Pie Coding Collaborative

Presents Intro to Programming

Overview

The classes will be held at Geek Bar Chicago on Wednesdays, February 25th and March 4th from 6pm until 8pm. Sign up today!

Intro to Programming is comprised of two courses that last two hours long each. It is being designed to be a very easy introduction to the fundamentals of programming. We aim to provide a relaxed and casual attitude with our class; we want students to walk away with enough knowledge to start working on their own projects.

Each class will be broken into five parts: an introduction, three lessons, and a conclusion. After each lesson students will be assisted by teaching assistants to write their own applications. We will work together as a team to help each other before moving on to the next lesson.

Through easy to follow lectures and hands on mentoring, students will learn how to build their own applications. The first class will teach students how to use MIT's Scratch development platform. The second course will educate our students how to build Android applications using the Android Studio. Both courses will teach our students how to build two to three applications. We have chosen to use these tools due to their open source licensing.

Each student will be required to provide their own laptop. The required software may be downloaded prior to the course using the resource links to the side of this page. Limited USB sticks will be available for class use; if you find yourself in need of one, please contact us.

Requirements:

  • Laptops are strongly encouraged; however, if you cannot bring one we hope that others will let you group together.
  • Please review the required software and have them downloaded and installed. Direct links to Scratch (for day one) and Android Studio (for day two) are located on the sidebar..
  • Make sure your laptop is charged enough for two+ hours! We cannot guarantee the availability of power outlets.

Day One

Wednesday, February 25th from 6pm until 8pm

On the first day of class, students will learn to program using MIT's Scratch platform. We will walk them through creating their own applications. The core concepts that will be taught are: events, operators & math, and conditional logic. To teach these concepts, users will program a fierce dragon, a blackjack game, and a logic based puzzle.

Topics Covered

  • Learn to program using MIT's Scratch
  • Teach users to create their own programs
  • Events: click on a dragon to have it react
  • Operators and Math: write a blackjack game
  • Logic: create a conditional puzzle game
  • Finally, will discuss remixing for students to further study

Day Two

Wednesday, March 4th from 6pm until 8pm

Day two will familiarize our students with Java and the Android development platform. We will expand upon what is taught on the first day and teach a basic introduction to Java. Students will learn to create Android (4.x) applications similar to what is covered on their first day. They will learn the basics of the platform while creating a hello world application. Next, students will learn how to build a user interface while creating a calculator. Finally, they will apply their knowledge to create a tic-tac-toe game.

  • Teach the basics of Java
  • Teach the basics of Android development
  • Create new applications
  • Basics: Hello, world application
  • User Interface: Create basic calculator
  • Logic: Create a Tic Tac Toe game