Programming has become a central competency of Mathematics, Physics, and related industrial applications. Needless to say, programming is important for students at UQ's School of Mathematics and Physics (SMP). The ability to understand and write computer code is critical to success in coursework, research, and industry.
SMP hosted and funded a “programming bootcamp” aimed at UQ students that have little or no programming experience and have already taken some UQ Mathematics, Physics, or Statistics courses.
The bootcamp spanned 6 days during July 2023 with 5 hours of face-to-face activity per day, and additional zoom support session in the evening of most days.
A few dozen students enrolled in the bootcamp with about a dozen students finishing it in flying colours, able to create a chess program from first principles in Python. These students will now continue to more advanced SMP courses with confidence in programming where they can further build their skills.
