Step 1: Make sure we can help!

Check out the target audience of the course and decide if you will benefit from interacting with these materials. If you are a scientists at any educational level that works with data and you 1) want to learn the basics of programming or 2) want to establish a little more formal programming background and work-flow, then you are likely our target audience. You can find a little more encouragement in our description of why you should take this course.

Step 2: Decide your approach to the course.

As a self-guided student you can 1) follow along with the whole course at your own pace or 2) find a couple modules that will be helpful to you in isolation.

1. If you are following the whole course, we suggest you follow the schedule, which includes introductions into SQL and R. Each assignment includes listings for video and text materials, as well as the practice exercises. We provide output files with each exercise to give you a hint what your code should accomplish.

2. If you are interested in just a couple of modules in SQL or R, the best way to find out the assignment that is best suited to your needs is browsing through the schedule.

If you are interested in the Python material, the lesson material and assignments developed in previous iterations of the course are still available, but with less direction.

Step 3: Setup your computer

Make sure your computer is setup.

Step 4: Give us feedback

Help us make sure you have a good experience by providing feedback.