Course Info

Important Dates

Fall Registration Begins
August 14th, 2025

Fall Late Registration Deadline
September 8th, 2025

Fall End Date
December 20, 2025

Click Here to Register for fall 2025

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. Learners who successfully complete the course requirements 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. This is a low pressure, no stress version of the course. It will not appear on your transcript or affect your GPA, but learners who successfully complete the course requirements will earn a certificate issued by the College of Engineering.

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. 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 by 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 course content will be available online. In addition to regular in-person sessions, there will be multiple orientation sessions during the first week 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 additional courses will be posted on this webpage. In the meantime, here are some additional resources you might be interested in:

If you are taking this course for credit, please follow these instructions provided by the registrar to drop this or any other course. If you are enrolled in the non-credit version, you may withdraw by completing this survey. Once you submit your request, please allow up to two weeks to be fully disenrolled.

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 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 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 Schumacher.

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

Hometown
Chanhassen, Minnesota, USA
Major
Mechanical Engineering
Fun Fact
Plays guitar and can solve a Rubix cube in under 2 minutes.
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.
Portrait of Ruth Sugiarto.

Ruth (she/her/hers)
rsugiart@purdue.edu

Hometown
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Major
Computer Engineering
Fun Fact
I was born on Star Wars Day!
Portrait of Casey Ward.

Casey (they/them/theirs)
ward284@purdue.edu

Hometown
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Major
Physics and Math
Fun Fact
I am an artist.
Portrait of Trang Do.

Trang (she/her/hers)
do47@purdue.edu

Hometown
Hanoi, Vietnam
Major
Data Science
Fun Fact
You can't spell awesome without me.
Hometown
Westfield, Indiana, USA
Major
Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact
I have a black lab.
Portrait of Jack Scarfo.

Jack (he/him/his)
jscarfo@purdue.edu

Hometown
Smithtown, New York, USA
Major
First-Year Engineering
Fun Fact
I like to read Sci-Fi books.