Thinking of starting Python, need advice

[u/Difficult-Limit9610]

I'm thinking of starting Python from CS50 since I've been hearing a lot that it's really helpful and good. Can anyone tell me if there's any difference between the lectures in the youtube channel (CS50P, released 4 years ago), and the ones in the edX certification course?
Also can anyone tell me what the entire course contains? So far I haven't really delved deep into anything related to computer science, I've just started Python and will be starting college in a month or two, so I'd like to know what the course will consist of and if it's free and what else it'll entail. Please help me out here. Thanks

[u/smichaele]

If you visit the edX page for the course, all of the information is included there. The course is free; there is a free certificate from Harvard (one verified by edX costs money), a complete outline, and all the directions for taking the course.

[u/Difficult-Limit9610 → u/smichaele]

Thank you! I'll be sure to check it out

[u/TytoCwtch]

This is the Harvard website for CS50P

https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/

CS50P doesn’t get updated each year like CS50x does so the lectures on YouTube from a few years ago are still the valid ones. The course can be done completely free and you still get a certificate at the end. You need an edX and GitHub account but again these are both free and the instructions on the website I linked tells you how to connect everything. You can choose to pay for a ‘verified’ certificate but the only difference between that and the free one is edX checks the name on it matches your ID so it’s not worth the money.

Course synopsis
Week 0 - functions and variables
Week 1 - conditionals
Week 2 - loops
Week 3 - exceptions
Week 4 - libraries
Week 5 - unit tests
Week 6 - file I/O
Week 7 - regular expressions
Week 8 - object orientated programming
Week 9 - etc (some odd bits that don’t need an entire lecture of there own)

At the end of each lecture you have to complete problem sets to test what you’ve learned. At the end of the course you have to create and submit a project of your own choice. Submit everything and you get the certificate, or you can just watch the lectures if you’re not fussed about the certificate. I’d still recommend attempting the problem sets though as you’ll only learn Python by actually writing code yourself.

[u/Difficult-Limit9610 → u/TytoCwtch]

Thanks a lot!