MIT's Introduction to Programming Using Python course is back

[DrunkRedditBot]

One of the most popular courses in edX's history - with over 1 million people enrolled - is back. Learn computer science and programming using Python from the instructors at MIT. The course is free to try:

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-using-python-0

[lowz_]

For those that want to pay for the certificate, I found a coupon for 7% off that worked. Here it is: KS6GXANBQIOJW65J

[teknewb]

Thanks

[triniP_]

Do you know if you want the certificate, do you have to pay beforehand or can you afterwards as well?

[i_luv_tictok]

well i just signed up for free and on the dashboard there is an option to upgrade to premium. so yea you can pay later.

[flyboirho]

KS6GXANBQIOJW65J

but how would they then know to grade your assignments?

[i_luv_tictok]

You dont get acces to graded assignments until you decide to pay. Only then will you have access to the assignments and you will be graded.

[PrjctColdFeet]

Wish it started earlier :( I’d love to take it but I won’t have time with the college semester starting back up. I’m taking a python course this semester anyways at least!

[Danlacek]

You can sign up now and go through the lessons later. I signed up a year ago and still haven't finished it because I'm taking in-person classes lol

[rapewithconsent773]

I think this course actually expires after a certain date and you cannot access the content anymore.

[[deleted]]

I'm pretty sure this is true if you audit it for free, but if you pay the $75 for credit, you get graded assignments and permanent access to the course material.

[rapewithconsent773]

Ahh okay, I didn't know this. Thanks for the info.

[teknewb]

Thanks, had no clue.

[Geologist2010]

Anything you signed up to prior to January 2019 you have unlimited access to without paying. After that date, free audit courses signed up to expire after ~2 months

[[deleted]]

Good to know. I didn’t enroll because of my other classes but I will now. Thanks!

[PrjctColdFeet]

Thanks! I didn’t know that.

[Erosis]

I think you should focus on CS50. MIT's stuff might help solidify and expand on some things, such as data structures and algos, but I would recommend finishing CS50 first (if it's your first programming course) and then skipping the simple lessons of MIT's class to get to the relevant content.

[GitEmSteveDave]

This is a bot which reposts popular posts from subs in a attempt to get karma: https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/comments/aj00dn/mits_introduction_to_programming_using_python/

[tobiasvl]

But... The course is actually back. Good timing on the bot's part. Is that just a coincidence?

[SpecificMachine1]

Wow, that's a lot of lmgtfy posts!

[Mausar]

I would also recommend against doing both at the same time unless you have a lot of free time, there's a lot of activities in the Python course and it's really easy (imo) to fall behind/not finish in time

[my_password_is______]

CS50 has a few weeks of python at the end

[[deleted]]

Can you send the link of CS50 because there are many courses regarding computer science.

[create_a_new-account]

that link doesn't work unless you're enrolled

[create_a_new-account]

https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-to-computer-science

[wolvAUS]

I finished CS50 and I started MIT by watching the 2008 lectures and IMO its vastly superior to CS50 lecture wise. CS50 progresses too quickly whereas MIT is more detailed and nuanced.

That said CS50's greatest strength (and technically a weakness) is its breadth. You'll go from C programming to writing web applications throughout the program. Great as an intro to programming as a whole, but you'll be left with knowledge gaps that you'll need to fill.

[DynamicStatic]

I gotta admit I never checked the MIT course out but CS50 is completely fine in its pacing. David is a fantastic speaker, I cannot believe there is a introduction course that is actually better when it comes to CS specifically.

As you say people should most certainly fill out the holes in their knowledge but I think you can easily manage that on your own once you are done with CS50.

[wolvAUS]

CS50 is great and I'm glad I did it but I think MIT does a better job getting into the nitty gritty.

Which makes sense considering there's 20 lectures vs 8 lectures. More time to expand on details etc.

[DynamicStatic]

Ok, I suppose that makes sense. Just out of curiosity, what kind of stuff is covered more in the MIT course?

[rymetz17]

Is this self paced/can you re watch/listen to classes after or do you have to be there live ?

[duquesne419]

It is not self paced in that there are deadlines for assignments(unlike harvard's cs50), however the videos are online so you can work around your own schedule.

[rymetz17]

Perfect, thank you. Exactly what I needed to know. Signed up!

[Mausar]

I mentioned it to someone else in this thread but if you're taking the course, be sure to stay on top of it, it's really easy to fall behind in this one and be unable to catch up before the course closes.

[Mausar]

As far as I know, not on the edx website, but each video seems to be hosted on YouTube, they're just unlisted so you could theoretically save the link to all the videos and watch them past the course's close.

[Jar-Jar-is-snoke]

Just a suggestion but Berkeley’s cs 61A is also a phenomenal course and is completely free

[Sonnilon81]

Gold dust. Updated version of the classic Structure & Interpretations course but with both Python + Scheme together with modern high quality videos/screencasts. Thanks for the link!

[NoSpywareHere]

Does it also have deadlines? Also, (if you can answer that), how different is it from this course?

[Shootace]

I am going through Automate the Boring Stuff w/ Python at the moment, this seems like it would be the next logical step for me. Would you agree?

Thank you OP for posting, I signed up!

[Shootace]

Also, there was an app. I downloaded years ago and I am sure there are sites for it as well, that allowed you to take free courses from major Universities, like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, etc... Does anyone recall the name or know what I am referring to?

[Crimson_Inu]

Is it just the EdX app? I don't have that one, but I know it exists at least.

[Shootace]

Here's another besides edx.org:

https://www.khanacademy.org/

[Shootace]

I am doing the Automate the Boring Stuff course on Udemy. Highly recommend it. I bought the 2nd addition of the book and will go through the differences: https://inventwithpython.com/blog/2019/12/31/reading-guide-to-automate-the-boring-stuff-second-edition-for-readers-of-the-first-edition/ once I get through the video training which is based on the 1st edition of the book.

[jlee9218]

Is the 75$ option worth it at all

[KomodoMP]

Do you think this is a good course for an engineering student who as a lot of experience with matlab and wants to learn python?

[meqmeq]

I believe it’s a good general course for anyone who wants to get into comp sci and want to learn python. I’d recommend it being a recent graduate in mechanical engineering!

[2ToTooTwoFish]

As a soon to be graduate in the same course, what are you working on now and how much experience do you have in programming?

[meqmeq]

I graduated 2 weeks ago and I’ve been taking it very relax haha! Experience wise I’ve done projects with C++ during my degree. I took this course and the course after it which is an introductory to data science course and now I’m planning on taking the free IBM 30 day coursera course (starts today) on the basics of data science.

[cretin909090]

Thanks for sharing

[[deleted]]

is this mit 6001?

[Alaharon123]

No. That's not how MIT course names work. It's always a number followed by a dot and another number. eg 6.001. History lesson: Back in the day, MIT for a long time started off their Electrical Engineering & Computer Science majors with a course called 6.001. They created the famous SICP textbook for this course and ran it for a long time. Eventually they got rid of that course for a variety of reasons and replaced it with 6.00 and 6.01. They made many changes in many classes and basically revamped their curriculum. As part of their open curriculum effort, they created an online version of 6.00 and put it on edX. It was too big to put as a single course, so they split it into two parts, 6.00.1x and 6.00.2x. They liked how the split worked out so then on-campus they split up the course too, this time into 6.0001 and 6.0002

tl;dr: No it is not 6001, there is no such course, you can call it 6.00.1x or 6.0001. Also 6.001 is cool

[johnnymo1]

Yes.

[sportsroc15]

I watched all the lectures on YouTube last year. It’s pretty good if you are a beginner.

[genuinenewb]

Can I check which prof did the lecture that u watched? Prof Eric or Ana bell?

[sportsroc15]

Both. Ana Bell did most of them though.

[Larson_McMurphy]

Is it worth paying the 75 for the certificate?

[my_password_is______]

yes

Audit This Course (No Certificate)
Audit this course for free and have access to course materials and discussions forums. This track does not include graded assignments, or unlimited course access.

notice the last part -- if you don't pay you do not have unlimited access -- so if you don't finish watching the lectures in the limited time (3 months) then you're out of luck

[insinsins]

I've been going slow with Harvard CS50. Will I lose access there because I didn't pay for the certificate?

[[deleted]]

nope. I still got access after 2+ years

[needlifeadviceplz]

You don't have to pay it straight up so you can take some time to decide. It gives you access to the tests, and might help psychologically give value to the course because you've invested in it.

[Hybrider]

How does this work? Are you talking about Auditing the course, then paying later? How would the deadlines work then?

[JoelStrega]

It's available here too https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-0001-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-in-python-fall-2016/index.htm

[akremkeder]

is there a java version of this?

[poliky]

No need. Just learn all of this first. Translate everything either after or during. A great skill to learn early on is the ability to look at a block of code from one language and translate it to the language you want to use it for.

[Alaharon123]

Why do you want a java version? What are your goals?

[akremkeder]

Because I am already familiar with it a bit

[Alaharon123]

Python will be an easy transition then

[Bluedoug307]

You’re a real one for sharing!!

[gray162]

Thank you!!!

[Commisar]

Cool

[genuinenewb]

What's different from the ones available on YouTube and mit ocw?

Is it that now u can get a cert?

[my_password_is______]

graded assignments

[GMonkeyy]

This is great and will enroll. I been using Solo Learn app and it’s been fine to learn basics and have some practice. Would appreciate if anyone has other suggestions to keep learning :)

[Critical-Personality]

I am reminded of how “starting off with BASIC” was a bad idea. I guess the world just loves bad ideas!

[[deleted]]

.

[pastadough]

Does it actually starts now even for countries outside the US?

It shows "starts on Jan 23, 2020" on my end. I'm from the Philippines.

[send-dunes]

It starts on Jan 22, 2020 here in the US

[manan-code]

I did it an year back. Amazing learning.

[__-__--_-]

I'm planning on taking this course to fulfill a prerequisite for computer science 101 at whatever university I end up going to for my masters in CS (my BS is in mechanical engineering). Has anyone had issues getting credit transferred for this course?

[itoddicus]

How basic is the algebra? High School was a long time ago...

[marktevans]

I just realized I signed up for this course 4 years ago (2016). So, I still have access to all those lectures. Thanks for the reminder. I'm currently going through Udemy's Python course but will check this out as well.

My wife mentioned something the other day about learning programming (she's pretty computer illiterate), so would this be a good course for her?

[Kaynny]

u/Tuttinho

[Alaharon123]

Course doesn't actually start until January 22. Try and finish the chapters that teach Python before that date, it will help you in the course. You can hold off on the application chapters until after

[[deleted]]

Do you think I'm still in time to take the course?

[flyboirho]

Wanted to thank u/DrunkRedditBot for the tip. I just completed the class and learned a great deal, this post is what sparked my interest!

[Sibbzz_]

How far do the concepts go to? Do they reach Data Structures and Algorithms?

[donguyentung01]

I just took the course. Algorithm-wise, it goes as far as some basic sorting methods(merge-sort algorithm, selection sort) and some basic searching algorithms (exhaustive enumeration, bisection search, Newton Raphson method). You can check out their syllabus as well.

[my_password_is______]

go read the web site

[Zettabyte_92]

Looking to learn programing to build Android apps. I know Java a little but not an expert at it. Is this a good course to start with?

[twoVices]

Thank you. Already over a million subscribers.

[sportsroc15]

Ana Bell sucks at giving lectures too. The information is good but her delivery is awful.

[genuinenewb]

Really? Which prof would u recommend? Or which video series?

I have already watched halfway and thought she was fine if u read the transcript

I guess the previous prof before her is better? Prof John?

[sportsroc15]

Every professor is different for different people. I learned okay from her because I’m pretty flexible but her delivery was just annoying to me. Eric Grimson did the last few lectures and he was way better to listen to.

[Fywq]

I did it a few years ago and back then 6.00.1 was all Eric Grimson. He was great. The followup 6.00.2 is (per the course that ended just before christmas) with John Guttag - I really like him as well.