Python Programming Notes

Weekly Announcements

June 9 2020, Tuesday

Hi all, Thank you for your support of our Python tutoring course that we posted about last week! Now, we’d like to introduce you to our new website! This website contains supplemental materials for the course, including course notes and worked examples. In our experience teaching introductory level CS courses in university, it can be difficult for students to learn programming concepts/syntax immediately, and especially more so in a fast-paced environment—this is our solution to assist students and reinforce their learning. You can access it at https://pythonnotestrial.github.io

You can actually run Python code on the website without installing anything! Even if you don’t decide to register for our course, we hope that you’ll at least take away a basic understanding of Python syntax and its many potential applications. The website will be free to use in perpetuity, and includes concepts from parts of Week 1 of the course as well as a sample project lecture on Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Registered students will receive access to the full site before the class begins.

[About the course]
Based on Project-Based Learning (PBL)—a widely popular model due to its effectiveness and enjoyability—this 4-week course will include substantial work outside of lecture times, and we are committed to guiding you through these projects with detailed write-ups and constant support. Register and share on WeChat by Jun. 13 for a 400rmb discount!

[Contact Us]
Jesse's wechatId: jzchan34
Jerry's wechatId: traumatizedpanda

June 2 2020, Tuesday

Learning how to program is becoming increasingly important in a rapidly digitalizing world. Starting Jun. 20th, Jesse and Jerry, two SAS '18 alumni and current students at Carnegie Mellon University, will be hosting an online Python programming class over the course of 4 weeks. Students will learn everything from programming fundamentals to AI algorithms in a project-based learning environment, culminating in a project where students will create their own Chess AI program. Spots will be limited to the first 20 students that sign up for the full course. Sign up by Jun. 13 and share on WeChat for a ¥400 discount! [see poster for more details]

See a sample project video

Sample Project Video--OCR for Banking Checks

Every year, 17.3 billion checks are written in the US. The numerical values on each of these checks needs to be verified before transactions can be processed, however. In this sample project, we'll walk you through the thinking and programming process of how to build an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program that reads in the text from a check image and verifies that the English and numerical monetary values match up. OCR is an advanced machine learning concept that we will not be teaching in this class--however, the algorithmic design and use of modules are very much in scope!

By the end of this course, you will be able to code projects like this one from scratch with just a little bit of research! Don't worry if very little or even none of this tutorial makes sense--for beginners in programming, you should have no idea how to implement any of this. Our actual classes will be much less brutal and much more interactive.

We hope to see you in class soon!