CS 115 Reading: Week 1
This page lists the skills you should have by the end of Week 1 and some suggested readings to help you get up to speed. How much you read is up to you. In each section, I've tried to put the most useful readings first.
Some of these sources discuss features of Python that we won't cover in class. You're welcome to use those features in your programs, but you will only be held responsible for material we actually cover in lectures, labs, and projects.
What is programming? How do you create and run a program?
Your first task is to get a big-picture overview of the programming process, learn how programming tools work, and get comfortable using terms like source code.
Suggested readings:
What does a program look like? How do you print stuff?
Your next task is to get comfortable with:
- Writing very short Python programs.
- Writing print statements that print arbitrary text to the screen.
- Writing comments or docstrings to explain your programs.
Suggested readings:
Variables and assignment
By the end of the week, you should be experimenting with:
- Defining variables using assignment statements
- Keeping track of the changing values of a variable during the execution of a program
- Printing a mix of variables and literals
- Using input to assign values to variables
- Combining these elements to write programs, given an English description of what the program should do.
Suggested readings:
- Sections 2.1–2.5 of Zelle
- The following sections of Miller and Ranum:
- Advanced; strictly optional: If you're curious about why Zelle uses eval and we don't in CS 115, this StackOverflow discussion addresses the same question. I'll be happy to discuss it in lecture too, if anyone wants to ask.