01– Course Introduction

COMP 125 – Programming with Python

Course Staff
 Instructors:
 Mehmet Sayar (Sec. 01 & 02)
 Çiğdem Gündüz Demir (Sec. 03)
 Yasemin Turkan (Sec. 04)

 In addition to the instructors, we will have:

 Teaching Assistants (TAs)
 Section Leaders (SLs)

 You will have many opportunities to interact with course staff:

 Lectures
 Labs
 Office hours
 Appointments
 ...
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Course Syllabus
 Available in KUHub-Learn & KUSIS

 Course Description
 This course emphasizes computational thinking and programming using
Python.
 Students are expected to gain a solid foundation in algorithmic thinking and
structured programming, and perform basic, common computational tasks
easily and efficiently.
 The course examines the fundamentals of storage, input and output, control
structures, functions, sequences and lists, file I/O, numerical computation, and
visualization.

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Course Communication
 KUHub-Learn will be used for communication:
 Course content (slides, recordings)
 Announcements
 Extra materials, useful links
 Coding exercises
 Lab-related material
 Homework assignments and submission
 Grades (homework, lab, exam, ...)

YOU ARE EXPECTED TO CHECK KUHub-Learn AND YOUR

E-MAIL INBOX FREQUENTLY!

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Course Content
 Slides and sample source code will be available in KUHub-Learn prior to
the class

 Main teaching material will be the course slides.

 (recommended) Think Python by A. B. Downey, any edition. 2nd edition is
available online
 https://greenteapress.com/wp/think-python-2e/
 https://greenteapress.com/thinkpython2/thinkpython2.pdf

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Links for Info and Practice
 Python official docs - Python tutorial: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html
 Real Python: https://realpython.com/
 w3resource: https://www.w3resource.com/python-exercises/
 w3 schools: https://www.w3schools.com/python/default.asp
 Practice Python: https://www.practicepython.org/
 GeeksforGeeks: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-programming-examples/
 Edabit: https://edabit.com/challenges/python3
 Hackinscience: https://www.hackinscience.org/
 Project Euler: https://projecteuler.net/about
 https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/wiki/index/

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Course Plan and Grading
Midterms 50% (2 midterms)
Final 25%
Homework 16% (4 assignments)
Labs 5%
Quizzes 4%
Labs:
 There will be a weekly lab session, starting with the third week.
 In each lab, one or more coding exercises will be assigned to students.
 By the end of the lab session, students will submit their work to KUHub-
Learn, which will be graded.
 20% of the lab grades will be dropped. (e.g. lowest two)

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Exams and Make-up Policy
 The midterms and the final will be centrally scheduled by the University and
will be face-to-face. All exams are paper-based, closed-book, closed-notes.
You may bring one A4 cheat sheet (back and front). You should prepare this
cheat sheet in your handwriting. No photocopy is allowed. Cheat sheets will
be collected at the end of exams.

 Make-up for the midterms and the final will be given at the end of the
semester to only those students with valid official excuses.

 A single, joint make-up exam will be given, which will cover all topics in the
course. Regardless of which exam they missed, all students eligible for a
make-up will take this exam.

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Quizzes
 There will be in-class pop quizzes during the lectures. In other words, the
quizzes will be given in class without advance notice.

 There will be NO make-up for the quizzes you missed. However, at the
end of the semester, we will calculate your total quiz grade after discarding
the lowest 20 percent of the quiz grades.

Note: We will be posting Review Questions periodically for you to practice

more. You will not be submitting the solutions; however, the quiz question will
be selected among these Review Questions. Therefore, we highly recommend
that you work on the Review Questions whenever they are posted.

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Homework Assignments and Late Policy
 Homework assignments will be posted on KUHub-Learn. The assignments
are to be turned in by 23:59 on the due date also through KUHub-Learn. No
e-mail submissions under any circumstances.

 For the late assignments, each student will be given a total of three grace
days (whole or partial) for the whole semester. There will be no penalty for
the late submissions when the student uses his/her grace days. However,
once these late days have been exhausted, no late assignments will be
accepted.

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Share Ideas, Not Code!

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What is considered cheating?
 Taking someone else’s code (entirely or partially), including code from online
resources
 Yes, this is cheating.

 Talking to friends about code implementation

 Yes, this is cheating.

 Talking about the solution approach

 You can discuss ideas, but not share code or implementation details.
 Brainstorming is OK, don’t talk step-by-step

 General help with Python

 Not cheating

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Warning
 Generally: If in doubt, ask.
 We will compare all your code submissions with:
 Previous semesters’ submissions
 Current semester’s submissions
 Online resources

THERE WILL BE NO TOLERANCE FOR CHEATING OR PLAGIARISM.

YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY REPORTED TO THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE.
YOU WILL BE MET WITH DISCIPLINARY ACTION.

 Programming is fun!
 Please do not rob yourself of the joy of programming!

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Tentative Schedule
 Welcome and introduction
 Variables, data types, expressions, statements
 Decision structures and control flow
 Repetition structures
 Functions and Modules
 Strings and string operations
 Data structures: lists, dictionaries, and tuples
 File I/O
 Numpy: arrays, functions, linear algebra & engineering applications
 Matplotlib: plotting and visualization

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What is Programming?
“How you get computers solve problems”
“Creating a set of instructions to tell a computer how to perform a task”
“Express a task so that it is understood and executed by a computer”

01101010
Human
Problem 10100110 Solution
Instructions
…
Programmer Computer

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What is a Program and a Programmer?
 “Program: The set of instructions that a computer follows to perform a
task
 Commonly referred to as Software

 Programmer: A person who can design, create, and test computer

programs
 Also known as software developer
 Hopefully, you, before the semester ends

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What is a Programming Language?
 “A programming language is a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules
for instructing a computer or computing device to perform specific
tasks.”

 Basically, a programming language allows us (humans) to describe our

instructions to a computer.

 Python is a programming language.

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Programming is like … cooking!

Let’s make an omelette!

 Ingredients:  Directions:
 2 large eggs 1. Beat eggs until no whites remain.
 Salt 2. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch
 Freshly ground black pepper red pepper flakes.
 Pinch red pepper flakes 3. Melt butter in a pan and pour in the
 2 tbsp. butter beaten eggs to fully cover the entire
 1/4 c. shredded cheddar pan.
 2 tbsp. freshly chopped chives 4. Use a rubber spatula to drag cooked
edges into the center and tilt pan to get
uncooked parts to the edge.
5. Once the bottom is set, but top is still a
little wet, sprinkle cheese and chives on
one half of omelette and fold.
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a24892843/how-to-make-omelet/
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Visualized – Just for Fun

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Why Learn Python ?
 Readable, programmer-friendly programming language

 Popular in many disciplines

 Data science, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, machine learning,
economics, social sciences, ...

 Rich set of existing libraries, tools, and resources

 Easy-to-learn (relatively), runs on most computers

Makes it easier for anyone to be a programmer!

YOU!
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Python
 Creator of Python, Guido van Rossum defined his goals for Python in 1999:
• An easy and intuitive language just as powerful as major competitors
• Open source, so anyone can contribute to its development
• Code that is as understandable as plain English
• Suitability for everyday tasks, allowing for short development times

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Rossum

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Why Learn Python ?

Very high industry demand for

Python programmers!
 Google
 Instagram
 Spotify
 Quora
 Netflix
 Dropbox
 Reddit
 Amazon
 …

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/07/11/1881446/0/en/Coding-Dojo-Identifies-the-
Most-In-Demand-Programming-Languages-at-Top-US-Unicorns.html
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Cool Applications
 Scientific computing, machine learning, data analysis, data visualization

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Cool Applications

 Graphics
 Self-driving cars
 Games
 Websites and online apps
 ... and many more!

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Programming Environment
 Your first task:
 Download and install Spyder
 https://www.spyder-ide.org/
 The latest Spyder comes with
Python 3.12.
 If you have an existing
Python environment in your
computer make sure you
have Python version 3.12 or
above.

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Programming Environment

Editor Console
(open, edit, run files) (Interactive Use)

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