COSC 235: Programming and Problem Solving

Chapter 1: The magic of PythonInstructor: Dr. X

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How to get help

• Visit me during office hours or setup an appointment

• Visit Lykes @ Olin 112 A, Sun-Thurs 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

• Use Piazza for your questions• Code early and often!!

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How to get help

Topics

• What is Computer Science?• What do Computer Scientists:– Study– Do

• What is hardware?• What is software?• What is a programming language?• What is the difference between compilers

and interpreters?• Programming: How does chaos work?

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What is computer science?

• “Computers are to computer science what telescopes are to astronomy.” –E. Dijkstra

• The study of what can be computed• Computer scientists… (what do they do, what

do they look like?)

http://services.allegany.edu/acmlife/?page_id=2065

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The Universal Machine

• “a machine that stores and manipulates information under the control of a changeable program.”

• Two key elements:– Manipulating information… data!– Changeable program

The Universal Machine

• What is a computer program?

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Program Power

http://www.theworkprint.com/

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Why do you want to learn how to code?

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Hardware

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CPU

Main Memory

Input Devices

Output Devices

Secondary Memory

Software

• Applications vs Programs? What is the difference?

• Programming languages– High level vs low level– Compiled vs Interpreted

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Low vs High Level languages

• Assembly

• Which high level languages do you know?

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Compiled languages

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http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/201/fall09/lectures/intro_2.html#(1)

Interpreted Languages

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http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/201/spring10/lectures/intro_2.html

The Magic of Python

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http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/harrypotter

https://www.python.org/

References

• “Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science”, 2nd ed., John M. Zelle

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