The LiveWires Python Course

The LiveWires Python Course is intended to teach the Python programming language to people who have never programmed before.

The current LiveWires Python Course release is release 1.2. The current LiveWires package release is release 2.1. The major change from version 1.0 is the use of the Pygame library for the games worksheets; version 2.1 fixes a number of bugs in 2.0.

Pages about the Python course:

• Get the worksheets to read and learn python
• Get the package (you'll need this to run some of the worksheet code)
• Read the licence
• Read our information for developers (including the worksheet LaTeX source)
• See the credits and find out how to feed back to us

On the LiveWires Scripture Union camp in 1999, we taught a computer language called Python for the first time. We've carried on using it on the holiday every summer since then.

To help us teach Python to the young people on the holiday, the LiveWires team produced a set of worksheets and a Python package (the LiveWires package) to go with them. We've decided to make these available to the world at large under open source licences. “Open source” means that, subject to a few conditions, anyone can copy and modify this work. It's our way of giving something back to the Python community.

What do you want to do?

• I want to use the sheets to learn Python. If you want to use our course to learn to program in Python, you should have a look at the PDF versions of the worksheets. You will also need the LiveWires package, which is some Python we've written to go with the sheets; and for that, of course, you'll need a working version of Python on your computer.

• I want to modify the course. If you want to modify the sheets, you'll need to find out about the LaTeX versions of the worksheets, which you can find with our information for developers. You can also modify the LiveWires package. You should read our licence before you do either of these things.

• I want to know who is responsible for this, make comments or point out bugs and typos. Have a look at our credits and comments page.

Gareth McCaughan wrote two short introductions to Python when the LiveWires holiday first began to consider using Python for teaching; these are still available:

• Python for the impatient, a short introduction to Python for people with some programming experience
• Python for the inexperienced, a slightly longer introduction for those who are learning Python as a first language. This has been superceded by the much more complete package described above.