Lectures
Course objectives:
This class is intended to be a practical introduction to computers: how they work, how you can make them work for you, and how professional computer folk make computers do many sophisticated things, some of which may be pertinent to your work or interests. This is a hands-on class where you will learn about computers in lecture and apply that knowledge (and more) using computers for a variety of tasks in the laboratory sessions. This class is not a programming class - you will not emerge as experienced programmers, although you will learn the fundamentals of programming and will have written some small programs by the end of the quarter. The four primary course objectives of ECS15 are:
- Demystify both the hardware and software aspects of computers.
- Learn how to use common computer applications including word processing and spreadsheets.
- Learn how to prepare and write a research term paper.
- Introduce the fundamental concepts of computer programming, using a powerful, but easy-to-learn programming language, Python
Lectures:
| Lectures | Title | Notes; Recommended reading |
|---|---|---|
| Lect 1 | Introduction. Course description | Powerpoint slides (ppt and pdf) Information sheet |
| Lect 2 | Digital Data | Powerpoint slides (ppt and pdf) Handout on counting |
| Lect 3 | Digital computing; the CPU | Powerpoint slides (ppt and pdf) |
| Lect 4 | Computer: hardware | Powerpoint slides (ppt and pdf) |
| Lect 5 | Guest Lecture by Dr Gary Goodman on writing term papers | Powerpoint slides and script (Word document) |
| Lect 6 | Computer: Software | Powerpoint slides (ppt and pdf) |
| Lect 7 | Guest Lecture by Mrs Phoebe Ayers on library research | Handout (pdf) |
| Lect 8 | Python: Introduction | Handout (Word and PDF) |
| Lect 9 | Python: Variables | Handout (Word and PDF) - Transposing As and Ts: transposed.python - DNA complementary: dnacomp.python |
| Lect 10 | Python: Lists, Arrays, Dictionaries | Examples of programs: - Sorting numbers: sorting.python - From decimal to English: number.python - Translating dates: date.python |
| Lect 11 | Python: For loops and Conditionals (If) | Examples of programs: - Make title : maketitle.python - Password : password.python - Equation : equation.python |
| Lect 12 | Python: basic graphics | The graphics library: graphics.python (rename it graphics.py prior to using it) Handout (PDF) Examples of programs: - Drawing a triangle: triangle.python - Drawing and measuring a triangle: triangle_final.python |
| Lect 13 | The Internet |