Course 1 · Unit 1

Digital foundations

Part of Foundations: programming and data

5 lessons
≈ 10 h of study
Level: beginner

How a computer, the operating system, the terminal and Git work, and how to set up your own computer for programming. The foundation everything else runs on.

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Topics covered

Lessons in this unit

How a computer works 40 min
CPU, memory, storage and GPU, and why moving data costs more than computing.
Operating system and terminal 55 min
What the operating system does, how files are organised and how to move around them from the terminal.
Git and version control 50 min
How Git stores your code's history, why staging exists and how to work with branches and remotes.
Python, virtual environments and pip 50 min
Why every project needs its own isolated environment and how to create, activate and reproduce it.
Set up your computer 50 min
Install Python, VS Code and Git on Windows or macOS, create your first project with its virtual environment and connect the academy CLI.

Prerequisites

None. Start from scratch: you do not need to know how to code or remember high-school maths.

The full explanations, auto-graded exercises, exams and projects are inside the academy.

Every lesson you complete gives you 10 yang, the academy's currency, and every unit exam you pass, 50.

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