Overview
Welcome to the course webpage for the Summer 2011 term of CSC108H, an Introduction to Computer Programming, on the St George campus. This course teaches the basics of programming in Python, which is an industrial-strength programming language used at companies like Google and Industrial Light and Magic.
The course is delivered one 3 hour lecture a week plus eleven 2-hour closed labs. Your closed labs begin in the second week of term.
Outside of class and lab, in weeks 2 through 12, you will also complete a set of online exercises in CodeLab, and do 4 assignments, 1 test, and a final exam. We keep you you busy throughout the term because learning to program is a lot like learning to play an instrument: if you want to play well, you need to practise regularly.
The Course Info Sheet has all the official information for the course. This webpage adds a few more details.
Contact information
| Instructor | Office | |
|---|---|---|
| Marek Ryszard Janicki | quellan [at] cs.toronto.edu | BA 2200 |
Note: Please review the Course Info Sheet for information on when to use the Discussion Board vs email an instructor privately. If you are contacting one of us privately, please use the email address above, not the messaging system available on our course Discussion Board.
Materials
- Required: Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python (ISBN: 978-1-93435-627-2). The text is available online directly from the publisher, in both paper and electronic form. Noted on May 14th: amazon.ca has the text on sale for $20.76.
- Required: CodeLab, a set of online exercises from TuringsCraft.
Doing your work in our CDF labs
The Computing Disciplines Facility (CDF) provides computing support for courses in Computer Science. Here is a list of rooms (with the closed lab rooms listed in bold): BA2200, BA2210, BA2220, BA2240, BA2270, BA3175, BA3185, BA3195 and the Great Hall. There is also a lab in the Gerstein Science Information Centre (at the Sigmund Samuel Library, 7 Kings College Circle) in room 236 at the north end of the second floor. You will be assigned to a particular room for your weekly two-hour closed lab session, but at other times, you are welcome to use any of the CDF labs for your course work. You have access to the Bahen Centre ("BA") and our CDF labs 24 hours a day.
To enter one of the labs you will need to swipe your T-Card through the card reader that is installed outside of each door. You can also use your T-Card to get into the building itself during off hours.
Accessing CDF remotely
In order to access CDF remotely, you will need to install additional software, called NX client software, on your computer. The CDF website provides detailed instructions. To view these instructions, you will need to enter your CDF account name and password.
Your CDF account and password
CDF provides a webpage where you can look up your CDF account name. Your password is initially your student number; you will be required to change it the first time you log in. If you ever forget your password, you can visit the CDF offices in BA room 3224 to have it reset.
Help Centre
The Department of Computer Science has a Help Centre with TAs who are able to help you with first year courses (as well as most second-year and some third-year courses). It opens in the second week of term. Regular hours are Monday to Thursday from 4-6pm; hours a somewhat reduced during the second week of term. The Help Centre is located in BA2200.