• Introduction and syllabus. Course website. Class policies and guidelines.
• Natural and programming languages. Concepts of syntax and semantics.
• History of programming languages. Language generations. Slides.
• Introduction to interpreters and compilers.
• Applications, evaluations, categories, and environments of programming languages.
• Readings - Any general programming language resource.

Monday, 8/28. Add/Drop and Late Registration via RAIL or at Ikenberry Hall.

Friday, 9/1. Last Day to Add/Drop or Late Register via RAIL or at Ikenberry Hall.

• Download and install the latest Python 3 release. Add Python to PATH on Windows.
• Install Geany for small projects. Write, compile, and execute the first .py program.
• Optional - PyCharm for more complex projects.
• Comments. Built-in functions. Indentations.
• Variables, variable names, and objects. Dynamic typing. Funciton "type".
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 1, 2 & Appendices A - C.

Monday, 9/4. Labor Day — Holiday.

Friday, 9/8. Last Day for Instructor-Approved Late Adds via RAIL.

• Strings and string functions - "lower, upper, title, lstrip, rstrip, and strip".
• Common sequence object operations - length, indexing, and slicing.
• Integers and floats. Common arithmetic operations.
• Floor division //. Exponentiation **. Multiplication of integer and string.
• Assignments and multiple assignments.
• Retrieving user inputs as strings using "input" function.
• List data structure. Length, indexing, and slicing of lists.
• List update([]), insertion (append & insert), and deletion (remove & pop functions, del statements).
• List reverse and sort (permanent). Sorted function (display).
• Examples - String functions. Basic types. List basics.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 2 & 3.

• Exercises on list basics. Get familiar with Python lists.
• Using loops on lists. Use "range" function with lists. List statistics.
• List comprehensions. List copies and aliases. Tuples.
• Boolean type. Boolean expressions.
• Selection structures - if. if/else. if/elif/else.
• Examples and exercise solutions - More on lists. Using selection structures on lists.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 4 & 5.

Exam 1 to be combined with exam 2.

• Using selection structures on lists.
• Dictionaries - Search, insertion, update, and deletion.
• Using loops to process key-value pairs, keys, and values.
• Nesting of lists and dictionaries. Data applications of nesting.
• While loops. Three ways to quit a while loop.
• Using while loops with lists and dictionaries.
• "input" function review. Exercises.
• Examples and exercise solutions - Dictionaries. While loops.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 5 - 7.

• Function definition. Parameters and arguments.
• Positional and keyword argument passing.
• Parameters with default values. Optional parameters using empty default values.
• Dynamic return type. Example - returning a dictionary.
• Passing lists by reference (recommended especially for large lists) and by value (copy).
• Arbitrary number of positional parameters (tuple used) or keyword parameters (dictionary used).
• Storing functions in modules and importing modules/functions.
• Examples and exercise solutions - Function basics. Function examples. Module example. Import syntax.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 8.

• Programming exercises. Sample answers - Implementing a square root finder. Simulating the Pi value.

Mid-term Exam Week.

Friday, 10/13. Last Day to Apply for May 2018 Graduation (Registrar’s Office).

Exam 1 & 2 on Wednesday. Covers weeks #1-6.

• Object-oriented programming in Python. Classes and objects/instances.
• Constructor - only one allowed. Attributes and methods. No method overloading allowed.
• Default attribute values. Updating attributes via attribute names or methods.
• Inheritance. Multiple inheritance is supported in Python but use it carefully.
• Saving related classes to a module and using "import".
• Python standard library reference page.
• Python third-party library examples. Some to be used in projects later.
• Examples - Class, object, and inheritance. Python standard library examples.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 9.

Thursday & Friday, 10/19 & 10/20. Fall Break (or Make-up Days for Inclement Weather).

• Object-oriented programming exercises - Abstract classes, static members, and multiple inheritance.
• File open mode - read, write, and append.
• File read using file handles - read, readline, and readlines.
• File write using file handles - write and writelines.
• Examples and answers - OOP exercise answers. Python files.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 9 & 10.

Wednesday, 10/25. First Day of Academic Advisement for Continuing Students for Spring 2018.

Friday, 10/27. Last Day to Withdraw from a Full Semester Class — See Advisor by Noon.

• File open, read, and write review. Programming exercises.
• Python exception handling syntax. "try-except-else" block.
• Python built-in exception class structure. BaseException and its subclasses. Note usage of terms "Exception", "Error", and "Warning".
• Storing data in the JSON file format.
• Examples and answers - Python file exercise answers. Python exception handling. Storing data in JSON.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 9 & 10.

• Test case and unit tests. Test coverages - critical, close-to-full, and full.
• Automating tests in Python. "unittest" module. "main" function. "setUp" method. "test_..." functions.
• "Assert" functions - "assertEqual", "assertNotEqual", "assertTrue", "assertFalse", "assertIn", and "assertNotIn".
• Formatting name example - fixing code issues to pass tests.
• Examples and answers - Test a function. Survey class. Test a class.
• Data visulization. "matplotlib" - a plotting library (download).
• Command for installation → python -m pip install --user wheel_file_name.
• Plots and options - types, figure formats, colors, and color maps. For more, see examples and tutorials.
• Examples and answers - Plot examples. Plot exercise answer. Adding colors and color maps to figures.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 11 & 15.

Monday, 11/6. First Day of Spring 2018 RAIL Registration for Continuing Students.

Wednesday, 11/8. Last Day of Academic Advisement for Continuing Students for Spring 2018.

Exam 3 - To be combined with the final exam.

• Case study - visualizing random walks. Random walk class. Random walk visuals.
• "Pygal" - Scalable plots & good for digital devices.
• Installation of Pygal on Windows → python -m pip install --user pygal
• Pygal examples - Making histograms. Rolling dice.
• Examples - Die class. Rolling a die. Rolling 2 dice of the same type. Rolling 2 dice of different types. Exercise - Comparing two sets of results (D8 & D12 with D20).
• Downloading and visualizing data in the CSV format. Weather data source - Weather Underground history. Note: CSV is no longer supported. Replaced by API calls.
• Sample weather data for death valley. Plot highs & lows together.
• Case study - World population distribution visualization - Visualizaing JSON data files.
• Install world map module for Pygal → python -m pip install --user pygal_maps_world
• Population data file. Population visualization program. Data source.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 15 & 16.

Thanksgiving Recess.

• API calls. An example → https://api.github.com/search/repositories?q=language:python&sorts=stars
• Installing "requests" module → pip install --user requests
• Processing and visualization JSON data from API calls. Example.

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• Setting up a web applicaton project on Windows with Django.
1. Create a virtual environment in a new folder → python -m venv ll_env
2. Activate the virtual environment → ll_env\Scripts\activate
3. Install a web framework - Django → pip install Django
4. Create a project → django-admin.py startproject learning_log .
5. Create a database → python manage.py migrate
6. Start Django server → python manage.py runserver
7. Open a new command window, activate the virtual environment, and create an app infrastructure → python manage.py startapp learning_logs
8. Add 'learning_logs' to 'INSTALLED_APPS' in settings.py.
• Defining and activating models.
1. Add data models (classes) to models.py.
2. Create database tables for models → python manage.py makemigrations learning_logs
3. Migrate the database → python manage.py migrate
• Dijango admin site (/admin/) and shell.
1. Create superuser → python manage.py createsuperuser
2. Register models with the admin site in admin.py.
3. Test and debug using the Django shell → python manage.py shell
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 17 & 18.

• The learning log home page without "users" - index.html
1. Define/map URL patterns - add project and learning logs app URL patterns to 'urls.py' files.
2. Write the view.
3. Write the template.
Directory structure for templates → app_folder\templates\namespace\template_html_files
• In the virtual environment, create the app "users" → python manage.py startapp users
• Add 'users' to 'INSTALLED_APPS' in settings.py.
• Update data models to include "users" - models.py.
• Define forms.py in the "learning_logs" app.
• The learning log additional pages -
1. Define/map URL patterns - add project, learning logs, and users apps patterns to 'urls.py' files.
2. Write/updating learning logs, and users views that retrieve/process data and render pages.
3. Write/update learning logs, and users templates for web pages. Styles can be added later.
• Readings - Matthes Chapters 18 & 19.

Friday, 12/8. Last Day of Classes. Last Day for Complete Withdrawal from Semester.

Final Exam Week.

Final Exam -
12 – 2 pm,
12/11, Monday.