PCAP: Programming

Essentials in Python SCOPE AND SEQUENCE

PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python

Scope and Sequence
Last updated December 19, 2017

Scope and Sequence – Table of Contents

1. Target Audience

2. Prerequisites

3. Target Certification

4. Curriculum Description

5. Curriculum Objectives

6. Course Outline

7. Minimum System Requirements

8. Industry certification

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PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python — Scope and Sequence

Target Audience
The PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python curriculum is designed for students with little or no prior
knowledge of programming, i.e., students of secondary school, university, vocational school, or simply
anyone interested in learning programming. The only preliminary requirement is the ability to use a
personal computer and a very basic knowledge of mathematics.

Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.

Target Certification
The PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python curriculum helps students prepare for the PCAP | Python
Certified Associate Programmer certification exam. PCAP | Python Certified Associate Programmer is
a professional certification that measures the student’s ability to accomplish coding tasks related to
the basics of programming in the Python language and the fundamental notions and techniques used
in object-oriented programming.

Curriculum Description
The PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python course covers all the basics of programming in Python,
as well as general computer programming concepts and techniques. The course also familiarizes the
student with the object-oriented approach. The course is broken down into five modules.

Each student has access to hands-on practice materials, quizzes, and assessments to learn how to
utilize the skills and knowledge gained on the course and interact with some real-life programming
tasks and situations.

Curriculum Objectives
The aim of the course is to familiarize the student with general computer programming concepts like
conditional execution, loops, Python programming language syntax, semantics, and the runtime
environment, as well as with general coding techniques and object-oriented programming.

Completing the course ensures that the student is fully acquainted with all the primary means provided
by Python 3 to enable her/him to start her/his own studies, and to open a path to the developer’s
career.

Module objectives:

Module 0 (optional)

Familiarize the student with the fundamentals of computer programming: how the computer works,
how the program is executed, how the programming language is defined and constructed, what the
difference is between compilation and interpretation, what Python is, how it is positioned among other
programming languages, and what distinguishes the different versions of Python. Demonstrate a
simple way to download, install, and run the Python environment on a personal computer.

Module 1

Familiarize the student with the basic methods offered by Python of formatting and outputting data,
together with the primary kinds of data and numerical operators, their mutual relationships and
binding. Introduce the concept of variables and variable naming conventions. Present the assignment
operator, along with the rules governing the building of expressions. Introduce the inputting and
converting of data.

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PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python — Scope and Sequence

Module 2

Familiarize the student with the concept of Boolean values, in order to compare difference values and
to control the execution paths using the if and if-else instructions. Introduce the utilization of
loops (while and for) and how to control their behavior using the break and continue
instructions. Present the difference between logical and bitwise operations. Acquaint the student with
the concept of lists and list processing, including the iteration provided by the for loop, and slicing.
Explain the idea of multi-dimensional arrays.

Module 3

Acquaint the student with the defining and using of functions – their rationale, purpose, conventions,
and traps. Present the concept of passing arguments in different ways and setting their default values,
along with the mechanisms of returning the function’s results. Explain name scope issues. Introduce
new data aggregates – tuples and dictionaries – and show their role in data processing.

Module 4

Familiarize the student with Python modules: their rationale, function, how to import them in different
ways, and present the contents of some standard modules provided by Python. Present the way in
which modules are coupled together to make packages. Acquaint the student with the concept of an
exception and Python’s implementation of it, including the try-except instruction, with its
applications, and the raise instruction. Introduce strings and their specific methods, together with
their similarities and differences compared to lists.

Module 5

Acquaint the student with the fundamentals of OOP (Object Oriented Programming) and the way they
are adopted in Python, showing the difference between OOP and the classical, procedural approach.
Present the standard objective features: inheritance, abstraction, encapsulation, and polymorphism,
along with Python-specific issues like instance vs. class variables, and Python’s implementation of
inheritance. Exceptions are discussed again in a more detailed way, showing their objective nature.
Familiarize the student with Python’s generators (the yield instruction) and closures (the lambda
keyword). Demonstrate the means Python developers can use to process (create, read, and write) files.

Course Outline
Learning Module PCAP | Python Certified Associate Programmer certification objectives
covered

1 – Basics I • the print() function, formatting the output

• literals (integers, floats, strings, Boolean values)
• operators and expressions, arithmetic operators, operators and
their priorities, operators and their bindings
• variables, naming and assigning variables, shortcut operators
• comments
• output vs. input, inputting data with the input() function
• converting strings into numbers, simple interactive programs,
string operators, converting numbers into strings

2 – Basics II • asking questions and receiving answers, relational operators

• conditions and conditional execution, the if statements, the
if-else statements, the elif clause
• loops (while, for, break, continue)

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PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python — Scope and Sequence

• computer logic and its operators, logical values vs. single bits
• bitwise operators, dealing with single bits
• creating and using lists, removing elements from a list, list
methods (methods vs. functions), adding elements to a list, lists
in action
• sorting lists (the bubble sort algorithm)
• storing lists, slices, the in and not in operators
• lists in advanced applications (lists within lists, list
comprehension, matrices, 3rd dimension)

3 – Basics III • designing and writing functions

• parametrized functions, defining and using function parameters,
shadowing, positional arguments, keyword arguments, mixed
arguments, sorting parameter default values
• returning a result from a function (the return statement,
returning a value, the None value, returning the non-None
value, argument vs. parameter compatibility, a list as a function’s
result)
• functions and scopes, global variables, interaction of parameters
with their arguments
• recursion
• tuples and dictionaries (sequence types and mutability, creating
and using tuples, creating and using dictionaries)

4 – Intermediate I • using and importing modules

• working with standard modules
• functions from the math module, functions from the random
module, functions from the platform module
• modules and packages
• errors, failures, exceptions
• characters and strings vs. computers, the nature of strings in
Python, string methods, strings in action (comparing strings,
sorting strings, strings vs. numbers)
• simple programs

5 – Intermediate II • the basic concepts of object programming, classes

• a stack
• properties (instance variables, class variables, checking an
attribute’s existence)
• methods (the inner life of classes and objects, reflection and
introspection, classes and methods in detail)
• inheritance (finding properties and methods, building a hierarchy
of classes, inheritance vs. composition, single inheritance vs.
multiple inheritance)
• exceptions – advanced topics, creating and using exceptions
• generators and closures (the yield statement, building
generators, list comprehensions – advanced topics, the lambda
function)
• processing files (accessing files from Python code, file names, file
streams, file handles, opening the streams, selecting text and
binary modes, pre-opened streams, closing streams, diagnosing
stream problems)
• working with real files (dealing with text files, working with binary
files, stream – reading and writing bytes, copying files

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PCAP | Programming Essentials in Python — Scope and Sequence

Minimum System Requirements

The course content modules, labs, quizzes and assessments can be accessed online through any
Internet browser. For the best learning experience, we recommend using the most recent versions of
Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge, or Google Chrome.

Industry certification
The course curriculum helps students prepare for the Python Institute PCAP | Python Certified
Associate Programmer certification.

A Statement of Achievement will be issued to participants who successfully complete the PCAP |
Programming Essentials in Python course. The Statement of Achievement will acknowledge that the
individual has completed the course and is now ready to attempt the qualification PCAP | Python
Certified Associate Programmer Certification, taken through Pearson VUE computer-based testing, at
a 51% discount.

To receive the Statement of Achievement, instructors must mark the student as having successfully
passed the course.

For additional information about the Python Institute PCAP | Python Certified Associate Programmer
certification, please visit www.pythoninstitute.org/certification.

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