[Courses] Beginning programming course

[Akkana Peck]

Looks like there's plenty of interest in a beginning programming course,
and Python is winning by a big margin (though people who'd prefer to
learn Javascript, it's not too late to jump in and change the vote).

Okay, I'll do it. I'll start in a week or two. Next question:
assuming I post weekly lessons, which day would be better,
Wednesday, Friday or Sunday? Friday is a little easier for me, but
lessons might get lost in the "Whee, it's a weekend, don't want to
think about learning stuff".

This will be an email course run right here on the Courses list --
I'd love to see us use Moodle for something some day, but I don't
have time right now to be the guinea pig.

The course probably won't run very long -- I'm thinking four or five
weekly lessons to start. That should get everybody fairly comfortable
with using Python and with basic programming concepts.
After that, we can see how things are going and whether Jacinta has
started the Perl course yet, and decide whether to continue with Python.

There will be homework.  You should plan to do the homework: you
can't learn how to program just from reading what somebody writes
about it. I promise I won't load you down with anything super hard
or time consuming.

	...Akkana