Introduction to Computer Science & Programming Using Python

6.00.1x is the MITx Online version of MIT's introductory programming course, the first of a two-course sequence that continues with Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science. It is built for people with no prior exposure to computer science or programming who want to learn to think computationally and write programs that tackle useful problems. The course is deliberately broad rather than deep, giving a first look at many topics, but MIT describes it as challenging and rigorous rather than an appreciation course. Content is delivered as lecture videos, lecture exercises and problem sets using Python 3.5, and the topics listed are a notion of computation, the Python language, some simple algorithms, testing and debugging, an informal introduction to algorithmic complexity, and data structures.

The run is instructor-paced, with MIT estimating 9 weeks at 14 to 16 hours per week. You can audit for free, which gives access to the course and its materials. The certificate track, priced at $149 on the course page, adds graded assignments and exams and an MIT certificate on completion. The same lectures, without grading, are also on OpenCourseWare as 6.0001.