CSC111 Class Page 2010

Main Page | Syllabus | Weekly Schedule | Links & Resources

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Prof and TAs

Dominique Thiébaut email Dept. Computer Science Ford Hall, 356. Telephone: 3854 Office hours TBA, and by appointments

Click here for TA hours this week.

Weekly Schedule

Week	Topics	Reading
Week 1 1/25	Monday Review syllabus Introduction to computer programming Wednesday keywords: and del for is raise assert elif from lambda return break else global not try class except if or while continue exec import pass yield def finally in print Variables Data types Functions Parameter passing Friday Review of the lab Accessing beowulf with a Mac how submit works an example of good documentation: NicelyDocumentedProgram.py exercises: CSC111_Exercises_1 Lab #1 Homework #1 & Solution program 1 and Solution program 2	Read Chapter 1 in Zelle. Read the article on pair programming. We will discuss it in class on Monday 2/1.
Week 2 2/1	Monday: discuss the article on pair programming Robert Fulghum Quotes Beginning discussion of what computer science is about. Towers of Hanoi Block-Structured Languages Understanding blocks Print Exercises Wednesday What's a variable? Naming convention Assignment Multiple assignments Loops Semantics versus Syntax Loop examples Block and Loop Exercises Friday to use main() or not to use main()? Review the use of parentheses () and brackets [] Difference between a list ( , , ) and a list [ , , ] More Loop Exercises Lab #2 Homework #2 and Solutions Programs	We cover Chapter 2 of Zelle this week Start reading Getting Started with Linux and play with the commands on Beowulf
Week 3 2/8	Monday Continuation of Loop Exercises Top-Down design More on loops: indexing Accumulating results Wednesday Playing with Sound files Interesting sound bites: Video 1: Physics of sound: A metal plate is connected to an oscillator and frequency is increased... Video 2: The source of waves (1933). You may skip after the first 6 minutes. Video 3: Theresa Andersson in "Na Na Na" Morning Edition 's Report on Guito Monks Playing with JES ( sample code) Friday Lab #3 and Solution Programs Homework #3 and solution programs	Chapter 3 in Zelle. The math library (I will not cover it in class, but you should read it) Type conversion (important!)
Week 4 2/15	Monday Types, operators Working with indexes and strings Slicing up strings Wednesday No class, Rally Day Friday Exercises Lab #4 and solution programs Homework #4	Strings and string slices are described in Chapter 4. Python Quick Reference
Week 5 2/22	Monday Poems!!! Formatted output (Section 4.5.2 in Zelle) Functions (Section 6.2 in Zelle) Syntax Scope Passing parameters Examples Wednesday Exercises: Understanding Functions Top-down design Introduction to graphics programming Friday A look at CSC111 Zelle graphics.py, the graphics library A few things to know about lists (shallow vs deep copy) Top-Down design, one more time! the crude undocumented program we put together in class.... And if you spend more time on it, you get this program... Lab #5 and solution programs Homework #5	Read Section 6.2 in Zelle Grahics programming is covered in Chapter 5
Week 6 3/1	Monday Random poems, revisited: A look at the work of Eitan Mendelowitz on an interactive setup where random poems are generated. Eitan Mendelowitz's installation, Drafting Poems In this video, play close attention to the digital horses, and how, in the preliminary movie, we see how the horses are just collections of fixed size blocks (cylinders) attached to each other. In the next video, the scarabs are objects (particles) that move on their own, in a given direction, avoiding collision with objects. What happens if you connect basic shapes together at random, connect them with articulation points, give them energy to move one block around the other, and iterate hundred of thousands of times and keep the best solutions to generate new ones? (and more videos on this page). Functions returning values Wednesday Friday Lab #6 Homework #6: Skipped for this week: prepare for midterm!	Read Chapter 5 in Zelle
Week 7 3/8	Monday Wednesday Thursday: Midterm Exam Friday No Lab this week. Midterm instead! Homework #7 (due week after Spring break)
Week 8 3/15	SPRING BREAK
Week 9 3/22	Monday Wednesday Friday Lab #8 Homework #8
Week 10 3/29	Monday Wednesday Friday Lab #9 Homework #9
Week 11 4/5	Monday Wednesday Friday Lab #10 Homework #10
Week 12 4/12	Monday Wednesday Friday: No Class Lab #11 Homework #11
Week 13 4/19	Monday Wednesday Friday Lab #12 Homework #12
Week 14 4/26	Monday Wednesday Friday: Last Class: Final take home exam Lab #13 Final Exam

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Links and Resources

Python keywords

The list of all the reserved words of the Python language

and del for is raise assert elif from lambda return break else global not try class except if or while continue exec import pass yield def finally in print

Linux

• Getting Started with Linux (from U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
• Intermediate Linux (from U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
• A good Emacs tutorial
• Emacs Quick Reference

Misc

• If you decide to work in pairs for the homework assignments, you need to follow the protocol for 'pair programming' as discussed in this article.

• Video talks on Python:
  • Guido van Rossum, and Python 3000

• All the programs of Zelle's Python textbook

• a video of digital horses: what we can do with lists of objects!

Software

• Installing and using the Secure Shell Client on a Windows PC.

• Using SSH on Windows, Linux, or on a Mac with OS X

Math

• Powers of 2

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