Course Unification Overview

Course Unification

• The unification process aims to provide a consistent learning experience for all students, regardless of their section
• Course unification included revisions to academic integrity and code of conduct guidelines
• Generative AI tools are explicitly prohibited for assignments, but can be used for self-learning
• The number of quizzes, assignments, and exams are unified across all sections

Course Material

• All course materials are available on Brightspace including:
  • Course syllabus
  • Announcements
  • Lecture slides (uploaded before class)
  • Solved exercises (uploaded after class)
  • Homework assignments
  • Grades

Textbook

• The textbook used is "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python 3" by Peter Wentworth, Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers
  • Online version: www.openbookproject.net/thinkcs/
  • Interactive edition: https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/thinkcspy/index.html

Graded Activities

• Class participation: 5%
  • Includes interaction and exercises
• Random Quizzes: 10%
  • Six pop quizzes are evenly distributed throughout the semester
• Assignments: 15%
  • Three total assignments
• Final Project: 15%
  • Group project lasting two to three weeks
• Mid-term Exam: 25%
  • Held during the last lecture before break
• Final Exam: 30%
  • Date is posted on Albert

Python type()

• The built-in type() function returns the data type of a value or variable

Python id()

• The built-in id() function returns the memory location of a variable

Data Types

• type(3) returns int (integer)
• type(4.5) returns float (floating point number)
• type('abc') returns str (string)
• type('1') returns str (string)
• type(True) returns bool (boolean)
• type(None) returns NoneType (None)

Variable Assignments/Re-assignments

• The data type of a variable can change based on the assignment
• The data type is determined at runtime

Python Input

• The input() function returns a string value.
• To use the input as a numerical value, use type casting:
  • int() for integers
  • float() for floating point numbers

Characters

• Characters are represented by their ASCII numerical codes

ASCII Table

• Every letter, digit, and symbol has a corresponding ASCII number

ASCII-Character Conversion

• ord(character) converts a character to its ASCII numerical value
• chr(number) converts an ASCII numerical value to a character

Recap on Strings

• Strings are sequences of characters
• Strings are defined using single or double quotes (' ', " ")

String Indexing

• Individual characters can be accessed by their index using square brackets []
• Index starts from 0

Lists

• Lists are created using square brackets []
• Lists are mutable, meaning they can be changed after creation
• List items are indexed from 0
• List slicing returns a new list

Removing an Item from a List

• list.remove(item) removes the first occurrence of the provided item
• del list[index] removes the item at the specified index
• list.pop() removes and returns the last item
• list.pop(index) removes and returns the item at the specified index

List Methods and Functions

• .sort(): sorts items in ascending order
• .reverse(): reverses the order of items
• .count(item): counts the occurrences of an item
• min(myList): returns the minimum value in the list
• max(myList): returns the maximum value in the list

Decision Structures

• Program logic can branch based on conditions
• Conditions evaluate to either True or False

Logical Operators

• Logical operators combine conditions
  • and: both conditions must be True
  • or: at least one condition must be True
  • not: negates a condition

Loops

• Loops allow code to be executed repeatedly
  • for loop: iterates through a sequence
    • while loop: executes as long as a condition is True

String Methods

• .replace(old, new, max): replaces old substring with new
• .find(substring, start, end): finds first occurrence
• .count(substring, start, end): counts occurrences