Learning to Program with Python

Here we will use the python programming language to make a game of hangman, starting from scratch, working on a Macintosh. Python comes with OS X, so nothing special needs to be installed to follow along on your Mac. To use python on Windows, you can download and install python here.

If you do not want to install python or you want to learn a newer and popular python-like language that runs in any modern browser, you can read Learning to Program with CoffeeScript, at davidbau.com/coffeescript. The CoffeeScript version of this tutorial adds examples using graphics and synchronization.

It takes a couple hours to learn enough programming to make a simple game.

We will learn about:

• Memory and naming
• Computer arithmetic
• Using and learning libraries
• How to make a program
• Input and output
• Loops and choices
• Connecting to the internet

At the end we will have a game we can play.

This page was originally posted at http://davidbau.com/python for teaching a small group of third-graders. (Slides here.) (Printable here.)