Kick-start your tech career by learning Python
10% discount through Jan. 21, use coupon code EBIRD — REGISTER NOW!
Self-paced, flexible online course starts Feb. 3
- Live-online sessions with instructors (Monday & Wednesday, 7-8 p.m. Eastern)
- No prior programming experience required
- Potential financial options available — Scholarships and discounts including military, UD student/alum, 2 or more (group) and others.
- LEARN MORE — Join us January 14 for a virtual info session and instructor Q&A
Whether you’re looking to kick-start a career in tech or simply explore a new skill, this course provides the perfect programming foundation for anyone with little or no programming experience. This noncredit certificate program is designed for beginners, covering fundamental concepts such as data types, control flow, object-oriented programming and more. Participants will gain hands-on experience through practical exercises and build their own Python applications.
Taught by a computer engineer with years of experience in the defense industry, this live-online course provides a comprehensive understanding of essential programming principles and techniques. Students will learn the fundamentals of data types and data structures universal to all programming languages, empowering them to manipulate and organize data efficiently. Through the exploration of code reuse and modularity using functions, participants will discover strategies to write concise and maintainable code.
REGISTRATION AND PROGRAM DETAILS
SCHEDULE — Starts February 3, 2025. This is a self-paced online course, featuring live-online instruction on Mondays and Wednesdays, February 3–March 19, 2025, 7–8 p.m.- PRICE — $850. Registration deadline is January 31, 2025. Scholarships and discounts including military, UD student/alum/employee, 2 or more (group) and others are available. (Only one discount or scholarship award can apply per registration.)
- NO PREREQUISITES — Designed for anyone interested in computer programming and coding; no prior experience or computer education is required.
- CEUs — 3.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or 35 contact hours
COURSE OUTLINE
Module 1: Introduction to fundamental programming concepts
Learning Objective: Recognize and differentiate between fundamental data types used commonly in all programming languages as well as those specific to Python.
- Variables, operators, and expressions
- Static and Dynamic typing
- Common data types
- Casting
- Basic Python syntax and data types
Module 2: Control Flow and Functions
Learning Objective: Apply conditional statements, looping structures, and functions to accomplish simple calculations and tasks.
- Introduction to boolean logic
- Decision-making and conditional statements
- Looping structures: while and for loops
- Introduction to functions
- Scope and variable visibility
- Brief introduction to algorithms and algorithmic thinking
Module 3: Data Structures
Learning Objective: Apply built-in Python data structures and discuss other related data structures
- Lists and Arrays
- Maps and Dictionaries
- Hashing
- Stacks and Queues
- Big O notation
Module 4: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
Learning Objective: Apply fundamental object oriented programming techniques to createsimple classes.
- Introduction to OOP concepts
- Creating classes and objects
- Class attributes and methods
- Inheritance and polymorphism
- Encapsulation and data hiding
Module 5: Pythonic Techniques
Learning Objective: Apply unique features of the Python programming language to efficiently accomplish complex tasks and operations.
- Comprehensions
- Convenient built-in methods
Module 6: Modules and Libraries
Learning Objective: Use both internal and external Python libraries to extend the capabilities of the Python language.
- Introduction to modules and packages
- Using built-in modules
- Installing and using external libraries
- Exploring popular Python libraries (e.g., NumPy, Pandas)
- Introduction to data visualization with Matplotlib
Module 7: Data Structures Continued
Learning Objective: Describe and explain additional data structures found commonly in software development.
- Linked lists, and double linked lists
- Trees, Heaps, Stacks
Module 8: Recursion
Learning Objective: Implement simple recursive functions to efficiently solve problems.
- Recursion and recursive algorithms
Module 9: Exception Handling
Learning Objective: Use Python’s exception handling features to gracefully manage errors.
- Handling exceptions and errors
- Using try-except blocks
- Exception handling best practices
Module 10: Advanced Topics and Final Project
Learning Objective: Apply the techniques learned throughout the course to build a simple application.
- Final project: Applying Python concepts to develop a small-scale application
INSTRUCTOR
Jason Reynolds
Reynolds is a computer engineer in the defense industry. His research interests are varied and include cortical based machine intelligence, ontology and cybersecurity. Reynolds has a passion for computer science, engineering and cybersecurity education and the transformative effect that it can have on a person’s life trajectory. Reynolds holds undergraduate degrees in computer engineering, computer science and history as well as an M.S. in cybersecurity. Prior to entering the defense industry, while still an undergraduate, Reynolds led UD’s Hacking Club, helped develop a student-run penetration testing team and was a senior member of the Blue Hens cybersecurity Capture the Flag team which was ranked in the top 1.4% worldwide at the time.
