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Goal #1: practice reading and running Python filesEdit

(Estimated completion time: 15 - 30 minutes)

We'll be practicing two skills with this goal. The first is reading and understanding Python programs. The second is running these programs from the terminal.

For each of the following Python programs (folks often call these "scripts"), please do the following:

  1. Download the script and save it to your Desktop. Be sure to save it as a .py file.
  2. Open the script in your text editor.
  3. Read through the script. Don't worry about understanding every last detail. Instead focus on:
    • Overall, what does this script do?
    • What variables and data types are used? Where are the strings, integers, and floats?
    • What functions are used, and why?
    • Where are the comments, and what do they tell you?
  4. Once you have a good sense of what the script does, open a terminal, navigate to the directory where you saved the script, and run it. Does it do what you expected?
  5. Think about one way that you could extend the script to make it more useful. How would you make that change in code?

Here are you scripts to read and run. Have fun with them!

Goal #2: Codecademy practiceEdit

(Estimated completion time: 1 - 1.5 hours)

Let's get some practice thinking like programmers: breaking down problems and solving them in code using the Python tools that we've learned so far.

To help you practice, we've written some custom Python questions for this course using the Codecademy framework. We use Codecademy because you can do the exercises online from any computer, you can easily save your progress and check on old solutions as you go along, and we can give you detailed hints as you work through the problems.

So let's get started! Please:

  1. Create an account on
  2. Visit and complete the 8 exercises in this section, Strings and choices.


You've learned a bunch of great Python and programming fundamentals and read and written your first Python scripts. Keep practicing!