Programming Class

[bluebooger]

I posted a python course on the first page

although I agree python is generally easier than other languages you can't say "a python course will be easier than an C or C++ course"

it all depends on what's taught and how good the instructor is
I did MIT's python course on edx and I didn't like it at all
https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-...6-00-1x-7#!

the course is starting again soon and you can get credit for it at COSC -- "Students who enroll in the Verified Certificate track and pass the course with an 65% or higher are eligible to receive Charter Oak State College credit."

here's some of the videos of the course on youtube if you want to see what its like
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...iJDlyNFGvi

on the other hand I also did Harvard's Introduction to Computer Science on edx and loved it (its taught with C)
they went so much slower, the projects were more interesting, the the professor is 100x better at explaining stuff
(although because it is Harvard I think their "Introduction" started to move into the "intermediate" by the end of the course --- how many intro courses have you writing trees, tries, hash tables and web servers ?)

I looked at the syllabus for the python course I posted
https://www.uni.edu/continuinged/sites/d...S-1510.pdf
and it seems ok -- nothing too difficult

I also looked at the straighterline's c++ I don't see anything difficult at all
https://s3.amazonaws.com/StraighterLine/...ingCpp.pdf

the straighterline C++ content actually looks less advanced than the Northern Iowa python course (although "less advanced" usually means "less interesting projects")
Northern Iowa definitely looks like it would be more interesting

the first Penn Foster course -- "Introduction to Programming" -- looks like it will be easy -- it looks like it uses no specific language -- it probably just uses psuedo code -- where programs are explained in english, not a computer language

example:
---------------------
if its raining now or is scheduled to rain later then
take an umbrella
else if its snowing then
wear snow shoes
else
put on shorts and go to the beach
end
----------------------

see, you just learned boolean logic, conditionals, a "for" statement and an "else" statement in pseudocode

from the description I see the course also covers -- "use UML diagrams to design classes" -- no programming class I have ever taken teaches that -- flowcharts and uml = boring
it will be extremely easy, but extremely boring

but the other Penn Foster course is taught with Visual Basic (probably VB.Net) and it looks kind of complicated for a beginner (VB is easy, but he course description -- "building class libraries and register assemblies, programming with Structured Query Language, Server and Active Data Objects, and developing Windows 8 applications." -- looks like its not really for beginners -- unless you think you'll really enjoy programming and want to put a lot of time into this course)

TESU's C++ guided study course has a couple of proctored exams
but their C guided study course has none -- http://www2.tesu.edu/syllabus/current/CO...S-116.html

and although the C syllabus is not informative at all it doesn't look like the class goes beyond the basics

I think C and C++ are generally easy
and if the teacher is good
and if the class stays with the basics then they are fine languages to start with

look at one of thenewboston's C++ videos -- https://thenewboston.com/videos.php?cat=16&video=17481

now look at one of his C videos -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3sj5iTK_0M (full screen it and set the video quality to 1080 or else its difficult to read)

neither is too difficult

I think there are enough tutorial videos on youtube that doing straighterline C++ or TESU's C or C++ shouldn't be difficult

but any class that starts to cover "merge sort" and "binary trees" and "retrieving data from databases" is going to be difficult for beginners no matter what language its in (that would be the Harvard course, the MIT course and even Penn Foster's VB course)

oh, and personal preference -- I would choose C++ over java any day -- java is a butt ugly language

and that's my opinion