Saturday, October 10, 2026
Path 5 of 6 · People who can write a little code
Call a model from your own code: OpenAI, Gemini and Claude side by side, then Microsoft's open course to put it together. Some Python helps.
You'll be able to
Step 1CourseOpenAI
Get an API key, install the library and make a first request; then send images and files and add tools such as web search and function calling.
Free to read; running the code calls an API that bills per use.
Step 2CourseGoogle
Create a key and send a first request in Python, JavaScript or plain HTTP; then streaming, images, structured output and tools.
Has a free tier, handy for practice.
Free tier with rate limits; a paid tier lifts them.
Step 3CourseAnthropic
A full developer course in 13 modules: first requests, prompting, tool use, retrieval, MCP and agent workflows, with exercises. Needs Python and some JSON.
Free to read; running the code calls an API that bills per use.
Step 4CourseMicrosoft
Microsoft's open course of 21 lessons, each with a short video and code, from prompting basics to building chat, search and image apps.
Free to read; running the code calls an API that bills per use.
Step 5CourseGoogle
Quickstarts and worked examples that open as notebooks you can run in the browser.
Step 6CourseAnthropicOptional
Five notebook courses meant to be taken in order: API fundamentals, prompting, real-world prompting, prompt evaluations and tool use.
Free to read; running the code calls an API that bills per use.
Step 7CourseOpenAIOptional
Open-source, runnable examples for common jobs (retrieval, structured output, evaluation, agents), mostly in Python.
Free to read; running the code calls an API that bills per use.
Step 8CourseHugging FaceOptional
Hugging Face's open course on how language models work and how to fine-tune, evaluate and share them. Needs good Python.
Go under the hood: how the models themselves work.
Step 9Coursefast.aiOptional
Nine 90-minute video lessons that get programmers training real models quickly, with a free book of runnable notebooks.
