice of Text Editor
- Video: Demonstration: Using the Python Playground
- LTI Item: Python Code Playground
- Video: Windows 10: Installing Python and Writing A Program
- Video: Windows: Taking Screen Shots
- Video: Macintosh: Using Python and Writing A Program
- Video: Macintosh: Taking Screen Shots
- Peer Review: Optional- Installing Python Screen Shots
WEEK 3
Chapter Seven: Files
Up to now, we have been working with data that is read from the user or data in constants. But real programs process much larger amounts of data by reading and writing files on the secondary storage on your computer. In this chapter we start to write our first programs that read, scan, and process real data.
5 videos, 1 reading
- Video: 7.1 - Files
- Video: 7.2 - Processing Files
- Video: Demonstration: Worked Exercise 7.1
- Reading: Where is the 7.2 worked exercise?
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours Barcelona
- Video: Bonus: Gordon Bell - Building Blocks of Computing
Graded: Chapter 7 Quiz
Graded: Assignment 7.1
Graded: Assignment 7.2
WEEK 4
Chapter Eight: Lists
As we want to solve more complex problems in Python, we need more powerful variables. Up to now we have been using simple variables to store numbers or strings where we have a single value in a variable. Starting with lists we will store many values in a single variable using an indexing scheme to store, organize, and retrieve different values from within a single variable. We call these multi-valued variables "collections" or "data structures".
7 videos
- Video: 8.1 - Lists
- Video: 8.2 - Manipulating Lists
- Video: 8.3 - Lists and Strings
- Video: Fun: Python Lists in Paris
- Video: Worked Exercise: Lists
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Chicago
- Video: Bonus: Rasmus Lerdorf - Inventing the PHP Language
Graded: Chapter 8 Quiz
Graded: Assignment 8.4
Graded: Assignment 8.5
WEEK 5
Chapter Nine: Dictionaries
The Python dictionary is one of its most powerful data structures. Instead of representing values in a linear list, dictionaries store data as key / value pairs. Using key / value pairs gives us a simple in-memory "database" in a single Python variable.
7 videos
- Video: 9.1 - Dictionaries
- Video: 9.2 - Counting with Dictionaries
- Video: 9.3 - Dictionaries and Files
- Video: Worked Exercise: Dictionaries
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Amsterdam
- Video: Bonus: Brendan Eich - Inventing Javascript
- Video: Fun: Dr. Chuck Goes Motocross Racing
Graded: Chapter 9 Quiz
Graded: Assignment 9.4
WEEK 6
Chapter Ten: Tuples
Tuples are our third and final basic Python data structure. Tuples are a simple version of lists. We often use tuples in conjunction with dictionaries to accomplish multi-step tasks like sorting or looping through all of the data in a dictionary.
6 videos
- Video: 10 - Tuples
- Video: Worked Exercise: Tuples and Sorting
- Video: Bonus: Office Hours - Puebla, Mexico
- Video: Bonus: John Resig - Inventing JQuery
- Video: Douglas Crockford: JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
- Video: Fun: The Greatest Taco in the World
Graded: Chapter 10 Quiz
Graded: Assignment 10.2
WEEK 7
Graduation
To celebrate your making it to the halfway point in our Python for Everybody Specialization, we welcome you to attend our online graduation ceremony. It is not very long, and it features a Commencement speaker and very short commencement speech.
1 video, 1 reading
- Video: Graduation Ceremony
- Reading: Please Rate this Course on Class-Central
FAQs
How It Works
Coursework
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Pricing
| Audit | Purchase Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Not available | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Not available | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Not available | Available |
Ratings and Reviews
really good course, I'm new to programming but it's really a very good way to learn
Thanks! Great course.
I loved this course on Coursera. I got to learn a lot of new stuff in Python. A big thanks to Prof. Charles.
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enjoyable course, homework getting trickier but worked videos very helpful. also https://stackoverflow.com/ for reference when your mistakes are too elementary for Charles' videos. Starting to now see some actual real world uses of writing simple programs.