We are going to be learning to program using C# in Microsoft Visual Studio Community edition. It can be downloaded for free from Microsoft's official website:
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
We will also be using GitHub to store our assignments online. Please make an account. Note that if you use your school email address for this account, when you graduate you will lose access unless you change the primary email address associated with it.
You are welcome to bring your own laptop from home and use that if you wish.
In addition to my material, there is a huge amount of information available online for you to find that can help you with this course.
For the programming component of this course, we will be working through a variety of topics that will gradually introduce new programming concepts to you. We will move through these as a class, but feel free to work ahead. Our end goal is for you to make a large game or application of your choosing as a final project.
We are programming using software that is free for everyone to use. As long as you have a Windows PC or a Mac, you can download and install Microsoft Visual Studio for free: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
Make sure that you choose to download the Community Edition as it is free. Grab the latest version.
Learning to program isn't easy. It takes effort and concentration. Try to do the following things while working through the course material.
1 - Listen
Pay attention to demos, explanations etc. when I am talking to the class.
Even if I am talking about something that you have already completed, hearing/seeing it again can further reinforce and clarify things and give you a better understanding.
2 - Read EVERYTHING
I wouldn't go through the effort of typing something into a tutorial/document if I didn't think it was important.
3 - Experiment
Try changing example code and predict what will happen.
If you have an idea of something you would like to do or try that is different than what I have put in my tutorials....try it out.
4 - Practice
There are programming tasks in various topics that I am not collecting/marking but have provided a link to solutions instead. Attempt to program these on your own, and compare your solutions to mine.
There are many ways to achieve the same result while programming. Seeing how different people think is important.
Ask for help when you are stuck.
5 - Go Beyond
I often have additional challenges added to assignments. Try some of them. Come up with your own. It will help you learn better and I will take additional features into account when I'm marking. It may even be fun.
Take pride in your work, and make the effort to make things look complete and professional. Examples:
Spelling, grammar, capitalization etc...
Make clear prompts, instructions and descriptions of results in your programs so the user knows exactly what to do, and what results they are getting.
If programming a GUI, pay attention to symmetry, layout, color and ease of use are all things that can really take a program to the next level.
There will be times when you are stuck, or simply can't remember something. There are many places that you can find the help you need such as:
My lessons/tutorials.
My C# reference pages can be found in the menu:
Quick References: https://sites.google.com/gotvdsb.ca/aldworth/home/ics3u-c/c-quick-references
Windows Forms References: https://sites.google.com/gotvdsb.ca/aldworth/home/ics3u-c/winforms-references
Official Microsoft Documentation.
An internet search engine.
A classmate.