1. WHAT IS THIS COURSE ABOUT? Rocky K. C. Chang August 31, 2015

2. Equip students with no computing background with computer problem-solving skills.

3. How? Practice, practice, practice Understand the problem. Design computer solutions. Implement the solutions as computer programs. Make sure they are correct and efficient.

4. There are programming tasks, but this is not a programming course. Programming language is just a tool.

5. What is to come? COMP 1001: Learn and practice the computer problem- solving process and thinking. COMP 1010: Learn C programming COMP 2011: Data structures (and algorithms) COMP 2021: Object-oriented programming …

6. In COMP1001, we still need a language to implement our solutions. But we do not want to focus all our attention and effort on learning a new language.

7. We chose. Easy to learn Many learning tools and references Widely supported and very useful …

8. Source: http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/176450-python-is-now-the-most-popular- introductory-teaching-language-at-top-us-universities/fulltext

9. No textbook is required. 1. John Zelle. 2010. Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science 2nd Edition. Franklin, Beedle & Associates Inc., Wilsonville, OR, USA. 2. Allen B. Downey. 2014. Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. Green Tea Press. 3. William F. Punch and Richard Enbody. 2012. The Practice of Computing Using Python 2nd Edition. Addison Wesley. 4. Paul Gries, Jennifer Campbell, and Jason Montojo. 2013. Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python 3. Pragmatic Bookshelf.

10. Lecture-lab integration o Covering the materials + problem-solving exercises o Help sessions if needed

11. How will you be assessed? o Assignments: 15% o Tests and quizzes: 25% o Project: 15% o Exam: 45%

12. Course schedule Introduction + holiday: week 1 Part I: weeks 2-4 (computing with numbers and sequences) Test 1 in week 6 Part II: weeks 6-9 (functions, decisions, iterations and objects) Test 2 in week 10 Part III: weeks 10-13 (modules, modular design, exception handling, debugging, set and dictionaries, and recursion) Test 3 in week 13 Revision: 30 Nov.-3 Dec. Exam: 4-19 Dec.

13. What is expected from you?

14. Integrity o Do not allow others to copy from yours and do not copy from others. o 100% penalty will be imposed for both. o Do not photocopy books.

15. Attend all classes o Be punctual o Be ready o Be engaged

16. Learn independently as much as you should and can. Do your assignments. Study and practice on your own. Ask questions.

17. That’s about it for the introduction. Let’s enjoy the course together.

18. What you need to do this week is Installing Python 3.0 or above from https://www.python.org/ and playing with it. https://www.python.org/ Read Wing, Jeannette M. "Computational thinking." Communications of the ACM 49.3 (2006): 33-35. Bring your notebook starting from the next time.

19. END "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23