Detailed schedule and resources

Class 40

• Lab exam 2 raw scores were curved upwards with the median rising a C+ to a B+. See the explanation of curve for details.
• Review of recursion: see recursion_review.py

Class 39

Announcement: a Cybersecurity Club will be starting up at Dickinson next semester. If you’re interested in participating, please contact Eden Slawek, slaweks@dickinson.edu.

See the labs page for details of the final project (lab 9), which starts today.

Class 38

Announcement: Fall Internship Panel, organized by Math/CS club – Thu Dec 4, 4:45pm, Tome 115

1. Exam review – go over written exam 2
2. Advanced dictionary topics:
   • dictionary of lists (last examinable topic)
   • memoization (not examinable)

Code:

• dict_of_lists.py
• dict_of_lists_complete.py
• memo.py
• memo_complete.py

Class 37

Please complete the course evaluation: https://dickinson.campuslabs.com/eval-home/

Demo:

• dictionary_vs_list.py

Code:

• dict_iter.py
• dict_iter_completed.py

Class 36

Code:

• dictionary_basics.py
• dictionary_basics_completed.py
• dictionary_vs_list.py

Class 35

Written exam 2.

Class 34

Exam review session.

Class 33

• Challenges and solution for objects, values, and references:
  • references.py
  • explanation-of-references.pptx
• Bring review questions for exam review next time.

Class 32

• Code for the reduce, map, and filter list processing patterns:
  • reduce_map_filter.py
  • reduce_map_filter_completed.py
• Code and files for join and split string methods: –>
  • split_demo.py
  • join_demo.py
  • join_and_split_challenge.py
  • join_and_split_challenge_completed.py
  • courses.csv
  • output.txt

Class 31

• Code for list basics:
  • list_basics.py
  • list_basics_completed.py

Class 30

• Announcement: 7pm on Tuesday Nov 18th in Althouse 106: Prof Lev Fruchter (who also teaches COMP130) will be screening Inception, Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller – which is also an interesting model of recursion (Prof Fruchter will explain!). Students from the other COMP130 sections will be there. All welcome.

• Code for CSV files:

  • courses.csv
  • csv_demos.py
  • csv_demos_solution.py

Class 29

• Here is a link to the crosswords file mentioned in the textbook:
  • https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3201/files/crosswd.txt
  • We won’t use the crosswords file in class, but you can use it to understand the textbook properly and do the optional textbook exercises.
• Here is a file containing two poems that we will use in class:
  • two-poems.txt
• In class we will work on tasks such as:
  • print the first line of the poems file
  • print the first five lines of the poems file
  • save every second line in a new file called some-lines.txt
  • print the two lines that tell us the authors of the poems (they begin with “BY”)
  • find the empty line separating the two poems and print its line number
  • save the first poem in a new file called first-poem.txt, and the second poem in a new file called second-poem.txt
• Solutions to the first few tasks above are available:
  • file_challenge_solutions.py

Class 28

• Warmups for today: warmups.py
• More string method challenges:
  • more_string_methods.py
  • more_string_methods_completed.py

Menti link: https://www.menti.com/ald4cndhica4

Class 27

• Code for string methods:
  • string_methods.py
  • string_methods_completed.py
• Form for answering challenges: https://forms.office.com/r/rfqaM6aM5S

Class 26

• Code for string indexing, slices, and iteration:
  • string_practice.py
  • string_practice_completed.py

Class 25

• Code for practicing debugging:
  • debug_practice.py

Class 24

• In this class we examine two examples of interesting algorithms:
  1. finding square roots using Newton’s method (scroll to “Use of Newton’s method to compute square roots” on that page)
  2. solving an equation using the bisection method.
• Note that detailed knowledge of these algorithms is not required for this course. These are just intended as interesting examples, to demonstrate the power of what we have already learned this semester. You are not required to memorize Newton’s method or the bisection method.
• Example code:
  • square_root.py
  • solve_by_bisection.py
  • solve_by_bisection_completed.py

Class 23

Feedback results: suggestion for how to get more practice problems – use an AI assistant: example using Google Gemini

• Code for demonstrating while loops:
  • while_loops.py
  • while_loops_solution.py
  • practice_killing_python.py

Class 22

• Please complete the anonymous mid-semester survey.
• Code for demonstrating test functions:
  • test_demo.py
  • test_demo_completed.py

Class 21

• Code for examples of recursion with return values:
  • fruitful_recursion.py
  • recursion_practice.py

Class 20

• Code for functions with return values:
  • make_cheer.py
  • (don’t look yet) make_cheer_completed.py

Class 19

• Advising discussion for course selection. Please see the notes on course selection.
• Code introducing the idea of recursion: recursion_example.py

Class 18

Written exam 1

Class 17

Exam review

Class 16

Social/Ethical class III: Social good in computing. Notes about our discussion are available on Moodle. The article for discussion is available on the Readings web page. The in-class discussion also encompassed open-source software, focusing on the following five open-source products: Linux (operating system), MySQL (database), Apache HTTP Server (web server), OpenMRS (medical records system), OpenStreetMap (mapping system).

Class 15

Code for demonstrating guardians:

• no_guardian.py
• guardian.py

Class 14

Code for demonstrating and encapsulation and generalization:

• top_level_code.py
• encapsulate.py
• generalize.py

Code for demonstrating factoring out repeated code:

• repeated.py
• factored_out.py

Class 13

Social/Ethical discussion II. See Readings web page.

Class 12

Announcement:

• The reading for Monday is available on the Readings page.
• For this type of discussion class, you are expected read the assigned content carefully and take a few handwritten notes that you can bring to class and refer to during our device-free discussion.

Topics for today’s class:

• Informal discussion of the scope of a variable: most variables and parameters are local.
• Review of call stack and debugging. Add the ability to step in, step over, step out.
• Printing on the same line from multiple print() statements.
• Mini-lab (ungraded):
  • Using the callstack_demo.py program from last time, set a breakpoint in one of the functions. Practice running up to that point in the debugger and examining the local variables in each frame of the call stack. Now practice stepping statement by statement to the end of the program observing changes in the call stack and its local variables. Ask for help if you run into any problems.

Class 11

Demo code: debug_demo.py, callstack_demo.py

Class 10

Social/Ethical discussion I. See Readings web page.

Class 9

Announcements about homework:

1. Don’t comment out code when turning in solutions any more. We will encapsulate code in functions instead.
2. For homework, make sure to write your code in IDLE and test it. When it’s working perfectly, then copy and paste it into your homework document.
3. For homework, if using Microsoft Word, start with the assignment document. Then you can format the code by using the “code” style. If you get a lot of space between the lines, then use “Remove Space After Paragraph” (select text, maybe right click, look for line spacing option).
4. Make sure your code is in a fixed width font like Consolas or Courier.

Today is mostly review of chained and nested conditional statements. We want to write a function decide(hungry, tired) that prints output according to

	hungry	not hungry
tired	get takeout	sleep
not tired	cook dinner	watch Netflix

Example code: (try to figure out for yourself first, don’t peek unless you need to) decide.py

Also Boolean variables and parameters – see SSG12.

Class 8

Today we cover chained conditional statements and nested conditional statements. Example Python code: convert_miles2.py

We will also go over sections 9 to 11 of the supplementary study guide, which are needed for lab this week.

Class 7

Today we cover topics from the assigned textbook reading, including floor division and modulus, boolean expressions, relational operators (==, !=, >, >= etc.), logical operators (and, or, not), conditional execution (if, else).

Example Python code (but try to do the warmup exercise yourself before looking at this): convert_miles.py, boolean_demos.py

Class 6

Today we cover Sections 4-8 of the supplementary study guide: nested for loops; range(); constructors; graphics.py; methods and dot notation.

Code: graphics_demo.py, grid.py; other code from today was copied directly from the study guide.

Class 5

Agenda for today’s class:

1. In-class exercise to build familiarity with for loops:
   • A. (warmup) Write code that prints out the result of rolling a 20-sided dice.
   • B. Write code that prints out the results of rolling a 20-sided dice 100 times.
   • C. Write code that computes and prints the average value of the rolls in the previous simulation (rolling a 20-sided dice 100 times).
2. We’ll go over the supplementary study guide content about for loops, which explains how to use the loop variable.
3. Run a basic turtle program.

Useful tip: Learn how to use IDLE’s Indent Region and Dedent Region features, in the Format menu.

Code (suggest don’t peek): roll_dice_once.py, roll_dice_100times.py, average_100_rolls.py, draw_square.py

Class 4

Important note about the teaching style in this course: Many concepts will not be covered during our lecture session. It is essential to read the textbook carefully and ask questions on any content you don’t understand. For example, the assigned reading for Class 3 included the important concept of comments, but we did not discuss that during class.

Plan for today: We will go over some key concepts from the assigned reading, especially how to define new functions and how to generate random numbers.

Code: border.py, roll_dice.py

Class 3

• Make sure that you have Show File Extensions turned on in your operating system. For example, you must be able to see the .py at the end of your Python files, when browsing folders.
• When opening a Python file, do not just double-click on it in the folder view. First open the IDLE application, then use the Open command in the File menu.

Today we review the concepts in the assigned reading, including: variable names, keyword, import, dot operator, statement, expression, evaluation, execution, argument, comment, function definition, header, body, parameter

Example programs (suggestion: don’t peek before class): area.py, ask_question.py

Class 2

1. Answer questions on syllabus. Especially note the 5 exam dates.

2. Demo: AI can easily do your homework assignments. But it’s a really bad idea to rely on it, because you won’t have AI in the exams.

3. Interactive textbook: You can interact with the textbook by reading it in the form of Jupyter notebooks. Links to the notebooks are on the very first page of the textbook.

4. We will review concepts in the assigned reading, including some of the following: arithmetic operator, type (this is what I usually call a datatype), expression, function, function call, bugs and debugging, variable, assignment statement, state diagram, input().

5. [If time allows.] Download Python from python.org, launch IDLE, run some programs (see suggestions in class 1).

Class 1

• In-class activity: Create COMP130 folder on OneDrive    UPDATED on 9/3/2025 -- extra step to install OneDrive app

• In-class activity: Run a Python program in IDLE on a Dickinson Virtual Lab machine

• Please read the syllabus carefully and bring any questions to the next class.

• Note the required reading: complete this before the next class.

• Note when the first homework assignment is due.