Learn to Code Course

Lesson 1 • Setting Up a Coding Environment

Guides students through installing a code editor, configuring a runtime, and running a first program. Removes setup friction so learning can begin immediately.

Lesson 2 • Pseudocode and Flowcharts

Teaches language-agnostic planning tools before any syntax is introduced. Students design solutions visually and in plain English before writing real code.

Lesson 3 • How Computers Execute Instructions

Explains the fetch-decode-execute cycle and the role of the CPU, memory, and storage. Grounds all later coding concepts in real hardware behaviour.

Lesson 1 • Variables and Data Types

Covers how programmes store and label data using variables and how data types constrain what operations are valid. Directly enables all subsequent coding exercises.

Lesson 2 • Input and Output Basics

Teaches reading user input from the console and displaying formatted output. Students build interactive programmes that respond to real data.

Lesson 3 • Operators and Expressions

Teaches arithmetic, comparison, and logical operators and how they combine into expressions. Students evaluate complex expressions and predict programme output.

Lesson 4 • Control Flow with Conditionals

Introduces if, else-if, and switch structures that let programmes choose different execution paths. Students write branching logic for real decision scenarios.

Lesson 1 • Code Style and Documentation

Establishes naming conventions, commenting standards, and documentation practices. Students apply a consistent style guide to make code readable by others.

Lesson 2 • Defining and Calling Functions

Explains function syntax, naming conventions, and the call stack. Students replace duplicated code blocks with single, reusable function definitions.

Lesson 3 • Recursion Fundamentals

Introduces recursive thinking through classic problems like factorial and Fibonacci. Students identify base cases and recursive cases to prevent stack overflow.

Lesson 4 • Scope and Variable Lifetime

Teaches local vs. global scope and how variable lifetime affects programme behaviour. Students debug scope-related bugs and write scope-safe functions.

Lesson 1 • Sets and Tuples

Introduces immutable tuples and unordered sets for deduplication and membership testing. Students choose between sets, tuples, and lists based on use-case requirements.

Lesson 2 • Arrays and Lists

Covers indexed, ordered collections and common operations like insertion, deletion, and traversal. Students manipulate lists to solve sorting and searching problems.

Lesson 3 • Stacks, Queues, and Linked Lists

Covers abstract data types built on top of arrays and pointers. Students implement LIFO and FIFO structures and understand their real-world applications.

Lesson 4 • Searching and Sorting Algorithms

Teaches linear search, binary search, bubble sort, and merge sort with complexity analysis. Students benchmark algorithms and select efficient solutions for data size.

Lesson 1 • OOP Design Principles

Introduces SOLID principles and common design patterns like Factory and Observer. Students refactor poorly structured OOP code to follow established best practices.

Lesson 2 • Encapsulation and Access Control

Teaches public, private, and protected access modifiers and getter/setter patterns. Students protect internal state and expose only necessary interfaces.

Lesson 3 • Polymorphism and Interfaces

Explains how objects of different classes share a common interface and behave differently at runtime. Students write code that operates on abstract types for flexibility.

Lesson 4 • Classes and Objects

Defines classes as blueprints and objects as instances, covering constructors and instance variables. Students model a real-world entity as a class with meaningful attributes.

Lesson 1 • Error Handling and Data Validation

Covers try-catch blocks, custom exceptions, and input validation strategies for robust programmes. Students add defensive error handling to a data-processing pipeline.

Lesson 2 • Working with CSV and JSON

Teaches parsing and generating the two most common data interchange formats. Students load a CSV dataset and serialise results as JSON for downstream use.

Lesson 3 • Introduction to Databases

Introduces relational database concepts and basic SQL for querying and updating records. Students connect a programme to a local database and perform CRUD operations.

Lesson 4 • Consuming REST APIs

Explains HTTP methods, status codes, and how to send requests and handle responses. Students fetch live data from a public API and display it in a formatted report.

Lesson 1 • Test-Driven Development

Covers the red-green-refactor cycle and how writing tests first improves design. Students build a small feature using TDD from the first failing test to passing code.

Lesson 2 • Performance Profiling Basics

Introduces profiling tools that identify slow code paths and memory bottlenecks. Students profile a programme, identify the hotspot, and apply a targeted optimisation.

Lesson 3 • Debugging Strategies and Tools

Teaches breakpoint debugging, print-based tracing, and reading stack traces effectively. Students isolate and fix a multi-bug programme using a structured debugging workflow.

Lesson 4 • Code Reviews and Static Analysis

Teaches how to give and receive constructive code review feedback and use static analysis tools. Students review a peer's code and apply automated linting to their own.

Lesson 1 • Continuous Integration Pipelines

Introduces automated build and test pipelines that run on every code push. Students configure a CI pipeline that blocks merges when tests fail.

Lesson 2 • Dependency Management and Packaging

Explains package managers, virtual environments, and declaring project dependencies. Students package their project so it installs cleanly on any machine.

Lesson 3 • Version Control with Git

Teaches branching, committing, merging, and resolving conflicts using Git. Students manage a multi-feature project with a clean, reviewable commit history.

Lesson 4 • Deploying to a Live Environment

Covers containerisation basics, environment variables, and deploying to a cloud platform. Students deploy their project and verify it runs correctly in production.