Coding for Beginners Certificate – CPD Accredited

Coding for Beginners Certificate – CPD Accredited

If you are curious to understand how the software that you are using every day has been created or you are eager to write your own programs but don’t know where to start, this course is for you! Join millions of people around the globe in learning to code - the most essential skill for the 21st century.

Taking this fast track course will be beneficial if you are looking to become an IT professional or considering a career switch. But even if you don’t want to work as a coder, taking this course would expand your technical knowledge and confidence and give you a new perspective on the technological changes in the world. Anyone can learn to code!

The course contains the essential concepts that anyone who is new to coding should learn in order to start writing simple code. This course is designed with the beginner in mind and packed full of example code in Python - one of the most popular general purpose coding languages in the last couple of years.

By the end of the course, you will also know a lot about object-oriented programming, and learning these fundamental principles will not only give you a background for further study, but will show you another way to think about the world from a machine’s point of view.

** When purchasing this course you will be eligible to apply for the XO Student Discount Card!! You can save on brands such as New Look, Disney, ASOS, Hotels, Miss Selfridge , Domino’s and many more.**

What you will learn:

The aim of the course is to help you write and run your first lines of actual code. It is a practical course with fun coding activities and exercises as well as all the needed material to guide you in completing them.

• The history of coding including all notable achievements and computer prototypes
• The main components of a computing machine for storing digital information in binary
• How to create variables, set their data types and use operators for complex calculations
• Controlling the flow of the program by writing conditional statements for recursion
• How to use built-in functions and write your own self-contained code
• How to organise your code in modules and packages that can reference each other
• The ideas behind Object-Oriented coding
• How to construct programs using structures such as classes and instances

Benefits of this course

There are a number of benefits to taking this course, which include:

• A comprehensive, practical and easy-to-understand course material
• Example code with comprehensive explanations using the Python coding language
• End of module activities and a final test which are designed to expand your overall understanding and put what you’ve learned into action
• Can be completed anywhere with an Internet connection
• Gaining relevant knowledge about an ever-growing industry, which will provide you with practical skills for the workforce
• Being able to write simple Python programs at the end of the course

Course Modules/Lessons

Module 1: Evolution of Computers and Coding

• How codes and ciphers were used throughout history to hide sensitive information
• How cryptography played an important role in the evolution of coding
• Who the British pioneers were that had the most influence on the development of modern computers
• What role World War II played in the advancement of technology and computing

Module 2: Getting ready to code

• The difference between data, information and knowledge in the context of writing proper code
• How to differentiate between a high-level and low-level programming language
• What syntax and semantics have got to do with coding languages
• How to install and do interactive coding using Python’s built-in interpreter program

Module 3: Mathematics Basics

• The reasons why mathematics is so important for coders
• What are numbers, and the difference in number systems
• How to convert numbers from binary to decimal and the other way round
• What fundamental components does every computer have under the hood

Module 4: Variables & Data Types

• What variables are in coding and how they are used to store values in computer programs
• What data types are and how they are used to give instructions to machines
• How to assign primitive data types to real life values, use them in your code and their role as fundamental building blocks
• What the various complex types of data are and what they are useful for

Module 5: Working with variables using operators and data type conversion

• What operators and operands are and how to use them to conduct computational operations
• The difference between the major type of operators and the proper code syntax you should use when working with them
• What boolean algebra is and how to perform logical operations using truth tables
• How to convert data types using special methods that are part of the way operators work

Module 6: Controlling the flow of code using conditional statements and loops

• What flow control is and the multiple mechanisms by which you can direct the execution of your code
• What branching and conditionals are and how to use IF, ELSE and ELIF statements as testing conditions
• What loops are and how to create a loop using FOR and WHILE statements
• Which keywords you should use inside conditional statements and loops to maintain the flow of code

Module 7: Working with Built-in and User-defined Functions

• What built-in functions are and how to use them in order to save time and write better code
• How to print the results from your code on the computer screen using built-in print function
• What user-defined functions are and how to define and call your own functions in Python
• What arguments and scopes are as well as the difference between local and global scopes

Module 8: Organising code into modules and packages

• Why code organisation is important for the quality of your code and how to organise your program
• What nested functions are and how functions can be used to create other functions
• What Lambda calculus is and how to implement Lambda expressions using anonymous functions
• What a module is, how to import modules and reference their specific functions across a program and what the Standard Library Modules are

Module 9: Creating Object Oriented programs using classes and instances

• What Object Oriented Programming is and why it is such an important coding paradigm
• The four fundamental principles of object orientation and how are they implemented in coding languages
• The difference between what a class, instance and object are, as well as how to define them in your code
• How to use methods to modify an object and its data and how methods allow us to reference objects in object oriented coding

Module 10: Reusing code by inheritance, external files and third-party packages

• How to implement inheritance in your programs, and what are its advantages over traditional ways of coding
• What multiple inheritance is as well as its practical implementation in a real-life example
• How to read data from external files such as text files and how to make your program write the data from the program to a text file
• How to utilise third-party packages written by other people and the importance of reusing code

There is no experience or previous qualifications required for enrolment on this course. It is available to all students, of all academic backgrounds.

Our Course is fully compatible with PC’s, Mac’s, Laptop, Tablet and Smartphone devices. Now more than ever people are using the internet while on the move so our course has been designed to be fully compatible on tablets and smartphones so you can access your course on wifi, 3G or 4G.

There is no time limit for completing this course, it can be studied in your own time at your own pace.

All tests are online and are taken either during or after the course, these are included in the price.

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