After successful completion of the course, students are able to write and execute very simple programs in the Python programming language. Students can create variables and use them in mathematical and logical operations.They master programming basics such as branching and looping, and can structure program code in simple functions. Finally, the students are able to analyze and visualize simple data sets. In addition to acquiring basic programming skills, they can also handle established tools of digital teaching at TU Wien (Moodle, Jupyter).

Using the Python programming language, the basics of computer programming are introduced. This includes teaching of the corresponding theory in terms of structure and syntax. The aim is to teach students the ability to analyze scientific problems, to break them down into subtasks and then to solve them as a computer program using a suitable algorithm. The acquired knowledge is to be applied by independent programming of tasks.

• Teaching content in the form of an interactive online course (Massive Open Online Course, MOOC)
• Provision of a central web-based programming environment (Jupyter Notebooks)
• Jupyter Notebooks for teaching theory and for practical programming examples
• Self assessment of theoretical competencies via multiple-choice tests in TUWEL
• Self assessment of practical competences via assignments (short programming examples) in the Jupyter Notebook environment.
• Automated feedback on the self assessments
• Support through the message forum and tutors

The course will be handled completely online via the MOOC Basic Course Python for Natural Sciences. This first requires registration on the edu website of TU Wien. After registration on edu.tuwien.ac.at, the registration for the MOOC is done via self-enrollment.

• Completion/delivery of all self assessment assignments of the MOOC course
• Final programming test (60 min, 1 practical programming task)

Basic computer skills are required for the course, in particular the use of a PC with MS Windows or Linux operating system and the use of web browsers.

Beginners are recommended to complete the following free (online) basic courses (TU Graz):

• Digitale Kompetenzen für Studienanfänger_innen
• Informatik-Fit

For a low-threshold introduction to computer programming, please refer to the following TU Wien courses:

• Programmieren mit Processing 1
• Programmieren mit Processing 2