If AI tools were not available

If students were not allowed to use AI assistants, Python knowledge would be essential because they would need to:

• understand data structures and data cleaning
• translate statistical procedures into computational steps
• debug errors and recognize when code is wrong
• verify that a method actually matches the research question
• carry out analysis without relying on outside automation

In that setting, Python literacy would be foundational rather than optional.

Adapted from Python for Introductory Statistics, by Simon Aman (Truman College, City Colleges of Chicago), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes were made: reformatted as an accessible XYZ web edition with live in-browser code cells. License: CC-BY-4.0.