47-Session Curriculum

Sessions must be completed in order. Each layer unlocks only after the previous layer's final quiz scores ≥ 80%. A session is not complete until the commit is made and reviewed. Every session builds the same running project: the Country Explorer.

A true starting point for anyone new to programming: running code, naming values, branching, and repeating. Every later session assumes these are second nature.

Before we build anything, we must be fluent in the core data structures and control flow that every later session relies on: dictionaries, lists, functions, and error handling.

We start modelling real things as classes. Every concept here maps to something in Layer 1 — a class is just a structured way of grouping the dictionaries and functions you already know.

State is data that changes over time. We learn to track it safely on objects, take input from a user, and compute values instead of duplicating them.

Real teams build against fake data before a real data source exists. We design data contracts and a data-access layer independent of where the data actually comes from.

Testing is introduced gradually alongside the code it tests, using pytest. We test behavior — what a function or class does — not implementation details.

With the foundations in place, we learn to structure a Python project for long-term maintainability: package layout, reusable modules, and recognizing tight coupling.

Only now do we touch the filesystem and a real network API. By this point we have the vocabulary to understand exactly what changed and why it matters.

Optional, bonus sessions beyond the core curriculum: decorators, generators and context managers, and packaging/virtual environments — closing the remaining gaps to a genuinely intermediate level.

Dependency Ordering

Each row depends on everything above it. Nothing skips a level.

Basics: print/vars → Operators/Strings → Conditionals → Loops
                  ↓
              Dictionaries → Lists → Comprehensions → Functions/Lambda → Unpacking/*args
  → Modules/Imports → Errors/Exceptions
                  ↓
              Classes → Attributes → Methods → Constructors → Composition
              → Conditionals → Object Lists → Identity/Equality
                        ↓
                    State → Controlled Updates → User Input → Tracing
                    → Validation → State Passing → Computed Properties
                                  ↓
                              Mock Data → Data Layer → JSON Files → Data Contracts
                                        ↓
                                    Testing → pytest → Return Values → State Tests → Data Layer Tests
                                              ↓
                                         Packages → Reusable Modules → Utilities → Prop Drilling → Architecture Review
                                                        ↓
                                                   File I/O → Real API → Robust Errors → Capstone
                                                                  ↓
                                                        (optional) Decorators → Generators/Context
                                                                  Managers → Packaging/venv