Get Started with Python Programming: Part 1 - Fundamentals

This learning path is the first half of Microsoft's two-part introduction to Python programming. Microsoft's catalog lists it at 192 minutes, which we show as 3.2 hours, marks it beginner level and aims it at developers and students. Four modules run in order: writing your first Python code, working with data in Python, installing and configuring Visual Studio Code, and adding decision-making to your code. Each module is a set of short text units with exercises you follow on your own machine and a knowledge check near the end; there is no video lecture series and nothing to submit.

You will need to install Python and Visual Studio Code locally to complete the exercises, and the path explains how. The training is free, like everything on Microsoft Learn, and can be read without signing in; a profile only adds progress tracking and the completion trophy. Microsoft does not issue a certificate for finishing a learning path. A second path, Part 2 - building programs, continues with loops, functions and larger programs for readers who want to keep going.