Change the future

Saturday 4:30 p.m.–5 p.m.

Sink or swim: 5 life jackets to throw to New Coders

Lynn Root

Audience level:
Novice
Category:
Education

Description

Many want to learn to code, and many choose Python as a first language. You direct them to Learn Python the Hard Way, or Dive into Python. Great! But now what? I will present 5 digestible projects to gradually progress the Python learner from near drowning to a decent swimmer. The goal is to have new coders feeling accomplished and to continuing learning.

Abstract

Learning something new is difficult; it takes guts. Folks come in with a lot of energy and eagerness, only to experience discouragement when there aren't a lot of resources to step beyond the 'learn syntax' to programming. Often there are questions of, "Well, I worked through this beginner book. Now what?" How do you answer that?

In this talk, I will present to you 5 projects that have been tried and tested on new folks themselves. These projects progress from just after someone who worked through "Learn Python the Hard Way", "Dive into Python" or a similar workbook, to contributing to open source, understanding the undertaking of a website, and new tools to make one's computing life fun and easier.

Attendees will leave with the knowledge to push their new coder friends' skills from drowning to swimming a lap or two, complete with resources to find sample code & projects.

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