Starter path · step 01 · 2 to 4 weeks

Programming you'll actually use

The terminal, Git and Python, to the level where tooling stops being the problem.

Most beginners don't get stuck on robotics. They get stuck on the shell, on environments, and on Git. This module is here so that module 04 is about robots.

Do this

The Missing Semester of Your CS Education (MIT). Shell, editors, Git, debugging, the things nobody teaches. Do the lectures on the shell, shell tools, version control and command-line environment. Skip the rest for now.
6.100L Introduction to CS and Programming Using Python (MIT OpenCourseWare, 2022). If you're new to programming, do it fully. If you've coded in another language, do the problem sets only and skim the lectures.
Python for Everybody (University of Michigan). The gentler alternative to 6.100L. Pick one of the two, not both.

Build

Write a Python script that reads a CSV of joint angles, plots them, and saves the figure. Commit it to a GitHub repository with a README. That's your first robotics repo, and it's the format you'll use for everything later.

Skip

Any course that teaches Python through web development.
Memorising Git commands beyond clone, add, commit, push, pull, branch and checkout.

Done when: you can create a virtual environment, install packages, run a script, fix a traceback, and push to GitHub without looking anything up.