Programming Fundamentals
Week 1 | Lesson 3.1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After this lesson, you will be able to:
- Review basic programming concepts (control flow)
- Review lists and dictionaries
- Review functions
- Lightly introduce numpy
STUDENT PRE-WORK
Before this lesson, you should already be able to:
- Explain what a list and a dictionary are and the differences between them and use them in your code
- Explain if, if/else, and if/elif/else statements and use them in your code
- Explain why control flow is important
- Explain what a function is and cases where they are useful
INSTRUCTOR PREP
Before this lesson, instructors will need to:
- Review what students have done to this point and identify weaknesses that may need more attention
LESSON GUIDE
| TIMING | TYPE | TOPIC |
|---|---|---|
| 5 min | Introduction | Control Flow and Python Review |
| 35-40 min | Guided Practice | |
| 40-45 min | Independent Practice | |
| 5 min | Conclusion |
Opening and Review (5 mins)
Over the last few days we've gone over quite a bit of python.
- Integers, floats, strings
- Arithmetic operators, string operators
- Variable assignment
- Lists and dictionaries, operations on both
- If, if/else, loops, functions
- Iteration, libraries
There are 9 exercises in iPython notebooks within the starter-code folder to help you review and challenge your python coding abilities. They vary in difficulty. Hard problems are identified in the header.
Independent Practice: Topic (35-40 mins)
Problem 1 Problem 2 Problem 3 Problem 4 Problem 5 Problem 6 Problem 7 Problem 8 Problem 9
Pair up into groups of two to tackle one of the exercises. If you complete your assigned exercise, trying completing another one (or at least getting started on it).
Overview of Exercises (40-45 minutes)
Look over exercises that are of particular interest or that gave people trouble.
Conclusion (5 mins)
Take a breather. You've learned a lot the last few days and you've applied it. Well done. Onwards!