Question

if i have no prior programming experience but am willing to work hard, Will i find this as a good place to begin? i am looking for an intro to computer science and programming

Answer 1

Yes, I believe so. This course is designed for beginners. It is in the language Python. If your maths is very low, you may want to consider another langauge like java from Stanford, which is a harder language but they don't assume maths knowledge, or, study maths along with this course, I study it through Khan Academy, see http://www.khanacademy.org
Some others may have other suggestions, but this is certainly one.

Answer 2

have you gone through the stanford course? if so how is it?

Answer 3

also just in case sazni doesn't know, the mit course http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/index.htm
you'd be suprised how many people find us through open study and not MIT

Answer 4

I started with the Stanford course, and switched to this after talking to someone at length about programming languages, the crux and the reason I chose this one is because Python is much easier to start using in a productive way without working for a company, as in, for web pages etc. So I didn't finish. But yes, I liked it immensely. I found it to be as I said, a harder language, Python is much more straightforward, but not so much harder that I wouldn't recommend it, and it has a lot about graphics which Python doesn't seem to have, yet at least, the lecturer is funnier, and it doesn't presume maths knowledge. I have had to look up and learn a lot of maths here, but I never felt I needed to with the amount I did with the Stanford one.
I will add to the case for Python and MIT, that it is better to start with, if you have reasonable maths, because of the relative simplicity of the language more time appears to be spent on technique, and this is important... I didn't learn about things like bisection method or ennumeration or Newtons Method (Gah!) with the Stanford course, in the first 10 lectures.

Answer 5

true python is pretty simple, but the math is tough at times, ive had to look up alot of it...
just wondering though how can you implement python with webpages? it wouldn't just go in the html code would it? or would you save it as a different file like css and implement it?

Answer 6

Yeah, I haven't really done it yet but I had a bit of a look. It is rather like adding Javascript, or like you said external CSS, try web2py to check it out. web2py was pretty simple to install, like, as simple as is possible...

Answer 7

how do i actually download the python program to get started

Answer 8

http://www.python.org/download/, get the installer for your system, the course uses 2.X builds, but what build you use is up to you

Answer 9

joz: what math courses are you taking on khanacademy? i was looking for discrete math but i dont think its on there, i've taken college algebra, algebra 2, business stats, business calculas, and quantitative analysis (another stats course) so i think ive already learned linear algebra or is there a big difference in material?

Answer 10

Ah, jmbauer, maths... I'm really quite behind in this area. If you are proficient in the areas you describe, you are probably above Khan Academy. I was always good at maths but I forgot heaps, so it is good for me. You might have to look somewhere else for your level.

Answer 11

i checked some of the videos out and its actually a really good refresher, ive forgot alot of it too so thanks for the reference