Goals

• Provide an understanding of the role computation can play in solving problems.
• Help students, including those who do not plan to major in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, feel confident of their ability to write small programs that allow them to accomplish useful goals.
• Position students so that they can compete for research projects and excel in subjects with programming components.

Textbook

The textbook is   Guttag, John. Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python: With Application to Understanding Data Second Edition. MIT Press, 2016. ISBN: 9780262529624. The book and the course lectures parallel each other, though there is more detail in the book about some topics. It is available both in hard copy and as an e-book.

Lecture and Recitation Attendance

A significant portion of the material for this course will be presented only in lecture, so students are expected to regularly attend lectures. Recitations give students a chance to ask questions about the lecture material or the problem set for the given week. Sometimes, new material may be covered in recitation. Recitation attendance is encouraged but not required.

Problem Sets and Quizzes

Each problem set will involve programming in Python. There will be 6 problem sets in the course. There will be two quizzes. All quizzes will be closed-book, though you will be allowed to bring one page of notes to the first quiz and two pages of notes to the second quiz. Pages must be letter-sized, double-sided, either handwritten or typed.