Professor: Richard Wicentowski
Time: Mon/Wed/Fri 10:30-11:20
Location: Science Center 240
Office: Science Center 251
Phone: (610) 690-5643
Office hours: Thursday 9-11 am, or by appointment
Required Textbook:
This course will introduce fundamental ideas in computer science while also teaching you how to write computer programs. Algorithms will be implemented in the Python programming language. Python is an interpreted language that is known for its ease of use. Object-oriented programming and data structures will be introduced. A deeper coverage of these topics will be presented in CS 35.
This course is appropriate for all students who want to learn how to write computer programs. It is the usual first course for computer science majors and minors. Students with advanced placement credit or extensive programming experience should place out of this course and instead begin with CS 35.
In the schedule below, the reading listed next to each day is the reading that we will be discussing in class on that day, not that night's reading assignment. You must come to class having already done the reading listed next to each day.
| WEEK | DAY | ANNOUNCEMENTS | TOPIC & READING | HOMEWORK |
| 1 | Jan 22 | Introduction Writing/running programs in Python Zelle Chapters 1-2 |
HW #1 | |
| Jan 24 | ||||
| Jan 26 | ||||
| 2 | Jan 29 | Computing with numbers and strings Using pseudocode Zelle Chapters 3-4 |
HW #2 | |
| Jan 31 | ||||
| Feb 02 | Quiz 1 (Solution) | |||
| 3 | Feb 05 | Graphics Using objects Zelle Chapter 5 |
HW #3 | |
| Feb 07 | ||||
| Feb 09 | ||||
| 4 | Feb 12 | Functions Zelle Chapter 6 |
HW #4 | |
| Feb 14 | ||||
| Feb 16 | Quiz 2 (Solution) | |||
| 5 | Feb 19 | Decision structures Exceptions Zelle Chapter 7 |
HW #5 | |
| Feb 21 | ||||
| Feb 23 | ||||
| 6 | Feb 26 | Loops Booleans Zelle Chapter 8 |
HW #6 | |
| Feb 28 | ||||
| Mar 02 | Quiz 3 (Solution) | |||
| 7 | Mar 05 | Top-down design Zelle Chapter 9 |
||
| Mar 07 | ||||
| Mar 09 | ||||
| Mar 12 | Spring Vacation | |||
| Mar 14 | ||||
| Mar 16 | ||||
| 8 | Mar 19 | Lists and Dictionaries Zelle 11 |
HW #7 | |
| Mar 21 | ||||
| Mar 23 | Quiz 4 (Solution) | Searching, Recursion, and Sorting Zelle Chapter 13 |
||
| 9 | Mar 26 | HW #8 | ||
| Mar 28 | ||||
| Mar 30 | ||||
| 10 | Apr 02 | HW #9 | ||
| Apr 04 | Defining new classes Zelle Chapter 10 |
|||
| Apr 06 | Quiz 5 (Solution) | |||
| 11 | Apr 09 | Object-oriented design Zelle Chapter 12 |
HW #10 | |
| Apr 11 | ||||
| Apr 13 | Linked lists | |||
| 12 | Apr 16 | HW #11 | ||
| Apr 18 | ||||
| Apr 20 | Quiz 6 (Solution) | Binary search trees | ||
| 13 | Apr 23 | HW #12 | ||
| Apr 25 | ||||
| Apr 27 | Advanced Python | |||
| 14 | Apr 30 | OPTIONAL HW #13 |
||
| May 02 | ||||
| May 04 | Quiz 7 (Solution) | |||
| May 18 | Final exam: Friday, May 18 from 2 pm - 5 pm (SciCtr 199) | |||
Grades will be weighted as follows:
| 40% | Homework assignments |
| 30% | Quizzes |
| 25% | Final Exam |
| 5% | Class Pariticipation |
This course is supported by a dynamic team of talented student mentors who will assist in class and hold study sessions in the robot lab (Science Center 252) every Sunday and Wednesday evenings from 7-9 pm. The student mentors are Carey Pietsch'10, Keith Blaha'10, Simone Fried'10, and Mai Schwartz'10. The course is also supported by Betsy Horner, whose office is Science Center 255 and can be reached by email at bhorner1 or by phone at 957-6062.
You are invited -- and encouraged -- to participate in these study sessions to prepare for quizzes, to discuss programming concepts, and to get friendly assistance in working on homework assignments. Our CS mentoring team is dedicated to helping students, who have no prior knowledge of computer science, learn to program in Python while keeping their senses of humor intact. And last, but not least, free food will be provided!
Programming assignments will typically be assigned in class at the beginning of the week and will be due before midnight the following Tuesday night. You are strongly encouraged to start early and to attend the study sessions for extra practice.
You will submit you assignments electronically using the handin21 program. You may submit your assignment multiple times, each submission overwrites the previous one and only the final submission will be graded. Late assignments will not be accepted except in extreme situations and only if you contact me before the deadline. Even if you do not fully complete an assigment, you may submit what you have done to receive partial credit.
Programming is not a dry mechanical process, but a form of art. Well written code has an aesthetic appeal while poor form can make other programmers and instructors cringe. Programming assignments will be graded based on style and correctness. Good programming practices usually include many of the following principles:
Academic honesty is required in all work you submit to be graded. You may not submit work done with (or by) someone else. You may not examine or use work done by others to complete your own work. You may discuss assignment specifications and requirements with others in the class to be sure you understand the problem. In addition, you are allowed to work with others to help learn the course material. However, with the exception of the student mentors, you may not work with others on your assignments in any capacity.
All code you submit must be your own with the following permissible exceptions: code distributed in class, code found in the course text book, and code worked on with an assigned partner. In these cases, you should always include detailed comments that indicates which parts of the assignment you received help on, and what your sources were.
``It is the opinion of the faculty that for an intentional first offense, failure in the course is normally appropriate. Suspension for a semester or deprivation of the degree in that year may also be appropriate when warranted by the seriousness of the offense.'' - Swarthmore College Bulletin (2006-2007), p. 53
Please see me if there are any questions about what is permissible.
Below are some external links which may be helpful to you.
Basic Unix Commands
Python Documentation
Textbook site
How To Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python