CIS 122 - Algorithms and Programming

Tuesday, July 29, 11:30am

All the final projects are now posted on the projects page.

Friday, July 25, 10:10am

I sent out grades for the final project this morning. You can check your total score on the grade book page. Your official grades will be uploaded to duckweb soon, but I don't know when they'll be visible to you. I'll post a page with the final projects next week.

Friday, July 18, 11:45am

Today is the last day of class, don't forget to turn in your final project today! You should get a grade back in about a week. I'll also post everyone's project, so check back next Friday to see all the cool projects this class completed.

Thanks for being such a great group. I really enjoyed teaching you this term, its amazing the amount of stuff you guys have picked up in just four short weeks!

Previous announcements

Note: the schedule is subject to change, this a guide only.

Week 1 (June 23 - June 27)
Mon	Introduction to the class. What is programming? Writing our first program. Reading: Chapter 1
Tue	Values, Types, Variables, and Operators Reading: Chapter 2 Examples: types.py, operators.py, variables.py Assignment 1 due
Wed	Expressions, conditionals, and loops Reading: Sections 5.1 - 5.7 Examples: booleans.py, if.py, while.py
Thu	Strings, Lists, and the for loop Reading: Chapter 8, Sections 10.1 - 10.5 Examples: while2.py, lists.py, for.py, for2.py Assignment 2 due
Fri	Functions and parameters, range, modulus, break Reading: Chapter 3 Examples: functions.py, modulus.py, range.py, break.py

Week 2 (June 30 - July 4)
Mon	Tuples, Dictionaries, Modules, and Random Numbers Reading: Chapter 11, Chapter 12 Examples: random.py, coin.py
Tue	Formatting output, Reading and writing files Assignment 3 due Reading: Chapter 13, Chapter 14 Examples: formatting.py, readingFiles.py, writingFiles.py
Wed	Dictionaries, more file IO, working with strings Reading: Chapter 11, Examples: stringFunctions.py, wordFrequencies.py
Thu	Error Handling, review Reading: Chapter 9, Python Tutorial on Errors, Examples: errors.py,
Fri	No class, 4th of July Holiday.

Week 3 (July 7 - July 11)
Mon	Introduction to graphics programming Reading: Graphics Module Reference Examples: nflpassing.py, graphicsDisplay.py, graphicsDisplay2.py Data files: nflpass.txt Modules: graphics.py, graphics22.py Assignment 4 due
Tue	Graphics programming 2 (tic-tac-toe) Examples: tictactoe.py
Wed	Animation, Introduction to Object Oriented Programming Reading: Chapter 15 Examples: fallingBall.py, bouncingBall.py, gravityBall.py, objects.py
Thu	Object Oriented Programming 2, Modules Reading: Chapter 16 Examples: nflpassing2.py, football.py Proposal for Final Project due
Fri	Debugging practice Examples: bug01.py, bug02.py, bug03.py, bug04.py, bug05.py, bug06.py, bug07.py, bug08.py Assignment 5 due

Week 4 (July 14 - July 18)
Mon	Odds and ends: timing, more graphics functionality Data file: logo.gif Examples: timing.py, graphicsFeatures.py, graphicsFeatures2.py, graphicsFeatures3.py
Tue	Threading, Final Project Progress Check Examples: listFiles.py, listFilesByType.py, graphicsEnhancements.py, multiball.py, multiball2.py
Wed	Keyboard event handling Examples: keyevents.py, callbacks.py
Thu	Network Access Examples: networkAccess.py, networkWordfrequencies.py
Fri	Review of Term, What does it all mean? Final Project Due

Assignments
1	Using the python interpreter
2	ACME glass volume calculator
3	Math quiz
4	Word frequency counter
5	Simple image display
Proposal	Submit your final project proposal
Final Project	Submit your final project

During this class we will use the graphics library released by John Zelle of Wartburg College. We have updated the library slightly to provide key press data so we can write more interesting programs. The enhanced version is called uographics.py, and adds a little bit of functionality to the GraphWin class. Now in addition to calling win.getMouse() to get the next mouse click, you can also call win.getKeypress() to get the next key press.

• Home page of the Graphics Library
• Graphics Library Reference (pdf)
• graphics.py
• uographics.py, our updated library that handles key presses for us

The graphics library is released under the GNU Public License. It works on all the machines in the lab, and should work on home computers as well.

There is a wealth of good information about programming in Python available on the web. This includes a nice free textbook that is perfectly suited for an introductory course like this. The textbook is called Think Python: An Introduction to Software Design by Allen B. Downey. You can access the book in a couple of different ways:

• You can read the book online in HTML format
• Or use a more nicely formatted PDF version which is suitable for printing
• Visit textbook's home page for more information about it
• Note that the book is a free book covered under the GNU Free Documentation License

Other great online resources include

• The official python tutorial. It has lots of great examples, but sometimes might assume that you've got more programming experience than you do.
• Here's a list of additional tutorials targeted at people new to programming. Different styles appeal to different people, and if you're struggling with our book or a project, you should browse these to see if there's one that makes things clearer. Also, reading a couple different explanations of something done by different people can really help because they all explain it slightly differently.
• The Python library reference gives details on all the standard libraries that ship with Python
• The Python language reference is a very technical description of the details of the language. This one probably won't be useful to you, but I wanted to list it for the sake of completeness.

Some folks really want to have a physical book in their hands, and our online textbook just won't be satisfying. If that's how you feel, I highly recommend the book Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science by John Zelle. It is available at amazon.com and many other places I am sure. I also have a copy in my office that I would be happy to loan out overnight to students. It is the text that has been used in the past and is a great resource, but I didn't think it was worth requiring that everyone shell out for it given the quality and abundance of free resources.

This class moves very quickly. We cover a full four credits worth of material in just four weeks, and that means we have to hit the ground running and keep running hard the whole way.

The most important things you can do to do to succeed in this class are:

• Talk to me I can't help you if you don't talk to me. Ask questions in class, come to my office hours, IM me when I'm online, use me as a resource.
• Don't get behind The class is so short it will be almost impossible to get caught up.

I love to teach and I want to do it well. If you have feedback about this class or my teaching style, please don't hesitate to give it. Even if you just think I'm really annoying, I'd like to know it. I promise I won't let it impact your grade, and if you're nervous about that, you can leave it anonymously in my mailbox. Otherwise, please send me email, drop by my office, or send me an IM. I honestly do want to be an outstanding teacher, and the best way for that to happen is for me to get some feedback on what you like and don't like.