I started the edx course "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python" last Thursday. I learned Python way back in the late 90s early 2000s as I was learning Linux as well at the time. I'm ~8 months into my Python focused day job and I want the guided newbie approach. I even spent the $75 to get the validated identification so at the end of the course I'll get a certificate (so long as I pass). This should keep me honest about keeping up with the course. I just finished the first week of content which isn't due until February 6th. I'm glad I'm blazing through the content while it's early.

The first week of content was quite easy as I imagine it should be. There have been a lot of computer science videos and entire sections on how Python treats strings and another on booleans and truthiness. Coming from PHP I feel like Python's string handling and truthiness are just fine. I started skipping videos because I was too interested in the next section of exercises. I have enjoyed the low level, bare-bones introduction.

Tomorrow kicks off week 2 and "Unit: Simple Programs". I appreciate the 1-week overlap which gives plenty of time to complete assignments. The midterm is Feb 21-25th and Finals are at the end of March so this is going to ramp up pretty quickly. Hopefully, the code exercises reach some practical use soon. So far it's been annoying ranking style coding problems that don't feel to be focusing on the right things. I'm just happy to be just another student. Feels good, I haven't been a proper student since the last time I tried college in the very early 2000s.

Happy Learning!