Programming 103: Saving and Structuring Data

CO219 Online course

Learn how to save and structure data in external files, and import files back into your Python programs.

Data & information Programming Key stage 3 Key stage 4 CS Accelerator

Free online course Approximately 8 hours of self-study

Discover how to save data to use it across multiple runs of your program

On this course, you will learn how to save text and binary files, and how to structure data so that programs can interpret it correctly.

You will explore various common types of structured files, including CSV and JSON, and also find out how to connect to a SQL database to use it in your Python programs.

This course is designed for those who have a little Python experience and are comfortable using functions with parameters–as covered in our Programming 102 course. Please note: screengrabs and recorded screencasts are key elements of this course.

Who is it for?

This course is aimed at classroom teachers teaching up to and including GCSE computer science.

Topics covered

You'll cover the following topics:

Creating, reading from, and writing to files using Python
The importance of data persistence
Structuring data using CSV files, Python dictionaries, and JSON files
How data structures aid compatibility between systems
Interacting with databases using SQL and Python

How will you learn?

This online, self-paced course can be completed flexibly. You can join and start this course at any time after the advertised date. This course is not facilitated. You can learn independently or with colleagues to directly address your individual needs.

Outcomes

You will be able to:

Demonstrate how to use Python to store and retrieve persistent data
Explain the importance of data persistence and where it is used
Compare different types of structured data
Modify a program to store data in a JSON file
Perform operations on a database using SQL statements

This course is part of the Subject knowledge certificate

Subject knowledge certificate

Our professional development programme, Computer Science Accelerator, is designed to help you develop or refresh your subject knowledge and leads to a nationally recognised certificate.

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Available from 03 April 2023.

This course is from the National Centre for Computing Education and is delivered by STEM Learning.

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