WELCOM

(download slides and .py files and

E!
follow along!)
LECTURE 1

1
 TOD
AY
course info
 what is computation
 python basics
 mathematical operations
 python variables and types
 NOTE: slides and code files up before each lecture
o highly encourage you to download them before lecture
o take notes and run code files when I do
o bring computers to answer in-class practice exercises!

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 COURSE
INFO
Grading
◦ Coursework 60% (Assessment Test 40%, Assignment 60% )
◦Final Exam 40 %
◦Class Quiz

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 COURSE
POLICIES
Collaboration
◦ may collaborate with anyone
◦ required to write code independently and write
names of all collaborators on submission
◦ we will be running a code similarity program on all psets
 Recommended IDE
◦ PyCharm Community Version
◦ Anaconda

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 RECITATIO
NS
not mandatory
two flavors
1) Lecture review: review lecture material
o
if you missed lecture
o
if you need a different take on the same concepts
2)Problem solving: teach you how to solve programming
problems
o
useful if you don’t know how to set up pseudocode from pset
words
o
we show a couple of harder questions
o
walk you through how to approach solving the problem
o
brainstorm code solution along with the recitation instructor
o
will post solutions after
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 FAST PACED
COURSE
New to programming? PRACTICE. PRACTICE? PRACTICE!
◦ can’t passively absorb programming as a skill
◦ download code before lecture and follow along
◦ don’t be afraid to try out Python commands!

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 PROBLEM
SOLVING

PRACTICE
KNOWLEDGE PROGRAMMING
OF SKILL
CONCEPTS

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 TOPI
CS
represent knowledge with data structures
 iteration and recursion as computational metaphors
 abstraction of procedures and data types
organize and modularize systems using object classes
and methods
 different classes of algorithms, searching and sorting
 complexity of algorithms

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 WHAT DOES A
COMPUTER
Fundamentally: DO
◦ performs calculations
a billion calculations per second!
◦ remembers results
100s of gigabytes of storage!
 What kinds of calculations?
◦ built-in to the language
◦ ones that you define as the programmer
 computers only know what you tell them

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 TYPES OF
KNOWLEDGE
 declarative knowledge is statements of fact.
◦ someone will win a Google
Cardboard before class ends
 imperative knowledge is a
recipe or “how-to”.
1) Students sign up for raffle
2) Ana opens her IDE
3) Ana chooses a random
number between 1st and
nth responder
4) Ana finds the number in
the responders sheet.
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 A NUMERICAL
EXAMPLE
square root of a number x is y such that y*y = x
 recipe for deducing square root of a number x (16)
1) Start with a guess, g
2) If g*g is close enough to x, stop and say is the
g
3) answer
Otherwise make a new guess by averaging g and x/g
4) Using the new guess, repeat process until close enough
g g*g x/g (g+x/g)/2
3 9 16/3 4.17
4.17 17.36 3.837 4.0035
4.0035 16.0277 3.997 4.000002

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WHAT IS A
RECIPE
1) sequence of simple steps
2) flow of control process that specifies when each
step is executed
3) a means of determining when to stop

1+2+3 = an algorithm!

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 COMPUTERS ARE
MACHINES
how to capture a recipe in a mechanical process
 fixed program computer
◦ calculator
 stored program computer
◦ machine stores and executes instructions

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BASIC MACHINE
ARCHITECTURE
MEMORY

CONTROL ARITHMETIC
UNIT LOGIC
program counter do primitive ops
UNIT

INPUT OUTPUT
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 STORED PROGRAM
COMPUTER
sequence of instructions stored inside computer
◦ built from predefined set of primitive instructions
1) arithmetic and logic
2) simple tests
3) moving data
special program (interpreter) executes each
instruction in order
◦ use tests to change flow of control through
sequence
◦ stop when done

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 BASIC
PRIMITIVES
Turing showed that you can compute anything using 6
primitives
modern programming languages have more
convenient set of primitives
 can abstract methods to create new
primitives

anything computable in one language is computable in

any other programming language

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 CREATING
RECIPES
 a programming language provides a set of primitive
operations
expressions are complex but legal combinations of
primitives in a programming language
expressions and computations have values and
meanings in a programming language

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 ASPECTS OF
LANGUAGES
primitive constructs
◦ English: words
◦ programming language: numbers, strings,
simple operators

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 ASPECTS OF
LANGUAGES
syntax
◦ English: "cat dog boy"  not syntactically valid
"cat hugs boy"  syntactically valid
◦ programming language: "hi"5  not syntactically
valid
3.2*5  syntactically valid

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 ASPECTS OF
LANGUAGES
static semantics is which syntactically valid strings
have meaning
◦ English: "I are hungry"  syntactically valid
but static semantic
error
◦ programming language: 3.2*5  syntactically
valid
3+"hi"  static semantic
error

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 ASPECTS OF
LANGUAGES
semantics is the meaning associated with a
syntactically correct string of symbols with no static
semantic errors
◦ English: can have many meanings "Flying
planes can be dangerous"
◦ programming languages: have only one meaning but
may not be what programmer intended

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 WHERE THINGS GO
WRONG
syntactic errors
◦ common and easily caught
 static semantic errors
◦ some languages check for these before running program
◦ can cause unpredictable behavior
no semantic errors but different meaning than what
programmer intended
◦ program crashes, stops running
◦ program runs forever
◦ program gives an answer but different than expected

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 PYTHON
PROGRAMS
a program is a sequence of definitions and commands
◦ definitions evaluated
◦ commands executed by Python interpreter in a shell
commands (statements) instruct interpreter to do
something
can be typed directly in a shell or stored in a file that
is read into the shell and evaluated
◦ Problem Set 0 will introduce you to these in Anaconda

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 OBJEC
TS
programs manipulate data objects

objects have a type that defines the kinds of things

programs can do to them
◦ Ana is a human so she can walk, speak English, etc.
◦ Chewbacca is a wookie so he can walk,
“mwaaarhrhh”, etc.
 objects are
◦ scalar (cannot be subdivided)
◦ non-scalar (have internal structure that can be
accessed)
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 SCALAR
OBJECTS
int – represent integers, ex. 5
 float – represent real numbers, ex. 3.27
 bool – represent Boolean values True and
False
 NoneType – special and has one value, None
 can use type() to see the type of an object
>>> type(5)
int
>>> type(3.0)
float
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 TYPE CONVERSIONS
(CAST)
can convert object of one type to another
 float(3) converts integer 3 to float
3.0
 int(3.9) truncates float 3.9 to integer
3

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 PRINTING TO
CONSOLE
to show output from code to a user, use print
command

In [11]: 3+2
Out[11]: 5

In [12]: print(3+2)
5

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 EXPRESSI
ONS
combine objects and operators to form expressions
 an expression has a value, which has a type
 syntax for a simple expression
<object> <operator> <object>

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 OPERATORS ON ints
and floats
i+j  the sum
if both are ints, result is int
 i-j  the difference if either or both are floats, result is float
 i*j  the product
 i/j  division result is float

 i%j  the remainder when i is divided by

j
 i**j  i to the power of j
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 SIMPLE
OPERATIONS
parentheses used to tell Python to do these
operations first
 operator precedence without parentheses
◦ **
◦*
◦/
◦ + and – executed left to right, as appear in
expression

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 BINDING
VARIABLES AND
VALUES
equal sign is an assignment of a value to a variable
name

pi = 3.14159
pi_approx = 22/7
 value stored in computer memory
 an assignment binds name to value
retrieve value associated with name or variable by
invoking the name, by typing pi

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 ABSTRACTING
EXPRESSIONS
why give names to values of expressions?
 to reuse names instead of values
 easier to change code later
pi = 3.14159
radius = 2.2
area = pi*(radius**2)

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 PROGRAMMING vs
MATH
 in programming, you do not “solve for x”
pi = 3.14159
radius = 2.2
# area of circle
area = pi*(radius**2)
radius = radius+1

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 CHANGING
BINDINGS
can re-bind variable names using new assignment
statements
previous value may still stored in memory but lost the
handle for it
value for area does not change until you tell the
computer to do the calculation again
3.14
pi = 3.14 pi
2.2
radius = 2.2 radius
area = pi*(radius**2) area 3.2

radius = radius+1 15.1976

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