Introducing: Brisa's Learn Python Courses

by Andrew on 2019-09-12

What

Brisa's Learn Python courses are a fun, easy, interactive way to learn Python.

It's meant to introduce new concepts simply in a way that allows you to do something new quickly, then expand on those topics as you make progress.

Your code will build mini web apps, and we'll introduce interactive elements as quickly as possible!

Why Brisa's Learn Python Course is Different

Learning to program is difficult. From setting up your environment to learning how to talk to a computer, there are many places to falter, disengage, get bored, and quit.

Brisa's Learn Python courses are meant to change that.

First, like many courses already do, we take out the environment setup, so you can start looking at code, seeing it run, and writing your own immediately!

Every programming course has a unique style and structure, and Brisa's is no different. We take the tactic of introducing the smallest amount of new material in a lesson possible to teach something that is valuable and usable.

These courses are designed for someone who has no knowledge of programming, and is built with small lessons that you can take your time with or breeze through if you understand what's going on. It also includes tests to see your improvements.

Last, but far from least, the Brisa course makes it engaging! Instead of dealing with non-stop numbers, we try to build small web apps that actually do things. For people who need to see real-world applications to what they're learning, this should help by making small tools that do real things.

A Little More Background

I've always wanted to try teaching a programming language. I think it's fun to explore where there's confusion and try to find simpler ways to explain concepts.

While browsing the web, I stumbled on Brython, a project that converts Python code to JavaScript so it can run in a browser.

After fiddling with it a bit, I found a way to pass data and make calls between the 2 languages, so I set about first replacing print() with a handler that added a new div. After the kinks were worked out, I added a button() function to create a new button.

Button was more complex, because it required both telling JS to display the button, as well as telling Python when that button was clicked (using a callback handler).

After that was working, I added in the awesome CodeMirror JS code editor, and was quickly able to get a simple editor/runner up.

I started writing simple lessons to attach to code and Learn Python was born!