As far as python goes, this has a quick sense of pacing, and has a lot of
interactive exercises, while building something pretty useful in the end.

https://www.udacity.com/ (CS101)

It goes into a little bit more theory then I think is useful for some
folks, but it's still a great resource.


On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 4:25 PM, Karen Coyle <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> On 2/18/13 12:53 PM, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
>
>> On 2/18/2013 2:04 PM, Jason Stirnaman wrote:
>>
>>> I've been thinking alot about how to introduce not only my kids, but
>>> some of our cataloging/technical staff to thinking "programmatically"
>>> or "computationally"[1] or whatever you want to call it.
>>>
>>
>> Do you have an opinion of the google 'computational thinking' curriculum
>> pieces linked off of that page you cite? For instance, at:
>>
>> http://www.google.com/edu/**computational-thinking/**lessons.html<http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/lessons.html>
>>
>
> I looked at the "Beginning Python" one[1], and I have to say that any
> intro to programming that begins with a giant table of mathematical
> functions is a #FAIL. Wow - how wrong can you get it?
>
> On the other hand, I've been going through the Google online python class
> [2] and have found it very easy to follow (it's youtubed), and the
> exercises are interesting. What I want next is more exercises, and someone
> to talk to about any difficulties I run into. I want a hands-on hacker
> space learning environment that has a live expert (and you wouldn't have to
> be terribly expert to answer a beginner's questions). It's very hard to
> learn programming alone because there are always multiple ways to solve a
> problem, and an infinite number of places to get stuck.
>
> kc
> [1] http://tinyurl.com/bcj894s
> [2] https://developers.google.com/**edu/python/<https://developers.google.com/edu/python/>
>
>>
>> Or at:
>>
>> http://www.iste.org/learn/**computational-thinking/ct-**toolkit<http://www.iste.org/learn/computational-thinking/ct-toolkit>
>>
>
> --
> Karen Coyle
> [log in to unmask] http://kcoyle.net
> ph: 1-510-540-7596
> m: 1-510-435-8234
> skype: kcoylenet
>