Python Fundamentals — A Tutors Interactive Course

A comprehensive introduction to Python programming built for the Tutors open-source learning platform. This course showcases three new Tutors capabilities working together: interactive Jupyter notebooks with in-browser Python execution, Marp slide presentations, and Mermaid diagrams.

What Makes This Course Different

Traditional online courses present code as static text. This course uses Tutors' new interactive notebook features to let students write and run Python code directly in the browser — no local setup required.

Interactive Exercise Cells

Exercise cells render as fully editable code editors (powered by CodeMirror). Students modify the skeleton code and click Run to execute it via Pyodide (Python compiled to WebAssembly). The Python runtime loads once and runs entirely client-side.

Hidden Solutions with Two-Stage Reveal

Solution cells are hidden by default behind a Show Solution button. When clicked, the solution code appears — but the output stays hidden until the student clicks Run. This encourages students to read and understand the code before seeing the result.

Marp Slide Presentations

Each topic opens with a Marp slide deck introducing key concepts. Slides are authored in Markdown and rendered directly in the browser — no PowerPoint or PDF files needed.

Mermaid Diagrams

Visual notes use Mermaid diagrams (flowcharts, class diagrams, sequence diagrams, mind maps) to illustrate Python concepts like type hierarchies, control flow patterns, and OOP relationships.

Course Content

#	Topic	Slides	Notebook	Diagrams	Lab
1	Getting Started with Python	yes	16 cells	yes	—
2	Variables and Data Types	yes	20 cells	yes	4 steps
3	Operators and Expressions	yes	19 cells	yes	—
4	Control Flow	yes	21 cells	yes	4 steps
5	Loops	yes	23 cells	yes	4 steps
6	Functions	yes	23 cells	yes	4 steps
7	Data Structures	yes	25 cells	yes	4 steps
8	File I/O and Error Handling	yes	23 cells	yes	—
9	Modules and Packages	yes	21 cells	yes	—
10	Object-Oriented Programming	yes	25 cells	yes	5 steps

Totals: 10 topics, 10 slide decks, 216 notebook cells (20 exercises + 20 solutions), 18 Mermaid diagrams, 6 labs with 25 steps

Course Structure

This is a standard Tutors source course using the folder-based authoring format:

├── properties.yaml          # Course config
├── course.md                # Course description
├── topic-01-getting-started/
│   ├── topic.md             # Topic title + summary
│   └── unit-1/
│       ├── unit.md          # Unit title
│       ├── talk-1-welcome-to-python/
│       │   ├── talk.md      # Talk title + summary
│       │   └── talk.marp    # Marp slide content
│       ├── notebook-first-program/
│       │   ├── notebook.md  # Notebook title + summary
│       │   └── notebook.ipynb  # Jupyter notebook
│       └── note-1-python-ecosystem/
│           └── note.md      # Markdown with Mermaid diagrams
├── topic-02-variables/
│   └── unit-1/
│       ├── talk-1-variables-types/
│       ├── notebook-variables/
│       ├── note-1-type-system/
│       └── book-variables-practice/   # Lab
│           ├── 00.Variables-Practice.md
│           ├── 01.Setup.md
│           ├── 02.Type-Exploration.md
│           └── ...
└── ... (10 topics total)

Content types

• Talks (talk-N/): Marp slide decks in .marp files with a talk.md summary
• Notebooks (notebook-slug/): Standard .ipynb Jupyter notebooks with exercise/solution cell tags
• Notes (note-N/): Full Markdown documents with embedded Mermaid diagrams
• Labs (book-slug/): Step-by-step lab guides as numbered Markdown files

Cell Metadata Convention

Interactive behavior is driven by standard Jupyter cell metadata tags:

{ "metadata": { "tags": ["exercise"] } }

• "exercise" — renders as an editable CodeMirror editor with Pyodide execution
• "solution" — hidden by default with a two-stage reveal (Show Solution → Run)

Any Tutors course can adopt this convention in its notebook cells.

Building and Running

1. Install the Tutors CLI:

   npm install -g @tutors/tutors-apps-cli

2. Generate the course JSON:

   tutors-json

3. Serve the generated output and open it in the Tutors reader.

Alternatively, to test locally with the Tutors development server:

1. Clone the Tutors reader app and run npm run dev
2. Serve this course directory:

   npx serve . -p 5501 --cors

3. Open: http://localhost:5173/course/localhost:5501

Platform Requirements

The interactive notebook features (exercise cells, solution hiding) require the Tutors reader with interactive notebook support merged. Standard Tutors features (Marp slides, Mermaid diagrams, labs) work on the current release.

License

This course content is provided as a reference implementation for the Tutors platform.