Introduction to Programming

Course Code: ITP

Duration: 3 days

 
 
 
 

Introduction to Programming Course Overview

The Introduction to Programming course comprises sessions dealing with variables, expressions, conditional statements, collections, iterative statements, functions, objects, compilation and execution, and best practices.

This hands-on course does not concentrate on any one language in particular, rather its aim is to familiarise delegates with standard programming terminology, structures, and principles. Examples are given in three languages - Python, Java, and JavaScript - and delegates may choose any one of these languages with which to carry out the practical exercises.

Exercises and examples are used throughout the course to give practical hands-on experience with the techniques covered.

Course Objectives

This course aims to provide the delegate with the knowledge to be able to produce simple computer programs that demonstrate an understanding of the three core principles of programming - sequence, selection, and iteration. Delegates will also be exposed to functions, objects, and both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms. The course further aims to prepare delegates to go on to learn any one of many programming languages in detail.

Who will the Course Benefit?

This Introduction to Programming course is designed for those new to programming, who want to learn about the terminology, structures, and principles of programming generally.

Attending this course will provide delegates with the prerequisite knowledge and required skills to go on to learn any programming language in detail, e.g. Java, JavaScript, Python, C, C++, C#, PHP, Perl, Ruby, etc.

Skills Gained

The delegate will learn and acquire skills as follows:

  • Writing to reading from the console
  • Declaring and initialising variables
  • Constructing expressions
  • Constructing conditional statements
  • Working with arrays/lists
  • Constructing iterative statements
  • Declaring and invoking/calling functions
  • Writing procedural programs
  • Working with classes and objects
  • Writing object oriented programs
  • Compiling and executing code

Introduction to Programming Training Course

Course Introduction

  • Administration and Course Materials
  • Course Structure and Agenda
  • Delegate and Trainer Introductions

Session 1: INTRODUCTION

  • Thinking Like a Computer
    • Input/Output
    • Storage
    • Arithmetic
    • Comparison
    • Decisions
    • Repetition
    • Reuse
  • What is a Program?
    • Statements
    • Comments
  • What is Code?
  • From Source Code to Runtime
  • Why So Many Languages?
  • What Does a Programmer Do?
  • Hello World
  • stdin and stdout
  • The Console

Session 2: VARIABLES

  • Variables - What and Why
  • Name and Value
  • Literals
  • Data Types
  • Declaration
  • Initialisation
  • Assignment
  • Constants

Session 3: EXPRESSIONS

  • Expressions - What and Why
  • Operators and Operands
  • Unary and Binary Operators
  • Arithmetic Operators
  • Assignment Operators
  • Precedence
  • Associativity
  • Complex Expressions

Introduction to Programming Training Course

Session 4: CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS

  • Conditional Statement - What and Why
  • Comparison/Relational Operators
  • Logical Operators
  • if else
  • switch
  • The Ternary Operator
  • Code Blocks
  • Variable Scope

Session 5: COLLECTIONS

  • Collections - What and Why
  • Strings
  • Arrays/Lists
  • Declaration
  • Initialisation
  • Getting and Setting Elements

Session 6: ITERATIVE STATEMENTS

  • Iterative Statements - What and Why
  • while
  • do
  • for
  • break
  • continue
  • Array/List Traversal

Session 7: FUNCTIONS

  • Functions - What and Why
  • Declaration
    • Parameters
    • Return Type
  • Invocation/Call
    • Arguments
    • Return Value
  • Variable Scope (Review)
  • Modules
  • Libraries
  • Procedural Programming

Introduction to Programming Training Course

Session 8: OBJECTS

  • Object - What and Why
  • Object Literals
  • Object Properties
  • The Trouble with Object Literals
  • Classes
  • Fields
  • Methods
  • Instances
  • Reference Variables
  • Primitive Variables
  • Passing by Val/Ref
  • Object Oriented Programming
  • The Three Principles

Session 9: COMPILATION & EXECUTION

  • From Source Code to Runtime (Review)
  • Compilation
  • Debugging
  • Linking
  • Execution
  • Interpretation
  • Platform Dependence
  • Compilation and Interpretation (Bytecode)

Session 10: BEST PRACTICES

  • Program Design
    • Stating the Problem
    • Devising the Solution
    • Pseudocode
  • Coding Conventions
    • White Space
    • Indenting
    • Naming
  • Coding Style
    • Readability
    • Flexibility
    • Scalability
  • Unit Testing
  • Test Driven Development (TDD)
Notes:
  • Course technical content is subject to change without notice.
  • Course content is structured as sessions, this does not strictly map to course timings. Concepts, content and practicals often span sessions.

Requirements

Delegates should be able to navigate the filesystem, edit a file, and browse the web. No programming experience is necessary.

Course Reviews

Content was very good, trainer was clear and patient and always checked in on everyone if any questions or assistance. Examples for exercises were ran through afterwards which was great to see for practice if you went wrong or got stuck along with alternative ways to approach it.

Andrew - Technical Analyst - Insurance - January 2024

Stuart was excellent in his delivery of this course - highly knowledgeable and willing to answer questions, too. Stuart understood that we were all finding the content to grasp, but he explained things in a different way and helped me (and I'm sure the others too) to understand more clearly what was being said.

Jon - Analytical Support Officer - Academic - December 2023

Kudos to Alan for an excellent Python course! His well-paced teaching and clear explanations made learning enjoyable and effective. I appreciate his passion for the subject and the supportive learning environment he created. Highly recommend!

Madara - Outsourcing - December 2023

Alan was a great instructor with a vast knowledge base that he used to cover the topic in full and explain and answer any questions that we had.

Andrew - SQL Developer/DBA - IT - October 2023

The course was run well and concisely, and Alan was a fantastic teacher, who kept the course light-hearted and interested, while providing meaningful understanding behind the basics of python we were learning. Could not recommend more.

Benjamin - Atmospheric Dispersion Scientist Placeme - Environmental - September 2023

Stuart has been great at being patient and explaining stuff in as many different ways as we needed. He demonstrated a very good grasp on the subject and a good ability to make it simple for new users like myself. I enjoyed his explanations, the attention he gives to "best practice", and even his on-the-side notes of fun facts slightly related. I would have happily gone for another day to be able to cover the whole course calmly, specially as the bit on objects and methods is difficult to grasp quickly.

Citlali - Foundation Scientist - Environmental - May 2023

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