Friday,February 12:Introductory Programming in Python: Free Course

This is an INTRODUCTORY class for people wanting to start learning how to program computers. It is intended for people who have never programmed anything before; we can’t cram an entire college-level programming class into one evening, but this class should leave you in a good place to keep learning on your own or attend one of our classes on more advanced topics.

The class will cover:

* Getting set up with a programming environment
* Basic input and output
* Logic, math and decision making
* Structured programming with functions
* How to make a basic calculator program

The class is taught in Python, an easy to learn but very powerful programming language, widely used in fields as diverse as scientific programming, web development, scripting, and video games. There will be follow-on classes dealing with more advanced programming, and on interfacing with the Raspberry Pi computer to control electronics systems such as robots.

You will need:

• A laptop! Or some other computer. Windows or Mac or Linux, anything will work.

• Python! Download it from https://www.python.org/downloads/ and install it on your laptop ahead of time.

• A text editor! I recommend Sublime Text (http://www.sublimetext.com/2) or Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus-plus.org/), both of which have functional free versions.

• Your brain!

Class begins at 7:30pm

HackPittsburgh is in the garage around back on Watson St.