Introduction to Collaborative Development

Important

This repository has been deprecated in favor of the development of PyLearningLab as it contains newer and significantly better content. This means that support in this repository has been completely disabled. Issues, PRs and discussions will not receive any further attention.

Welcome to the Introduction to Collaborative Development course! This repository contains all necessary resources to achieve a basic formation in common development practices, Python programming and code editing skills.

It is intended to be a foundation for collaborative development. It can be really useful for students that are starting their career in the industry. It does not intend to replace any official courses, yet it covers a set of topics that can be used as a kickstart for further learning.

Structure

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gitGraph
   commit id: "Welcome!" type: HIGHLIGHT

   commit id: "Version control"
   branch version-control
   checkout version-control
   commit id: "Git setup"
   commit id: "Git and GitHub features"
   commit id: "GitHub Desktop setup"
   checkout main
   merge version-control

   commit id: "Python setup"
   branch python
   checkout python
   commit id: "Interpreter setup"
   commit id: "Package manager setup"
   commit id: "Virtual environment setup"
   checkout main
   merge python

   commit id: "Visual Studio Code"
   branch visual-studio-code
   checkout visual-studio-code
   commit id: "Editor setup"
   commit id: "Extensions setup"
   checkout main
   merge visual-studio-code

   commit id: "Python programming"

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Environment setup

This section covers the steps required to set up the collaborative environment for software development. It is divided into three subsections:

1. Version control: introduction to Git usage through the GitHub platform, as well as GitHub-specific tools for team collaboration.

   1. Git setup
   2. Git and GitHub features
   3. GitHub Desktop setup

2. Python: introduction to the language and component setup.

   1. Interpreter setup
   2. Package manager setup
   3. Virtual environment setup (future updates)

3. Visual Studio Code: introduction to the editor tool and component setup.

   1. Editor setup
   2. Extensions setup

Python programming

This section covers topics related to Python programming from basic to intermediate level. It is divided into three subsections:

1. Standard data types, control statements, functions and classes
2. Error handling and external libraries usage
3. Code stylization

Software specifications

Here are the specifications for the software tools used in this course:

Software	Version	Windows support	macOS support	Linux support	Optional
Python	3.11.2	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Git	2.39.2+	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
GitHub Desktop	3.1.6+	Yes	Yes	Yes1	Yes
Visual Studio Code	1.75.0+	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

How to follow the course?

The course is designed to cover several topics in a organized way. In order to do that, you only need to read a chapter until you reach the end, where you will find a link to the next one.

You are free to explore the repository as you wish, yet it is highly recommended to follow the course in the expected order, since not doing so might lead to confusion, configuration errors and other undetermined issues.

Git

First off, let's start by installing Git as our version control software. You will find all the necessary instructions in the next chapter.

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Disclaimer

This course is intended to be used as a foundation for collaborative development. It is not intended to be a complete course on any of the topics covered. It is highly recommended to explore the topics covered in this course in more depth for further learning.

Contents covered by this course do not represent any official validation of the knowledge acquired by the students. The repository is an open-source tool for learning purposes only.

Suggestions over the contents of this course are welcome, yet it is not assured that all (or any) suggestions will be implemented. Feel free to open an issue or a pull request to suggest any change.

This repository is subject to the GNU Affero General Public License v3. Feel free to explore its permissions and limitations at any time.

Footnotes

1. Linux support is not explicitely provided by GitHub, but it can be installed through this repository. ↩