Programming for Social Scientists
POL 42340 Programming for Social Scientists
Monday, 3-5 pm, Q279; continuously on Discord
You should install Python and Visual Studio Code on your own computer. Please check the installation instructions and the online community for the module will have a channel dedicated to installation challenges.
Overview of all the main Python code you will learn during this course: Python commands
Repository for the main project: ucd-prog-2026 on Github
| 1 | 19/1 | Variables and functions | slides | lab | Videos: what is programming? | using git | variables and functions | random numbers Software: Python | Visual Studio Code | git |
| 2 | 26/1 | Conditions and flow | slides | lab | Videos: conditional expressions External links: assert statements |
| 3 | 9/2 | Loops and lists | slides | lab | Videos: lists | dictionaries | loops |
| 4 | 16/2 | Types, classes, and object-oriented programming | slides | lab | Videos: object-oriented programming |
| 5 | 23/2 | Class inheritance and design patterns | slides | lab | |
| 6 | 2/3 | Testing, debugging, and exception handling | slides | lab | Videos: exceptions |
| 7 | 23/3 | Working with text | slides | lab | Videos: strings and user input External links: string functions | formatters |
| 8 | 30/3 | Reading and writing text files | slides | lab | Videos: working with files |
| 9 | 13/4 | Databases, JSON and CSV files | slides | lab | |
| 10 | 20/4 | Putting it all together | slides | lab |