Free online training offered with 8-session programming tutorials

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Users of the Wolfram Language are fired up to improve their knowledge and skills, and we’re bringing a series of programming tutorials to Wolfram U to help meet this need, starting on February 18. Sessions meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a weekly quiz will be offered to assess your progress. Wolfram Technology Certified Level I will be awarded to participants who successfully complete additional assigned problems.This is an ambitious project with comprehensive content, and I’d love to hear what people think of it. Registration is open now.

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We were very happy to host a number of newcomers to the Wolfram Language at the very first session of the tutorial series. Here are some of the poll questions that the attendees were asked to answer during the session:

Which of the following will create a list of the first 100 cubes?

  • Table[i^3,{i,1,100}]
  • Table[i,{i^3,1,100}]
  • Range[100]^3
  • Both 1 and 3 ✓

What is the Head of the expression 10 + 20 I?

  • Integer
  • Number
  • Complex ✓
  • None of the above

Which of the following lists contains only atoms?

  • {a+b, 23, "hope"}
  • {23, 3 + 4 I, "tomorrow"} ✓
  • {200.23, f[10], 5/6}
  • {100.0, $MachineID, x = 10}

How can you convert an Association into a List of Rules?

  • ToList[assoc]
  • Normal[assoc] ✓
  • {Keys[assoc],Values[assoc]}
  • This is not possible
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Thanks to the tutorial participants who reported a problem with scoring for Quiz 1. We have identified an error with the scoring, and it is now fixed. We apologize for the problem. If you attempted the quiz earlier, please reload the quiz notebook (to be sure that you have the latest version) and try it again.

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Here are a few more review questions from session 2:

How can the following be re-written using PatternTest?

x_/;EvenQ[x]==True

  • x_/;?EvenQ
  • x_?EvenQ==True
  • x_?EvenQ ✓
  • x_EvenQ?

Which pattern correctly captures the substrings starting with “a” and ending with “c” from the string “aaabcdeadc”?

  • "a"~~"c"
  • "a"~~~~"c"
  • "a"~~_~~"c" ✓
  • "a"_"c"

How would you set the option to select all possible substrings from “xyz”?

  • No option is required
  • Set Overlaps to All ✓
  • Set Overlaps to True
  • All of the above
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Review questions from Session 3:

Flow control with multiple branches can be achieved using:

  • Nested If statements
  • Which
  • Switch
  • All of the above ✓

Which of the following is an example of a pure function that accepts two arguments?

  • #^2+#^3 &
  • #1^2+#2^2 & ✓
  • #x^2+#y^2 &
  • None of the above

Having defined exp1=Sin[x]+Cos[x], which of the following will compute the value of exp1 for x = 10.0?

  • Module[{x=10.0},exp1]
  • Block[{x=10.0},exp1] ✓
  • With[{x=10.0},exp1]
  • All of the above
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I have downloaded the notebooks for the first 4 lessons. I can open the first two without any problems. When I open #3 or #4 the window doesn’t show although the Windows task bar shows an open window. When I kill the window a flashing image of a window rushes in from the right off-screen as it shrinks rapidly to nothing. Have the notebook windows been saved with settings used in the live seminars?
…
puzzled
…

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Hi Douglas,
Does the Window → “Bring All to Front” (or Window → Arrange Windows → Tile Vertically) menu option, in Mathematica/Wolfram Desktop, work to bring the notebook windows within view?
Notebooks #3 and #4 were saved with similar settings as #1 and #2.
Thanks.

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Yes, Cascade Widows made them accessible.
Oops, I have to save 3 and 4 to keep accessibility permanent..
3 and 4 are in a nice slideshow arrangement with a << ↔ >> navigation bar at the top.
1 and 2 are regular notebooks with navigation by scrolling up and down

Thank you,

Doug

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Looking through the exercises, am not sure about the intent of item #1.12: Write a function greatestCommonDivisor …

The question seems to suggest this is a one-line exercise. Of course, using the GCD function in Mathematica would be trivial – so the intent must be something else. But writing a function to find the GCD is probably not a one line exercise, as described here: wikipedia page for GCD.

Can you expand on the intent of this question?
Thanks!

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Do you have the links for the last quiz and he exercises?

Thanks.

george

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Sending them to you over email.

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Hi there! I’d like to recieve that email too, if it’s possible.
Thanks!

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I also would appreciate if organizers clarify item 1.12.

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All programming tutorial participants will receive an email on March 26 listing all four quiz links and the link to the exercise set. Quizzes and exercises are due April 2.

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There absolutely is a one-line solution using recursion and Euclid’s algorithm.

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Dear Viktor,
Thank you for your comment.
You are absolutely right, but this is a training for beginners.
As I know (found) the correct answer, I am positive now that implementation of Euclid’s algorithm is not expected in item 1.12.
I realized that organizers provided a clue, but still believe that a more clear wording would be useful for the tutorial participants.
Best regards.
Alexey.

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Hi, I just discovered this but wish I had earlier. I know I won’t be able to take part in quizzes and exercises but can I get recorded sessions. It will be a great help.

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Yes! The eight recorded sessions and the lecture notebooks are available here:

Click on an individual video to access the download link from the control bar.

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Thanks a lot!

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Regarding the exercises, should all answers be submitted at once, or can submitting answers be spaced out over several days and several sessions?