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Phase A

Tools and Collaboration

The professional toolkit: editor, terminal, git, GitHub, pytest.

~40 hrs42 lessons22 hands-on exercises

What you'll be able to do

  • ✓Work as a Software engineer
  • ✓Work as a Operator

About this course

Same code, but produced like a working developer produces it. VS Code mastery, the Unix command line, git fundamentals, real GitHub pull requests, and pytest. Finish the course owning a public commit history and a green test suite.

Recommended before this course

  • –
    Intermediate Python
    Organize code into reusable pieces. Classes, files, clean style.
    View →

Recommendations, not requirements. You can enroll in this course any time.

Curriculum

VS Code as Your Main Tool

Leave the browser editor behind. You install VS Code, learn the shortcuts, drive the Command Palette, refactor with multi-cursor, and use the integrated debugger to hunt bugs. Capstone: debug and ship a three-file project.

9 lessons
▾
  • Why Your Editor MattersFreeTheory
  • Install and First ScriptExercise
  • Extensions and the Command PaletteTheory
  • Shortcut DrillsExercise
  • Multi-Cursor and Selection TricksTheory
  • Refactor With Multi-CursorExercise
  • The Integrated DebuggerTheory
  • Find the Bug via DebuggerExercise
  • Capstone: Fix a Three-File ProjectExercise
Command Line Survival

Live in the terminal. You learn the prompt, files and flags, redirection and pipes, environment variables, and virtual environments. Capstone: a tiny CLI tool that reads stdin, honors an env var, and writes to a file through a real pipeline.

11 lessons
▾
  • What a Terminal IsTheory
  • First Steps in the TerminalFreeExercise
  • Files and FlagsTheory
  • Reshape a FolderExercise
  • Redirection and PipesTheory
  • Pipeline PuzzlesExercise
  • Environment VariablesTheory
  • Set and Read Env VarsExercise
  • Python, pip, and Virtual EnvironmentsTheory
  • Create and Use a venvExercise
  • Capstone: Tiny CLI ToolExercise
Version Control and Collaboration

Real git against a real public GitHub account you own. You commit, branch, recover from mistakes, and finish with a merged pull request on a STEM Seeds Code practice repo. The contribution history you start here is yours to keep.

14 lessons
▾
  • Why Version Control + What Is Open SourceTheory
  • Connect GitHub and Configure gitExercise
  • init, add, commitTheory
  • Create Your First Public RepoExercise
  • Inspecting HistoryTheory
  • Read Your HistoryExercise
  • Branches and MergingTheory
  • Feature BranchExercise
  • Undoing ThingsTheory
  • Reading a Real Project's History (DocsGPT)Theory
  • Fix Four MistakesExercise
  • .gitignore, Remotes, and Pull RequestsTheory
  • Quiet the NoiseExercise
  • Capstone: Open a Real Pull RequestExercise
Writing Your Own Tests

You have been passing tests since Module 01. Now you write them. Assertions, fixtures, and parametrize with pytest, then a capstone where one of your tests catches a bug that reading the code would miss.

8 lessons
▾
  • Why TestTheory
  • Your First pytestExercise
  • Assertions, Fixtures, and AAATheory
  • Fixture a File-Backed FunctionExercise
  • Parametrize and Test OrganizationTheory
  • Parametrize a ValidatorExercise
  • Why Subtle Bugs Are the Reason We TestTheory
  • Capstone: Catch the Subtle BugExercise
Subscription
Included with any active plan.

Paid lessons require a subscription.

  • ✓ 42 lessons across 40 hours
  • ✓ 22 hands-on exercises with auto-grading
  • ✓ Self-paced