Before you keep reading...

Runestone Academy can only continue if we get support from individuals like you. As a student you are well aware of the high cost of textbooks. Our mission is to provide great books to you for free, but we ask that you consider a $10 donation, more if you can or less if $10 is a burden.

Support Runestone Academy Today

Before you keep reading...

Making great stuff takes time and $$. If you appreciate the book you are reading now and want to keep quality materials free for other students please consider a donation to Runestone Academy. We ask that you consider a $10 donation, but if you can give more thats great, if $10 is too much for your budget we would be happy with whatever you can afford as a show of support.

Support Runestone Academy Today

COMP 1000: Think Like a Computer

Welcome to COMP 1000!

This course is designed to introduce people to programming, which is a fundamental skill within Computer Science. This text is called ‘Think Like a Computer’ because the goal is for you to think through and understand how a computer will run the lines of code in a program, whether it’s a program you wrote or a program someone else wrote. At the same time as learning about programming and how to think like a computer, we will also begin right away by thinking about people: the end users who interact with the programs you write. And when we think about people as end users, we must think about ethics, because when people interact with computers both good and bad things can result, and it’s our responsibility to consider these possibilities. Thus, this course combines Programming, Interactivity, and Ethics: PIE!

Table of Contents

• 1. General Introduction
  • 1.1. Foreword to PIE Edition
    • 1.1.1. Original Foreword
    • 1.1.2. Preface
    • 1.1.3. Get in the Learning Zone
  • 1.2. Introduction: The Way of the Program
    • 1.2.1. Learning Goals
    • 1.2.2. Objectives
  • 1.3. Problem Solving, Interactivity & Ethics
    • 1.3.1. Problem Solving with Algorithms
    • 1.3.2. Interactivity - Programming for People
    • 1.3.3. Ethics - Programming Responsibly
  • 1.4. The Python Programming Language
    • 1.4.1. ActiveCode in Runestone
    • 1.4.2. CodeLens in Runestone
  • 1.5. More About Programs
    • 1.5.1. Preview of Control Structures
  • 1.6. Formal and Natural Languages
  • 1.7. A Typical First Program
  • 1.8. 👩‍💻 Predict Before You Run!
  • 1.9. 👩‍💻 To Understand a Program, Change It!
  • 1.10. Comments
  • 1.11. 🐢 Hello Little Turtles!
    • 1.11.1. Interactivity & Turtles
  • 1.12. 🐢 Our First Turtle Program
  • 1.13. Glossary
  • 1.14. Chapter Assessment
• 2. Variables, Statements, and Expressions
  • 2.1. Introduction
    • 2.1.1. Learning Goals
    • 2.1.2. Objectives
  • 2.2. Values and Data Types
  • 2.3. Operators and Operands
  • 2.4. Function Calls
    • 2.4.1. Function calls as part of complex expressions
    • 2.4.2. Parentheses invoke functions
  • 2.5. Data Types
  • 2.6. Type conversion functions
  • 2.7. Variables
  • 2.8. Variable Names and Keywords
  • 2.9. 👩‍💻 Choosing the Right Variable Name
  • 2.10. Statements and Expressions
  • 2.11. Order of Operations
  • 2.12. Reassignment
    • 2.12.1. Developing your mental model of How Python Evaluates
  • 2.13. Updating Variables
  • 2.14. 👩‍💻 Hard-Coding
  • 2.15. Input
  • 2.16. Glossary
  • 2.17. Exercises
  • 2.18. Chapter 2 Assessment
• 3. Debugging and Modules
  • 3.1. Introduction to Debugging
    • 3.1.1. Learning Goals
    • 3.1.2. Objectives
  • 3.2. 👩‍💻 Debugging
    • 3.2.1. How to Avoid Debugging
    • 3.2.2. 👩‍💻 Beginning tips for Debugging
    • 3.2.3. Types of Errors
  • 3.3. Syntax errors
  • 3.4. Runtime Errors
  • 3.5. Semantic Errors
    • 3.5.1. Test Cases
  • 3.6. 👩‍💻 Know Your Error Messages
    • 3.6.1. SyntaxError
    • 3.6.2. TypeError
    • 3.6.3. NameError
    • 3.6.4. ValueError
  • 3.7. Introduction to Python Modules
    • 3.7.1. Learning Goals
    • 3.7.2. Objectives
  • 3.8. Modules
    • 3.8.1. Importing Modules
    • 3.8.2. Syntax for Importing Modules and Functionality
  • 3.9. Ethics & Code Ownership
  • 3.10. The random module
    • 3.10.1. Randomness and Ethics
  • 3.11. 🐢 Exploring the Turtle Module
  • 3.12. Instances: A Herd of Turtles
  • 3.13. Object Oriented Concepts
    • 3.13.1. User-defined Classes
    • 3.13.2. Instances
    • 3.13.3. Attributes
    • 3.13.4. Methods
  • 3.14. A Few More turtle Methods and Observations
  • 3.15. 👩‍💻 Common turtle Errors
  • 3.16. Ethics: Variable Defaults Embed Values
  • 3.17. Glossary
  • 3.18. Chapter Assessment
    • 3.18.1. Drawing with Turtles
    • 3.18.2. Debugging & Modules
• 4. Iteration
  • 4.1. Introduction: Iteration
  • 4.2. The for Loop
  • 4.3. Turtle Repetition
  • 4.4. Flow of Execution of the for Loop
  • 4.5. Index Operator: Working with the Characters of a String
    • 4.5.1. Index Operator: Accessing Elements of a List
  • 4.6. Strings and for loops
  • 4.7. Lists and for loops
    • 4.7.1. Using the range Function to Generate a Sequence to Iterate Over
    • 4.7.2. Iteration Simplifies our Turtle Program
  • 4.8. 👩‍💻 Naming Variables in For Loops
  • 4.9. The Accumulator Pattern
  • 4.10. 👩‍💻 Printing Intermediate Results
  • 4.11. Traversal and the for Loop: By Index
  • 4.12. 👩‍💻 Keeping Track of Your Iterator Variable and Your Iterable
  • 4.13. The Power of Iteration
    • 4.13.1. Large Sets of Data
  • 4.14. Nested Iteration: Image Processing
    • 4.14.1. The RGB Color Model
    • 4.14.2. Image Objects
    • 4.14.3. Image Processing and Nested Iteration
  • 4.15. Glossary
  • 4.16. Exercises
  • 4.17. Chapter Assessment
• 5. Functions and Files
  • 5.1. Introduction to Functions
    • 5.1.1. Introduction to Files
    • 5.1.2. Learning Goals
    • 5.1.3. Objectives
  • 5.2. Function Definition
  • 5.3. Function Invocation
  • 5.4. Ethics: Documenting Function Assumptions
    • 5.4.1. Function Pre-Conditions
    • 5.4.2. Function Post-Conditions
  • 5.5. Listener Functions
  • 5.6. Working with Data Files
  • 5.7. Reading a File
  • 5.8. Alternative File Reading Methods
  • 5.9. Iterating over lines in a file
  • 5.10. Finding a File in your Filesystem
  • 5.11. Writing Text Files
  • 5.12. 👩‍💻 Tips on Handling Files
  • 5.13. Glossary
  • 5.14. Exercises
  • 5.15. Chapter Assessment
• 6. Conditionals
  • 6.1. Intro: What we can do with Turtles and Conditionals
    • 6.1.1. Learning Goals
    • 6.1.2. Objectives
  • 6.2. Boolean Values and Boolean Expressions
  • 6.3. Logical operators
    • 6.3.1. Smart Evaluation
  • 6.4. The in and not in operators
  • 6.5. Precedence of Operators
  • 6.6. Conditional Execution: Binary Selection
  • 6.7. Omitting the else Clause: Unary Selection
  • 6.8. Nested conditionals
  • 6.9. Chained conditionals
  • 6.10. The Accumulator Pattern with Conditionals
    • 6.10.1. Accumulating the Max Value
  • 6.11. 👩‍💻 Setting Up Conditionals
    • 6.11.1. Choosing your type of Conditional
  • 6.12. Glossary
  • 6.13. Exercises
  • 6.14. Chapter Assessment
• 7. Integration Pause
  • 7.1. Integrating Concepts
    • 7.1.1. Topics
  • 7.2. Combining Iterations and Functions
    • 7.2.1. Code Re-Use
    • 7.2.2. Invoking Functions Inside Loops
    • 7.2.3. Iterating Inside Functions
  • 7.3. Combining Iterations and Conditionals
    • 7.3.1. Iteration inside Conditional Blocks
    • 7.3.2. Conditional Execution inside Iteration Blocks
  • 7.4. Combining Conditionals and Functions
    • 7.4.1. Conditional Branching inside Functions
    • 7.4.2. Calling Functions from Conditional Blocks
  • 7.5. Combining Iterations, Conditionals and Functions
  • 7.6. Integration Practice
• 8. Function Parameters, Return Values and Scope
  • 8.1. Introduction: Functions Part II
    • 8.1.1. Topics
    • 8.1.2. Learning Objectives
  • 8.2. Function Parameters
    • 8.2.1. Parameter Order and Type
  • 8.3. Return Values
    • 8.3.1. Functions as Part of Expressions
  • 8.4. 👩‍💻 Decoding a Function
  • 8.5. Type Annotations
  • 8.6. A function that accumulates
  • 8.7. Scope - Local vs Global Variables
    • 8.7.1. Variable and parameters are local
    • 8.7.2. Global Variables
  • 8.8. Function Composition (functions calling functions)
  • 8.9. Flow of Execution Summary
  • 8.10. 👩‍💻 Print vs. return
  • 8.11. Side Effects
    • 8.11.1. Documenting Side Effects
  • 8.12. Listener Functions with Parameters
  • 8.13. Glossary
  • 8.14. Exercises
  • 8.15. Chapter Assessment
• 9. Sequences
  • 9.1. Introduction: Sequences
    • 9.1.1. Learning Goals
    • 9.1.2. Objectives
  • 9.2. Strings, Lists and Tuples
    • 9.2.1. Strings
    • 9.2.2. Lists
    • 9.2.3. Tuples
    • 9.2.4. Index Operator: Accessing Elements of a String, List or Tuple
    • 9.2.5. Adding and Removing Items from Lists
  • 9.3. Immutable Strings
    • 9.3.1. String methods return a new string
  • 9.4. Disambiguating []: creation vs indexing
  • 9.5. Length
  • 9.6. The Slice Operator
    • 9.6.1. List Slices
    • 9.6.2. Tuple Slices
  • 9.7. Concatenation and Repetition
    • 9.7.1. Concatenation
    • 9.7.2. Repetition
  • 9.8. Count and Index Methods
    • 9.8.1. Count
    • 9.8.2. Index
  • 9.9. Splitting and Joining Strings
  • 9.10. Passing Mutable vs Immuatable Objects
    • 9.10.1. Passing Lists
    • 9.10.2. Passing Tuples
    • 9.10.3. Ethics & Data Protection
  • 9.11. Mutable Object Side Effects
    • 9.11.1. Side Effects in Interactive Programs
  • 9.12. Exercises
  • 9.13. Chapter Assessment
• 10. Event Handling
  • 10.1. Event-Based Programming
    • 10.1.1. Topics
    • 10.1.2. Learning Objectives
  • 10.2. Program Architecture
    • 10.2.1. Batch Programming
    • 10.2.2. Event-Based Programming
  • 10.3. Building a Graphical User Interface (GUI)
    • 10.3.1. What’s in a GUI?
    • 10.3.2. GUI Toolkits
  • 10.4. The SimpleGUI Module
    • 10.4.1. Using Toolkit Documentation
  • 10.5. Adding GUI Controls
    • 10.5.1. Adding Labels
    • 10.5.2. Adding Buttons
    • 10.5.3. Adding Text Input Boxes
  • 10.6. Event Handlers
    • 10.6.1. UI Widget Event Handlers
    • 10.6.2. Window-Based Input Event Handlers
    • 10.6.3. Registering Event Handlers
  • 10.7. SimpleGUI Events
    • 10.7.1. Mouse Events
    • 10.7.2. Keyboard Events
  • 10.8. A Complete Event-Based GUI Example
    • 10.8.1. Practice Exercises
    • 10.8.2. Global Variables in Event-Based Programs
  • 10.9. Event-Based Programming Made Elegant
    • 10.9.1. A Simple Class Example
    • 10.9.2. The Event-Based GUI Example - OO Style
  • 10.10. Default Bias
    • 10.10.1. When Default Becomes Standard
    • 10.10.2. Checkboxes, Radio Buttons, Dropdowns…oh my!
• 11. Indefinite Iteration
  • 11.1. Introduction
    • 11.1.1. Learning Goals
    • 11.1.2. Objectives
  • 11.2. The while Statement
  • 11.3. The Input Listener Loop
    • 11.3.1. Other uses of while
      • 11.3.1.1. Sentinel Values
      • 11.3.1.2. Validating Input
  • 11.4. Indeterminate Turtles
  • 11.5. Break and Continue
  • 11.6. 👩‍💻 Infinite Loops
  • 11.7. Exercises
  • 11.8. Chapter Assessment
• 12. Labs
  • 12.1. General Lab Instructions
    • 12.1.1. Venue
    • 12.1.2. Getting Help From Labmates
    • 12.1.3. Grading
    • 12.1.4. Formatting/Commenting
  • 12.2. Week 2 Lab
    • 12.2.1. Level 1
    • 12.2.2. Level 2
    • 12.2.3. Level 3
  • 12.3. Week 3 Lab
    • 12.3.1. Level 1
    • 12.3.2. Level 2
    • 12.3.3. Level 3
  • 12.4. Week 4 Lab
    • 12.4.1. Level 1
    • 12.4.2. Level 2
    • 12.4.3. Level 3
  • 12.5. Week 5 Lab
    • 12.5.1. Level 1
    • 12.5.2. Level 2
    • 12.5.3. Level 3
  • 12.6. Week 6 Lab
    • 12.6.1. Level 1
    • 12.6.2. Level 2
    • 12.6.3. Level 3
  • 12.7. Week 7 Lab
    • 12.7.1. Level 1
    • 12.7.2. Level 2
    • 12.7.3. Level 3
  • 12.8. Week 8 Lab
    • 12.8.1. Level 1
    • 12.8.2. Level 2
    • 12.8.3. Level 3
  • 12.9. Week 9 Lab
    • 12.9.1. Level 1
    • 12.9.2. Level 2
    • 12.9.3. Level 3
  • 12.10. Week 10 Lab
    • 12.10.1. Level 1
    • 12.10.2. Level 2
    • 12.10.3. Level 3
• 13. Contributor List
  • 13.1. PIE Edition
  • 13.2. Second Edition
  • 13.3. First Edition
• 14. Copyright Notice

You have attempted of activities on this page