Welcome to the Python 3 Hack Club Course! In this course, you will learn how to code in the Python programming language in the course of one semester. This is a course compiled by Los Altos High School students through various web resources including Python for Beginners and Learn Python.
Python is a general-purpose programming language, which is another way to say that it can be used for nearly everything. Most importantly, it is an interpreted language, which means that the written code is not actually translated to a computer-readable format at runtime. Whereas, most programming languages do this conversion before the program is even run. This type of language is also referred to as a "scripting language" because it was initially meant to be used for trivial projects.
The concept of a "scripting language" has changed considerably since its inception, because Python is now used to write large, commercial style applications, instead of just banal ones. This reliance on Python has grown even more so as the internet gained popularity. A large majority of web applications and platforms rely on Python, including Google's search engine, YouTube, and the web-oriented transaction system of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). You know the language must be pretty serious when it's powering a stock exchange system.
Python can also be used to process text, display numbers or images, solve scientific equations, and save data. In short, it is used behind the scenes to process a lot of elements you might need or encounter on your device(s) - mobile included. It is also one program used to build applications on the web, such as online games or online productivity tools.
You will setup a repl.it account and get introduced to some tools you can use to further your python learning.
First, you will need to create your own repl.it account to use as an IDE or integrated developer environment. An IDE is an online or downloaded tool that developers use to code and compile/interpret the code and then show what the code will do. repl.it is an online IDE where you can both code and interpret that Python code and then see whether the code will work. Please remember to put yourself as a STUDENT when creating an account. You can choose to use any email you prefer, as long as it is the same email as your GitHub account. (Personal email is preferred)
One main python learning tool is Learn Python. It has a full course of python that will include exercises and explanations of many facets of the language. We will use certain exercises from this website when learning and practicing with python. The python main website Python.org provides access to documentation of all python commands and syntax.
Syntax is the set of rules for arrangment and formatting of the python language. Every language has its own syntax and you will learn python syntax as you learn new commands and techniques throughout the course.
Each week, there will be a new branch in the repository called week-# with the hashtag representing the week of the course. Just follow the numbers from, starting with 1, and go to the next week at the next meeting we learn something. We will end with a final project that has virtually no requirements, so you can do whatever you want and then present that project, right before or right after Christmas break.