Computer Programming Certificate (60 Hours)

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This course covers the fundamentals of computer programming. Develop a better understanding of how computer applications work by learning to write your own simple programs. Learn the basic programming structures that are common to many programming languages, including input and output statements, constants, assignment statements, string and numeric variables, conditionals, and branching and looping control structures. Programming techniques covered include counting, averaging, rounding, the use of random numbers, and numerous tips on developing a good programming style.

This course introduces Python, an interpreted, object-oriented programming language. Learn to design and write basic Python applications that incorporate fundamental programming concepts and accepted programming techniques. Understand basic Python syntax, variables and datatypes, scope, statements, and expressions. Learn control structures including conditionals and loops to control the flow of your application. Topics include functions, strings, and string functions. Additional topics include relational and logical operators, lists, multi-dimensional lists, subscripts, and wildcards. Other topics include an introduction to fundamental classes and methods in Python.

Explore Python’s object-oriented features, with the goal of making your programs more reliable, efficient, and reusable. Learn to write classes that include variables, constructors, and methods. Understand how to use regular expressions for pattern matching, string manipulation, and data validation. Learn to error trap using exceptions to keep your programs from crashing. Use Python to work with a database and read, write, edit, and delete records. Discover Python’s File I/O capabilities and learn to read and write binary and text files. Topics include opening/closing files, checking to see if a file exists, file operations, and reading/writing files. Additional topics include working with critical functions such as lambda, map and filter, manipulating date and time data, and iterators and generators.

This course introduces Java, one of today’s most popular programming languages. Learn to design, write, compile, and run basic Java applications that incorporate fundamental programming concepts and accepted programming techniques. Learn to declare and use variables of different data types to store information in your programs. Practice using control structures, such as if statements, switch statements, and loops, to control the flow of your applications. Additional topics include relational and logical operators, String and Math methods, and arrays.

Explore Java's object-oriented features, with the goal of making your programs more reliable, efficient, and reusable. Write classes that include variables, constructors, and methods, and learn to create objects based on your own classes and classes included in Java's class libraries. Examine the concepts of inheritance and class hierarchy, and learn to design classes that inherit and extend existing functionality. Practice applying effective object-oriented design strategies and writing useful class documentation. Additional topics include formatting numeric and date data, overloading methods and constructors, managing flexible- size collections, working with polymorphic variables, and organizing your classes into packages.

Create graphical user interfaces that incorporate components of Swing and the Abstract Windowing Toolkit. Learn to apply practical exception- handling techniques to deal with errors generated when you run your programs. Other topics include using input and output streams to interact with external data and laying out your GUI applications effectively.