CS1112 S25

Introduction to Programming

This is a first course in programming, software development, and computer science. It introduces computing fundamentals and an appreciation of computational thinking. No previous programming experience is required. The course provides an introduction to the Python programming language including topics such as variables, types (Python types emphasized are: ints, floats, booleans, strings, lists, tuples, dictionaries, and files), functions, conditionals, repetition (loops), console and file input/output, reading from the web, and regular expressions.

Canvas Gradescope Piazza

Prof. Nada Basit

Instructor Information

Instructor: Prof. Nada Basit
Office: Rice 405
Office hours: Mon. 10:30am-12:00pm, Wed. 10:00am - 11:00am
Email: basit@virginia.edu

Prerequisites/Course Information

The Computer Science department at the University of Virginia strives to ensure all students have a positive, inclusive, and productive experience in their classes. Special emphasis is placed on the first/introductory courses: CS 1110/1111/1112. The following are the prerequisites for this course. A student taking this course (CS 1112) pledges they:

  • Have no prior programming experience
  • Are committed to be daily, active participants

Differences between CS 1110/1111/1112: CS 1110 is considered the “vanilla” version of the course, whereas CS 1111 is for students with significant prior programming experience (but not enough to place out of the course). CS 1112 is intended for those with no previous programming experience. CS 1112 combines lecture and lab together, but in CS 1110/1111 they are separate.

Quote

Here is a great quote to get us started…

“What I mean is that if you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain it to someone else. That forces you to sort it out in your own mind.”

The quote goes on to describe how the more the other person doesn’t know, the more you have to “break things down” into simpler and simpler ideas. The quote goes on to say…

“By the time you’ve sorted out a complicated idea into little steps that even a stupid machine can deal with, you’ve certainly learned > something about it yourself. The teacher usually learns more than the pupil. Isn’t that true?”

― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency