Welcome to The Course!!!

Hey there 👋,

This is the beginning of a great journey for you, you’re going to learn Python, which is one of the most popular programming languages out there, and how to utilise it to create applications - in this case, games.

Python has a low barrier to entry and is very easy to learn by anyone, as long as you put in the work and are not afraid to make mistakes.

So join along, and let’s get started, shall we?

Beginning it all…

To start, we need to have somewhere where you can type Python code, and execute it.

You can either install Python on your computer and run all of your code locally or use a website which will save you the stress of installing it. In this case, we recommend Replit - one of the more popular online code editors.

Download Python for your computer here or get started with Replit here.

Over the course of this program you’re going to do exercises so that you can test your knowledge. You’re also encouraged to look stuff up that you don’t understand, as being able to find information you need is a very important skill in computer programming.

At the end, you would be capable of making two different games that you can play with your friends - Pong and Space Invaders.

Running Python Code

Online

If you’re using Replit, then you don’t have to do any more work 👍. Just make a new repl for any new project, and click the huge “Run” button when you want to execute it.

Locally

If you chose to download Python on your computer, you can get started with nothing but a simple text editor like Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (macOS) and a terminal application Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal.app (macOS).

A text editor like Visual Studio Code or IDE like PyCharm Community Edition, can be used, and these can take more time to set up, but in turn offer much better support with helpful error messages and buttons that help you run your code. You can find the installation steps at their respective links.

Once you have your editor of choice though, open a window and make a text file called first.py and type the following:

print("This is my first program.")

Obviously, this just shows some text on the screen, which is perfect for making sure everything is working right.

In your terminal application, navigate to where the file is stored and run it using python first.py.

$ cd Documents\Python

$ python first.py
This is my first program.

The exact instructions vary from system to system - on some you might have to use py or python3 instead of just python, but this should work on most computers.

If you get stuck at any point, feel free to look up the error message generated, or use an online editor like Replit until you’re able to figure things out.

In the next module, we’re doing to be working with data and storing them in variables.