Ch. 1, 2

Installing Python, what is a program/algorithm, parts of a computer, goals of programming/CS, beginning to program in Python. Variable - how they work, what they are.

To do: download and install Python and either FileZilla or WinSCP, upload files to CS server (see assignments page).

To do: right-click to save each of the following - higherlower.py, crypto.py, snowflake.py. Open Python IDLE (on Windows, click Start / Programs / Python 2.7 / IDLE). With IDLE open, click File, then Open, then choose one of the files. Click Run, then Run Module. Do that for each of the files.

Terms to know: program, algorithm, bug, debugging, syntax error, semantic error, natural language, formal language, variable, keywords, statement, operator, operand, expression, comment, order of operations, data type, integer, floating-point, string, assignment, evaluate,

Python to know: print, *, -, /, +, type, '', =, (), #,

Supplemental Reading: simple assembly language -- what the computer can do at a basic level, but we don't need to think at that level because we have Python (and other high-level computer languages).

Functions, doc strings, keeping your code organized, converting between types. Defining functions and using functions. How a function works. How python evaluates expressions with multiple function calls in them. Passing parameters to functions (input to the function), and return values from functions.

Integer division and remainder/modulus. Using if, elif, else statements, and the Boolean expressions that are needed for those. Difference between comparision == and assignment =. Being able to think through which statements are being executed with if's in a program.
Getting input using raw_input.

Reading error messages that Python gives you, and trying to use them to find what is wrong in your program.

Terms to know: function, function definition, parameter, function call, argument, return, module, dot notation, Boolean, relational operators (comparison), logical operators (and, or not), modulus,

Python to know: type conversion functions (int, float, str), import math, using math functions like math.sqrt, def, None, return, %, ==, True, False, !=, >, <, >=, <=, and, or not, if, else, elif, raw_input,

Note: We are skipping chapter 4, that does turtle graphics. We will do turtle graphics in a slightly different way than the book a little bit later.

Finishing up some things from last week.

How while loops work, and examples using them.

Focus on incremental development and debugging techniques.

Higher/lower game!

Terms to know: incremental development, algorithm, initialization, update, increment, decrement, infinite loop

Python to know: while, break,

Note: We have skipped over the parts on recursion. We will come back to them later.

Finishing up some things from last week.

More about dealing with strings/text - builtin functions that Python provides for searching, replacing, dealing with lower/upper case, etc. Using for loops for iterating over each letter in a string.

Terms to know: index, for loop, string slice, immutable versus mutable (unchangeable versus changeable), object (data type that has both data and functions/methods associated with it), method (function associated with an object, accessed with .)

Python to know: using [] and [:] with strings, len, for, string methods (upper, lower, find), in operator, string comparisons (==, <, <=, >, >=, !=)

Supplementary reading: ASCII Code, binary search in number guessing game.

First exam: Sep 20

Python to know: if/elif/else/while/for "one line shortcut", ** for exponentiation (like 10**3 for 1000), * with strings ("ab"*3 makes "ababab"), more string functions (count, replace, see python documentation for more)

Continuing with strings, for loops, while loops. Introducing turtles.

Terms to know: global variable,

Python to know: from turtle import *, turtle functions - forward, left, right, setheading, setx, sety, resetscreen, bgcolor, penup, pendown, pensize, color, tracer, onscreenclick, onclick, mainloop, global for global variable

Note: For information on using turtle functions, see the comments in the in-class code. For further information, you can look at turtle documentation at python.org

Supplemental: Decoding Nazi Secrets - video and information on cracking the Enigma code in WWII, Beyond Computation: The P vs NP Problem - presentation given at Harvard about problem that is related to whether cryptography can be secure, The Code Book - nice book about encryption throughout history (easy read)

Text adventure game. Being able to look things up on python.org.

Terms to know:

Python to know: +=, *=, /=, %=,

Lists, dictionaries, and tuples.

Terms to know: alias of a list/dictionary, list, dictionary, tuple, dictionary keys and values, hash table, hashable (numbers, strings, tuples), dictionary lookup, immutable (tuples/strings),

Python to know: [] or list function to create list, {} or dict function to create dictionary, () or tuple function to create tuple, differences between list/dictionary/tuple, len function with lists/dictionaries/tuples, [:] and [] to access lists/dictionaries/tuples and update lists/dictionaries, for loop and lists/dictionaries/tuples, range function, + and * for lists, list functions (append, extend, sort, remove), del/pop/remove with lists, string functions (split, strip), how lists/dictionaries are passed into and out of functions, returning multiple values and doing multiple assignment with tuples,

Same as last week - lists, dictionaries, tuples.

Second exam: Oct 25

Dealing with text from files and the web.

Python to know: file operations (open, close, read, write, readlines, use in a loop, second parameter - 'r' or leave out for read mode, 'w' for write mode), catching exceptions, using pickle module (dumps and loads methods), making your own modules, using urllib2 with urlopen/readline/close

Extra software: Visual Python

Some examples of better and worse ways to solve a problem where one is much slower than the other - binary versus linear search, sorting, examples in the chapters.

Reading outside of book: Binary Search Sorting Algorithms

Thanksgiving break - no classes

Final Exam