AK,
On 10/03/19 12:41 PM, Alex Kaye wrote:
DL, Good advice. U of M is well done and interesting.
Actually, I criticised them - but was looking at matters such as "delivery" and from a cognitive psychology perspective - on behalf of, but quite different to, the needs of 'the average' trainee!
From a programming/Pythonic view-point, I sadly noted Java-influence creeping-in: weak use of Python terminology, pythonic coding approaches, and similar. Probably won't hurt the average beginner, but not the best training approach.
At the moment, there are a number of unhappy people who purchased the entire specialisation (five courses), but currently stalled because the last course will not be produced and ready for use until early next month. Slightly naughty, but courseware needs to be carefully constructed and that (as per program design) is both time-consuming and something it pays not to rush!
On the plus-side, the material covers the ground, and does-so quite quickly. I haven't seen any feedback from 'beginners' to be sure of pace. There are a number of interesting worked-examples, which can be a point-of-boredom in training/'toy examples' (I played with Python's "turtle", simply because I'd never touched that sort of thing before).
So, to the OP, please put my bias(es) aside, take AK's positive experience, and try it for yourself... (you can always start-out $free, and once satisfied, return later to fulfil the requirements and achieve certification!)
One wonders what Arup plans to use Python for.
That's a very good point, which I didn't cover, earlier. Whereas previously one started with books that might be called 'Python for raw beginners' or some-such, these days there are plenty of more specialised books, eg 'Learn Python for Data Science', etc.
I am dabbling and am relearning from DOS and machine language on AppleII.
Which is another somewhat specialised area: MicroPython, Python for Raspberry Pi, and similar for other smaller/older machines, SBCs, etc! We now risk confusing the OP...
I remember those words - back in the days when my hair had color (and not from out of a bottle either). Using the power of Linux, every day I see much of the 'old' from DOS, CP/M, PDP minis; in our ever-green terminal interface. However, despite much of my hardware being 'old' (by other people's standards) I have no wish to go back as far as the Apple ][ - floppy disks, poor-quality display screens, etc. IMHO, there's too much to learn, attempting to keep-up with 'the modern stuff', the opening of new vistas... However, I can imagine the appeal of 'history'. Have fun!
-- Regards =dn -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
