Session Details

Week 1, Session 1 — Tue Nov 30

Prep

  1. Syllabus
  2. Home Page for the course web site
  3. This Course Schedule page

HW Due

  1. Homework 0, to be completed before the first class session

Topics

  1. Introduction: Students, assistants and instructor
  2. Introduction: Course, computer science, software development
  3. Introduction: Eclipse (IDE, Interactive Development Environment) and Subversion (SVN, version control)
  4. Introduction: Python (our programming language)
  5. The input/compute/output pattern: chaos.py

Outline

  1. [10 min] Roll call and introductions of instructor, TAs, and 8 students (repeat second and third 8s at next Sessions). Angel for attendance.
  2. [5 min] Course web site, schedule page, how to read it. Help in F-217 and via csse120-staff email. (Explain homework at END of session. Rest of Administrivia via homework and Session 2.)
  3. [5 min] Course Background: What is Computer Science? Software Development? A program? A programming Language? Focus of this course is on parts of software development: good habits and concepts that scale up.
  4. [10 min] Introduction to Eclipse and a quick hands-on tour of it.
  5. [20 min] Live coding (hands-on) with the Python interpreter in a Console window in Eclipse: variables, expressions, arithmetic, strings, input, simple RANGE and FOR statements.
  6. [5 min] Break. Fix installation problems if practical, continue exploring the Python interpreter if desired.
  7. [5 minutes] Subversion (SVN) and Subclipse: What are they, why are they useful (VERY brief). Checkout, Commit, Commit, Commit, Update (from grader) cycle at this point. LATER explain how it works with teammates.
  8. [10 minutes] Check out first project, with input/compute/output examples. Examine and run them while we fix the inevitable problems IF we can fix them quickly.
  9. [15 minutes] Understand and work with the chaos.py program. Continue this as homework.
  10. [10 minutes] If time permits, brief introduction to a graphics example (to be examined carefully in the next session).
  11. [3 minutes] Self-grade quizzes. Questions on them?
  12. [7 minutes] Explain how to find homework, how to do homework, when due, where to get help. Any questions?

Resources

  1. Slides: Introduction to the Course, Eclipse and Python

HW Assigned

  1. Homework 1