Lectures 1 and 2: Welcome to ESC180 (Slides 1-43). Expressions and variables. A very simple program. Conditionals. The quadratic equation. Numerical types (if there is time). Lecture 1 recording, Lecture 2 recording, Lecture 3 recording (local and global variables)

Suggested readings for the next couple of lectures: Downey chapters 1-2 and/or Gries chapters 1-2. Note: you're only responsible for the material in lecture. However, some people learn best by reading, which is why I'm listing readings.

Learning outcomes: be able to run a very simple Python program in PythonTutor. Undrestand that a program is a series of instructions. Understand what syntax is, both in natural (human) languages and in programming languages.

Just for fun: Timothy Gowers, Why isn't the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic Obvious. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

Recordings:

• Sept 9: functions, global and local variables, main block, swapping variables (Slides 43-45)
• Sept 10: functions, global and local variables continued, Boolean values, Boolean expressions, conditionals (Slides 43-55)
• Sept 12:variable naming conventions, conditionals example for Lab 2, for-loops: power, is_prime (Slides 56-62)

Suggested readings continue reading Downey Ch. 1-2 and/or Gries Ch. 1-2.

Suggested readings: Downey Ch. 3, Gries Ch. 3

Learning outcomes: Be able to trace Python programs in PythonTutor. Be able to write simple functions. Understand the distinction between syntax errors and "name not found" errors in Python. Be able to identify some syntax errors and name not found errors in simple examples. Understand that Python executes code line-by-line and understand why Python cannot find "name not found" errors ahead of time. Understand that string, float, and int types are different. Understand the difference between int and floats types. Understand the limitations of the float types. Understand why comparisons between floats and ints can be problematic. Understand why physical measurements can usually be stored in a float. Understand conversion between different types, and understand why e.g. "42" + 42 will produce an error but "42" + str(42) won't.

• Sept 16: is_prime variants, loop end conditions, designing while loops, converting for loops to while loops (Slides 63-65)
• Sept 17: Project 1 intro, log using while loops, PI using Monte Carlo (Slide 68)
• Sept 19: Lists, parallel lists (Slide 66), Physics lab: finding sine wave that are close to measurements, demo of matplotlib

• Sept 23: Project 1 discussion, integer division, factorials, the trailing zeros in n! problem, infinite loops (Slides 69-73)
• Sept 24: Trailing zeros of n! solution, nested lists and heterogenous lists (Slide 75), intro to matrices, into to the login system example (state variables + associative arrays)
• Sept 26: the login system example (state variables + associative arrays)

• Sept 30: lists and lopps
• Oct 1: List operations, list operations manually with for-loop, problem solving with loops (the missing k problem)
• Oct 3: Nested loops and nested lists

• Oct 7: Hopfield networks using nested loops (Slides 85-91)
• Oct 8: Hopfield networks continued (Slides 85-91), midterm examples
• Oct 10: Hopfield networks continued: big picture (Slides 92-94). Midterm practice problem-solving: state machines, matrices

• Oct 14: Midterm example: Leibniz formula using infinite-prevision arithmetic. Intro to the Python memory model (Notes
• Oct 15: memory model continued
• Oct 17: Practice in-class midterm

• Oct 21: Classical Game AI: Intro to Project 2, strategies for preparing for the midterm, memory model practice (Slides 1-17)
• Oct 22: Memory model practice: calling functions (Slides 18-19)
• Oct 24: Pong Cometition into, dictionaries, tuples,mutability, examples, application: sparse matrices (Slides 20-32)

• Nov 4: Intro to computational complexity: linear search, binary search timing functions, informal intro to asymptotic complexity (course notes). Slides 1- 17
• Nov 5: A more formal intro to complexity analysis, counting operations (course notes)

Slides: Project 3 intro Recordings:

• Sorting and complexity (course notes)