Resources

Getting Started

New to programming entirely? Work through these before (or alongside) the first few weeks of class:

Hedy — a very gentle introduction to programming
futurecoder — an interactive, step-by-step Python course
Kaggle’s Python and pandas tutorials

Development Environment

Coder

The course can use a cloud-based coding environment through Coder, so you do not need to install everything locally to get started.

Log in at Calvin’s Coder instance and open a workspace
Your workspace includes Python and the tools needed for class work
What is Coder? — remote development environments in a browser
Tip: your files persist within your workspace — save often and keep your work organized

Python

VS Code

VS Code is a good editor for writing, running, and debugging Python programs.

Debugging Help

Python Tutor — step through code execution visually
Common Python errors
PEP 8 style guide — for readable Python code

How to Succeed in This Class

Starting early is essential to success in programming. Newcomers sometimes think that they can start an assignment at the last minute and do reasonably well. Programming isn’t like writing a paper… In programming, it often either works or it doesn’t.

Attendance & Support

Come to class, lab, study sessions, and office hours
Ask for help early — don’t wait until you’re stuck for hours

Helpful Habits

Don’t just “get it working” — understand why it works
Start early; take frequent breaks
Take small steps (run your code frequently, not just at the end)
Retry lab and homework exercises later without looking at your prior solution
Review class materials (POGIL activities, slides, retrieval quizzes)
Discuss problems with classmates
Create your own syntax/concept cheat-sheets as you go
Review quiz and assignment feedback closely

Extra Practice

Complete “Challenge” exercises in the textbook
Python practice problems
More Python practice problems
Search online for “Python practice” — there’s no shortage of it

Patterns

Gather, Compute, Use

A simple pattern for structuring small programs:

# Gather
n = int(input("Enter a number: "))
# Compute
result = n * 2
# Use
print("Twice", n, "is", result)

Problem-Solving Strategies

Once, Twice, Many

A strategy for writing loops: solve the problem for one item, then two, then generalize into a loop.

Once — get it working for a single item:

numbers = [5]
total = numbers[0]
print("The sum is", total)

Twice — extend it to two items:

numbers = [5, 7]
total = numbers[0] + numbers[1]
print("The sum is", total)

Many — notice the duplicated pattern, then turn it into a loop:

numbers = [5, 7, 3, 8]
total = 0
for n in numbers:
    total = total + n
print("The sum is", total)

CS-104 - Introduction to Programming