Day 0: Expectations & Setup¶
“Python is not the main point of this [class]. Rather, Python is used to illustrate fundamental principles of design and programming that apply in any language or computing environment”
LPTHW: Chapter 0
Outline¶
Welcome + Expectations¶
- Guiding vs teaching, how this used to be taught, approach to this class
- Do the homework when you can
- Be regular
- Help eachother
- Respect work day boundaries
- Don’t be THAT guy!: practice patience and tolerance - no man left behind
- Ask questions early and often
- Participate in Dojos
- Poll for peoples expectations
How to Succeed¶
- Do the homework. 10,000 hours is real.
- Decide early what you want to get out of it
- Don’t get caught in the weeds, practice suspending belief
- Rely early and often on your new community. Programming is hard. Internalizing frustration is a key mistake. Take a breath, grab a beer, and pair up.
- Be aware of (and resist) bad developer culture
Intro to materials¶
- Textbook
- LPTHW
- Supplements
- Recommended Reading
What does it all mean?¶
- Programming, Developing, Computer Science - Oh my!
- It’s not just http... games, bioinformatics processing, number crunching, graphics, databases, site avaiablility, duct tape, algorithm development, networking, ai, embedded systems,
- Many ways to use skills: new career, teach kids, push harder in current career, etc
- Skills to hone depends on where you go - the math issue addressed - the importance of basic logic
- Generalization vs specialization - Hacker schools vs college degrees
So, What is Python?¶
- What does it mean to be a programming language?
- Basic computing stack (whiteboard FUN!) - Breaking down to the hardware - Abstractions: languages building on eachother - JARGON: explaining binary - What we read, what the machine wants
Basic shell commands, opening the CLI¶
- basic shell navigation: cd, pwd, ls, mkdir
- calculator & the console
- hello world
Homework¶
Estimated time: 60-90 mins
- Sign up for github. Ping @Liz with your name. She will get you access
- LPTHW Chapter 1
- Read: Chapter 1 from Zelle, up to 1.6 (rest is optional). Do programming exercises: 1, 2, 3
- Shell: Learn Command Line the Hard Way: http://cli.learncodethehardway.org/book/ Lessons on cd, pwd, ls, and mkdir is all.
- Logic: What is Logic?
Other Recommended Reading¶
- Douglas Rushkoff on “literacy of the digital age”: Program or be Programmed