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Introduction
This page is a suggested course timeline for CS126 (Programming I). It can be used by other courses only if they are teaching programming to students with no practical prior programming experience. It assumes that students are not CS majors and require more time to absorb the material. Further, students are expected to take scientific computing courses after finishing CS126. They are not expected to take an application programming path.
Suggested 14-week Timeline (Fall 2024, classes start at 16 Sep 2024)
| Course Topic |
Week |
| Fundamental concepts of computing and computers and history of computing as a discipline |
1 |
| Natural vs programming languages, programming lifecycle, compilers, operating systems, memory, I/O |
1 |
| Python expressions, Python shell, Python as a calculator, the concept of variables, syntax errors, runtime errors, sequence of execution, comments |
2 |
Data types, data objects, the idea of functions, print and input functions, advanced expressions, strings |
3 |
Simple built-in functions, lists, list operations, list methods, map function |
4 |
| Boolean values, relational operators, logical operators, membership operators, conditional statement |
5 |
The random library, list and string comparisons, basic problem solving with conditional statements |
6 |
| Practice problems with Booleans, lists, and conditionals |
7 |
| Midterm 1 (07 Nov 2024, 18:30--19:45) |
|
| Repetition statement, the basic concept of problems that require repetition, basic components (start, progress, end condition), while-loop |
8 |
| flowcharts, Infinite loops, sentinel values, solving simple problems (sum,length, maximum, minimum) |
9 |
Steps to solve a problem, break and continue, more problem-solving examples, for-loops |
10 |
| Various forms of for-loops, comparison with while-loops, simple numerical problem-solving (prime test, long-division, etc.) |
11 |
| Midterm 2 (09 Dec 2024, 18:30--19:45) |
|
| Defining functions, introduction to data processing with files, file opening, reading, writing, closing, comma-separated values |
12 |
| Sets & dictionaries, problem-solving with files |
13 |
| Problem Solving and data analysis applications with loops, files, and functions. |
14 |
| Classes end on 19 Dec 2024 |
|
| Final exam (12 Dec 2024, 14:00--16:00) |
|
Suggested 6-Week Timeline (Summer 2022)
| Course Topic |
Week |
| Fundamental concepts of computing and computers and history of computing as a discipline, natural vs programming languages, programming lifecycle, compilers, operating systems, memory, I/O, Python expressions, Python shell, Python as a calculator, the concept of variables, syntax errors, runtime errors, sequence of execution, comments |
1 |
Data types, data objects, the idea of functions, print and input functions, advanced expressions, strings, Simple built-in functions, lists, list operations, list methods, map function |
2 |
Boolean values, relational operators, logical operators, membership operators, conditional statement, The random library, list and string comparisons, basic problem solving with conditional statements |
3 |
| Midterm 1 (Wednesday 20 July 2022 18:30--20:30) |
|
| Repetition statement, the basic concept of problems that require repetition, basic components (start, progress, end condition), flowcharts, Infinite loops, sentinel values, solving simple problems (sum, length, maximum, minimum) |
4 |
Steps to solve a problem, break and continue, more problem-solving examples, for-loops, comparison with while-loops, simple numerical problem-solving (prime test, long-division, etc.) |
5 |
| Midterm 2 (01 August 2022 18:30--20:30) |
|
| Defining functions, introduction to data processing with files, file opening, reading, writing, closing, comma-separated values, Sets & dictionaries, problem-solving with files |
6 |
| Final (15 August 2022 14:00--16:00) |
7 |