Intro to Computers & Programming

Syllabus

Introduction to Computers & Programming (CSCI-UA.0002)
NYU Computer Science Department

Instructor: Amos Bloomberg (amosatcsdotnyudotedu)
Class hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 12:30 – 1:45PM
Location: Warren Weaver Hall, Room 109
Office hours: Mondays 10:45AM – 11:45AM; Warren Weaver Hall, Room 328

Midterm #1 date: 10/10, 12:30PM – 1:45PM
Midterm #2 date: 11/28, 12:30PM – 1:45PM
Final Exam date: 12/19, 12:00PM – 1:50PM; Warren Weaver Hall, Room 109  (check latest finals schedule here)

Getting help

There are a variety of ways to get help in this course that you are encouraged to use:

  • Office hours with the professor
  • E-tutoring via email
  • course email discussion list
  • In-person tutoring

See the Getting Help page for details

Topics

This course covers an elementary introduction to computer programming. Students learn the characteristics of high-level computer programming languages, and design, code, and debug programs using Python, a general-purpose “high-level” programming language.

In particular, we will cover the following topics:

  • Introduction to Programming Languages
  • Python Basics
  • Working with variables and operators
  • Control Structures
  • Repetition Structures
  • Working with Text
  • Functions and Modules
  • Lists
  • (Additional topics will be included time-permitting)

Grading

Grades will be broken down as follows:

  • 20% midterm exam #1
  • 20% midterm exam #2
  • 35% final exam
  • 25% homework

Yes, homework is required and consists of programming assignments. Details are posted on the Assignments page of this site.

If you plan to continue with computer science courses, you must get a grade of C or better in this course.

Books

Required class textbook:

Optional additional books that may be helpful to you:

Note that some of these optional books and online resources use Python 2, rather than Python 3, which we are learning in this course.  The differences from our perspective are minimal, but do involve the print(), input(), and raw_input() functions, which are used a lot in the examples.

Software

Other documentation

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