This page provides links for resources to help those following The Great Courses course 9151, How to Program: Computer Science Concepts and Python Exercises, by John Keyser. This page is maintained by John Keyser, as time allows.

Python Examples from Lectures

The Python files used in the lectures are available in either a single .zip file or as individual files. To get the zip file, please use THIS LINK.

You can go to THIS PAGE to see the individual files.

Note: because these are Python files, and python files can be run directly on the computer, some web browsers will automatically identify these files as potentially malicious. You can ignore the warnings for this file.

Errata from Lectures

The video production of the series included some errors, ranging from very minor issues that are not incorrect but are not as descriptive as desired, to (a few) major issues that give wrong information. THIS PAGE gives a list of all known errors and problems in the series, broken out by lecture number. If you are aware of any problems missed, please lete me know.

Installing Python and PyCharm

To get value from the course, you will need to install and write Python programs yourself.

A PDF document has been put together to help by giving step-by-step instructions. THIS FILE is the document you can download. The document is specific to Windows 10, but other versionos of Windows should be similar, and Mac users should be able to follow the analogous instructions for their system (though the defaults, like locations, can be different).

Following are links to key webpages:

The course uses Python 3. THIS is the official Python page. Follow the Downloads link on that page, and download the Python 3.x.x (e.g. Python 3.5.1) version for your operating system.

The course uses the PyCharm Integrated development environment to write most programs. THIS is the page to get PyCharm. Click on "Download Now" or just "Download", select your operating system (OS X for Macs) and download and install the Community Version.

Other Links

Following are some links to other websites referred to in the lectures:
Spot an error or have a comment? Please send email to: tgccomments@keyseronline.net. Note: because of the volume of email I receive regularly, I will not be able to reply to most emails, but I appreciate any comments or suggestions you have.