Every Boilermaker Engineer Codes (EBEC)

CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Important Dates
Summer Start Date

May 15, 2023

Summer End Date

July 7, 2023

Fall Start Date

August 21, 2023

Fall End Date

December 16, 2023

Fall Registration Deadline

August 21, 2023

Course Info

The College of Engineering is offering Entry-Level Programming in Python to help you build your skills and your resume. The course is open to anyone with a Purdue account, and no previous coding experience is required.

This course uses Python to introduce fundamental procedural and object-oriented programming concepts. Amongst the many topics covered are such diverse elements as variables, data structures (lists, tuples, dictionaries, and sets), file handling, decision structures, loops, functions and modules, as well as classes and objects, data attributes, and methods.1

The course content is split over 13 units with each containing reading assignments, recorded lectures, programming exercises and a quiz. The last unit focuses on a comprehensive multi-week final project. Passing typically requires about 6 hours of work per unit. We cover one unit per week in spring and fall semesters, and 2 units per week in the summer semesters. Help is provided through multiple virtual office hours and multiple in-person sessions every week. Students who achieve 70% or more will earn a certificate issued by the College of Engineering.

Familiarity with intermediate algebra and a personal computer on which you can install software are required.

During the fall and spring semester, this course is offered as a free non-credit course to all Purdue students, faculty, and staff. The summer offering is open to everyone as a 1 credit hour course at the regular tuition rate per credit hour. Current Purdue students can register for the summer semester through the Scheduling Assistant using course registration number 35064. Others may take this course in the summer by first applying to Purdue as non-degree student, and then registering through the Scheduling Assistant. Application details for non-degree seeking students can be found here.

Frequently Asked Questions

This course is open to anyone with an active Purdue account. This includes students from all schools and majors, graduate students, faculty and staff.  Others may take this course in the summer by first applying to Purdue as non-degree student. Application details for non-degree seeking students can be found here.

Each certificate has the Purdue College of Engineering logo, the recipient's name, the name of the course, the month and year it was issued, and will be signed the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Prof. Cole.  Certificates are issued as a link to a university hosted certificate image.  You can share this link on social media or with anyone who would like to verify your achievement. You can also download and print your certificate if you prefer a paper copy.  A QR code on each certificate links back to its Purdue hosted image for verification purposes.

In summer, this course is offered for 1 credit hour.  When taken for credit, it will appear on your academic transcript and influence your GPA.  In the fall and spring semesters, this is a non-credit course that will not appear on your transcript or affect your GPA.

None.  This course is designed for beginners.

The course assignments are divided into units. In the fall and spring, we complete one unit each week concurrently with the regular 16-week semester. In summer, we complete two units each week during the first 8-week summer module. Most students who complete the course spend between 5 and 6 hours working on each unit. However, some students spend as little as 1 hour per unit, and others spend over 10 hours.

There are multiple virtual office hours and multiple in-person sessions on Purdue University's West Lafayette campus throughout each week.  The schedule of times and locations depends on how many students register, and will be made available to registered students before the start of class.  You may attend any or all of the sessions that work with your schedule.  Attendance during the in-person sessions is encouraged, but is not required.  All the course content will be available through Brightspace.

In addition to regular in-person sessions, there will be multiple orientation sessions on the first day of class.  Since the capacity in the orientation sessions is limited, session choice takes place on a first come, first served basis.

Yes.  You may work remotely, in-person, or switch between modes as needed.  Lecture videos are made available before class so that in-person sessions can be used to work through programming exercises. If the in-person session schedule does not work for you, several virtual office hours are also available throughout the week.

Not yet, but an intermediate level of this course is in the early stages of development.  Any news related to the development of higher level courses will be posted on this webpage.  In the mean time, below are some online resources you might be interested in:

If you are taking this course for credit, follow these instructions provided by the registrar to drop this or any other course.  If you are not taking this course for credit, just send me an email from your Purdue email address saying that you need to drop and why.  If you do decide to drop, please allow up to a week to be completely disenrolled from the course.

Meet the Team

Portrait of John Cole

Prof. Cole (he/him/his)
jhcole@purdue.edu

Hometown
Lafayette, Indiana
Degrees
BSEE, PhD Electrical Engineering
Fun Fact
Dog dad to Beau and Bear
Portrait of Tam Bureetes

Tam (he/him/his)
tbureete@purdue.edu

Hometown
Sriracha, Thailand
Degrees
B. Eng EE, MSc ABE, PhD ABE (on-going)
Fun Fact
Collecting intramural winner shirts
Portrait of Darren Lie

Darren (he/him/his)
lied@purdue.edu

Hometown
Jakarta, Indonesia
Major
Mechanical Engineering
Fun Fact
I can tell you the day of the week for any date you give me.
Portrait of Aletea (Tea) vanVeldhuisen

Tea (she/her)
avanveld@purdue.edu

Hometown
Portland, Oregon
Major
BME and CS
Fun Fact
I have two plants named Appa and Jade.
Portrait of Advait (AJ) Jawaji

AJ (he/him/his)
ajawaji@purdue.edu

Hometown
Mumbai, India
Major
Mechanical Engineering
Fun Fact
I like playing chess and watching anime!
Portrait of Steph Close

Steph (she/they)
closes@purdue.edu

Hometown
Albany, New York
Major
Computer Engineering
Fun Fact
I use python as an art medium. Over the last couple years I've used it to develop image-based and user-interactive projects.
Portrait of Alex Green

Alex (he/him/his)
green450@purdue.edu

Hometown
Washington, D.C., USA
Major
Civil Engineering
Fun Fact
I’m a certified pilot of the Boilermaker Xtra Special!
Portrait of Lilianne (Lili) Brush

Lili (she/her/hers)
lbrush@purdue.edu

Hometown
Davis, California, USA
Major
Computer Science
Fun Fact
I run half marathons!
Portrait of Hanna Letzring

Hanna (she/her/hers)
hletzrin@purdue.edu

Hometown
Waterville, Ohio, USA
Major
Electrical Engineering
Fun Fact
I played the clarinet for 8 years.
Portrait of Jeremy Schumacker

Jeremy (he/him/his)
jtschuma@purdue.edu

Hometown
Victoria, Minnesota, USA
Major
Mechanical Engineering
Fun Fact
I love to play the guitar.
Portrait of Kanari Hirano

Kanari (he/him/his)
hirano0@purdue.edu

Hometown
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Major
Cybersecurity
Fun Fact
I make the captions for the videos.
Hometown
Major
Aero & Astro Engineering
Fun Fact