CSCI 121: CS Fundamentals I

Syllabus   •   Schedule   •   Assignments

Weekly Schedule

Below I will be adding lecture materials as the course progresses. These will be lecture slides, code examples, relevant links, and readings. For the readings
• “PP” is Adam Groce’s text Principled Programming,
• “TP” is the Think Python text, and
• “CP” is the Composing Programs text.

I have also drafted a schedule that lays out my sense of what we’ll be covering, how we’ll be covering it, and when.

Week 1: scripting; computing values

Reading: the syllabus on the main page of this site.
Lecture 0: course overview.
Lecture 1: intro to Python.
• example code from lecture.
Project 0: set-up.
Homework 1: scripting.
Lecture 2: more Python; conditionals.

Reading: PP Chs. 1.1-1.3; TP Ch. 1 and TP Ch. 2; CP Ch. 1.1 and 1.2

Week 2: conditional execution; if and while

Lecture 1: if and while
Homework 2: conditionals and loops
Lecture 2: user-defined functions

Week 3: functions and procedures

Lecture 1: def; return; None
Homework 3: functions
Lecture 2: procedures
Project 1: Roll100

Week 4: lists and dictionaries

Lecture 1: lists
Homework 4: lists
Lecture 2: more on lists

Week 5: dictionaries; recursion

Lecture 1: lists
Homework 5: dictionaries
Lecture 2: recursion
• Fibonacci code
• “noisy” Fibonacci
Project 2: Ciphers

Week 6: recursion; object-orientation

Lecture 1: more recursion
• word collapse code
Homework 6: Recursion
Lecture 2: object classes
• sample oo code

Week 7: inheritance; higher order functions

Lecture 1: inheritance
• Practice midterm 1a and solution
• Practice midterm 1b and solution
Homework 7: classes
Lecture 2: frames and functions

Week 8: midterm; linked lists

Midterm: midterm exam on Homework 1 through 5
• int, str, float, bool and their operations
• assignment statements and variable use
• input and print
• defining and calling functions
• if and while
• lists and dictionaries

Week 8: linked lists

Spring Break

Week 9: linked lists; searching

Week 10: efficiency, running time, and sorting

Week 11: binary search trees

Week 12: file I/O; exceptions

Week 13: review; evaluation