Course website
You need to sign up with your rpi.edu account. We will use this site extensively.
LMS only for recording of grades.
We create a text file called hello.py containing just the two lines of Python code:
print 'Hello, World!'
print 'This is Python'
This is done by launching the Wing IDE, which is specific to creating and running Python programs
Load the hello.py program
Run it using the interpreter
We can also type Python code directly into the interpreter.
We are going to emphasize computational thinking throughout the semester, so let’s look at a fun little problem and get started.
This problem is posed in Think Python and taken from the NPR show Car Talk. If you know the answer, do NOT say it!
Find the one word in the English language that contains three consecutive double letters.
We will talk through the steps needed to develop and test a Python program to solve this problem.
We do not intend that you will understand the details of the program at this time. Rather, this is just a fun exercise that illustrates the steps of solving a fun problem computationally.
On the other hand, it does introduce some elements that will be seeing repeatedly throughout the semester:
In about six weeks, you will understand all parts of this program!
You can see the code in three_doubles
By the end of Lab 1, each student will
Sign up at the course Pizza web site
Go to the resources page on the Piazza site
and follow the instructions to install the Python environment on their computer.
Create a Dropbox account to store back-up copies “in the cloud” of homework and lab solutions and lab for the course.
Students are strongly encouraged to get started before lab, especially downloading the environment.