Introduction to Programming

Self-taught online course in programming for beginners.

In this self-taught online course you will gain fundamental knowledge about programming: what it is, what programming languages are and what helps programmers think like a computer. Then you will solve problems using Scratch and JavaScript. You will gain an understanding of variables, loops and conditional statements. This course is designed for complete beginners and no prior knowledge is required. Please note that this is an extra-curricular course, so you won't receive any credits for taking it.

Enrolling on the course

This is an online self-paced course, open to staff and students at the University of Edinburgh. To enrol, please follow these steps:

1. Log-in to Learn at www.learn.ed.ac.uk or through MyEd.
2. Select Course Catalogue in the top right corner.
3. The Search Catalogue options will load. Type“Introduction to programming” (no quotes) in the search catalogue section and select Go.
4. Expand the options menu next to the zu_introduction_to_programming Course ID (you’ll need to hover over it to see the menu). Select Enrol. 
5. The self-enrol overlay will load, providing further course information. Select Submit. An enrolment success screen will load, select OK to access the course.
6. The next time you log-in to Learn the course will appear in your Current Courses list. Click on the course name to access it.

If you experience any access issues, please contact the IS Helpline.