Welcome to the course

Andy Turner

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Aims (1/2)

  • Understand computer programming concepts
    • Variables
    • Control flow
    • Loops
    • Conditional statements
    • Classes, functions/methods
  • Develop familiarity with the Python programming language
  • Learn to:
    • Read data from and write data to files
    • Use lists as data structures
    • Handle coordinates in lists
    • Display spatial data
    • Process raster data
    • Develop an object orientated model that produces an animation

Aims (2/2)

  • Advance your computational thinking
  • Consider how to study geographical things by developing models and ways to process data that you design from scratch
  • Practice and develop problem solving skills
  • Understand generic programming tasks and how to go about these in Python
    • Tests
    • Documentation
    • Sharing
  • Appreciate Python, its limitations and pitfalls
  • Understand different ways to code and run Python
  • Appreciate the utility and benefits of Integrated Development Environments, version control and source code repositories

Expectations

  • This is an introductory level course and is designed for complete beginners to become computer programmers
  • There are some key concepts to learn
    • Some are generally easy to grasp
    • Others can take a while to understand and fully appreciate
      • But given time and a bit of experience the understanding and appreciation should come…
    • Not everything is likely to work first time or instantly - even if you have followed the instructions correctly

The learning journey

  • Go at your own pace
    • Take time to develop your skills
    • Learners with more experience tend to make faster progress
  • Build up your skills and knowledge step by step
    • Practice is key to success
    • Repetition is good
    • Test, test, test
  • Be experimental
    • Don’t be scared of errors
      • These help us learn what works and what doesn’t
  • It can help to talk to other learners and work together in class
    • Please feel free to do this or work through things on your own

Assignment/assessment

  • Assignment 1
    • A portfolio built up from the practical exercises
    • 20% of the overall module mark
  • Assignment 2
    • An independent project
    • 80% of the overall module mark

Next steps

  • A first quiz
  • A history of computer programming
  • The basics of the Python programming language
  • The software we will use
  • Intro Practical: Running Python 3 ways
    • REPL
    • Jupyter Notebook
    • Spyder IDE
  • GitHub practical