THE NORTH COMPASS.

How Computers Think

Understand what code is, what a program does, and how computers follow instructions.

Your First Lines of Code

Write working Python code: print, variables, simple math. No installation.

Decisions & Loops · Build a Text Game

Use if/else and loops to make programs that adapt and repeat — and ship your first text-adventure game.

Working with Data · Story & Song Generators

Lists, dictionaries, and reading real data — the foundation of every game, creative tool, or dataset.

What is AI, Really?

AI demystified — pattern matching, training data, why models get things wrong.

Build Your First AI Classifier

Write Python that classifies things based on rules — the foundation of every model, game AI, and recommender.

Ethics & Responsibility

When AI helps, when it hurts, and who decides — for games, creative tools, and community apps.

Capstone: Ship Something You Love

Build, document, and present a Python program you're proud of — a game, a creative tool, or a community helper. Your choice.

Python Foundations

Variables, types, control flow, functions — the real syntax every engineer uses.

Data Structures

Lists, dicts, sets, tuples — how games track state, how apps store user data, how models represent inputs.

Files & Real Data

Read CSVs and JSON, clean messy data, save game scores, write results.

Modules & Libraries

Use the standard library; install and use third-party packages (Pygame, Pillow, Requests).

Calling Real APIs

HTTP, REST, authentication, parsing responses — pull real-world data for a game, a bot, or a community tool.

Version Control with Git

Real engineering workflow: commits, branches, pull requests — every professional codebase runs on this.

Intro to Machine Learning

What ML actually is. Train your first model with scikit-learn — a game AI, a recommender, or a classifier.

Working with LLMs

Call an LLM from Python, write good prompts, build a chatbot — for a game NPC, a study buddy, or a community helper.

Ship It: Deploy a Real App

Take working code and put it on the real internet — where friends, family, or the world can use it.

Capstone: Ship an AI App You Designed

Ship a deployed AI app in the lane you pick — a game with an AI opponent, a creative tool for your friends, or a community project.

The Engineering Mindset

How real engineers think: decomposition, testing, debugging — the habits behind every shipped product.

Professional Python

OOP, exceptions, type hints, async basics — production-quality code, no matter what you're building.

Data Science Toolkit

NumPy, pandas, matplotlib — the working data scientist's stack. Every field uses it.

Algorithms & Complexity

Big-O, sorting, searching, recursion — the CS fundamentals that pass technical interviews.

Machine Learning In Depth

Train, evaluate, tune real models. Understand the math. Whether it's a game AI, a recommender, or a research classifier.

Neural Networks & Deep Learning

Build a neural net from scratch, then with PyTorch — the same tools that power generative art, game AI, and modern research.

Production LLM Engineering

Fine-tuning, RAG, evaluation, guardrails — how real LLM apps are built. Same skills whether you're building a Dungeon Master, a study coach, or a research assistant.

Bias & Harm Auditing

Audit your own model. Write a real harm assessment. The skill no traditional CS class teaches — and every serious AI job requires.

Software Engineering Practice

Testing, CI, code review, working in a team like a pro. What separates a hobby project from a shipped product.

Deploying to Production

FastAPI, Docker, cloud deployment — ship like a real engineer. Same stack for a game backend, a creative tool, or a research app.

MLOps & Monitoring

What happens after the model ships — drift, retraining, monitoring. The stuff that keeps production AI alive.

Capstone: Portfolio Project

Build, audit, deploy, document, and present a portfolio-quality AI project in the lane you pick — game engine, creative tool, research prototype, or community app.