COMS 261 - Fall 2026
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Week 11, Week
12, Week 13, Week 14, Week 15
Week 1 Notes
| Mon, Aug 24 |
TP1 |
Introduction to Python & Thonny |
| Wed, Aug 26 |
TP2 |
Variables & functions |
| Thu, Aug 27 |
TP2 |
Statements versus expressions |
| Fri, Aug 28 |
|
Binary & floating-point numbers |
Mon, Aug 24
Today we introduced Python and the Thonny IDE (Integrated Development
Environment).
We learned how to use the Python Shell and how to
write Python scripts. We also covered the
following:
- Operators (like
+, -,
*, /)
- Types (like
int, float,
and str)
- Variables
- Comments
We talked about how operators follow an order of
operations, and if operators have the same level of precedence,
then they are computed left to right. We also talked about how some
operators don’t work for all types. For example, the +
operator concatenates strings, but the * operator is not
defined for strings.
We finished by writing a script to calculate the volume of a
sphere.
# A script to calculate the volume of a sphere.
PI = 3.14159
radius = 4
volume = 4 / 3 * PI * radius ** 3
print("The volume of the sphere is:", volume)
Week 2 Notes
| Mon, Aug 31 |
TP3 |
Functions |
| Wed, Sep 2 |
TP3 |
For-loops |
| Thu, Sep 3 |
TP4 |
Turtle graphics |
| Fri, Sep 4 |
TP5 |
Conditional statements |
Week 3 Notes
| Mon, Sep 7 |
|
Labor day, no class |
| Wed, Sep 9 |
TP5 |
Boolean expressions |
| Thu, Sep 10 |
TP5 |
Boolean expressions con’d |
| Fri, Sep 11 |
TP5 |
Integer division and modulus |
Week 4 Notes
| Mon, Sep 14 |
TP5 |
Integer division and modulus |
| Wed, Sep 16 |
TP7.3 |
While-loops |
| Thu, Sep 17 |
TP7.3 |
While-loops con’d |
| Fri, Sep 18 |
TP5 |
Recursion |
Week 5 Notes
| Mon, Sep 21 |
TP6 |
Recursion with return values |
| Wed, Sep 23 |
docs |
Sequence types |
| Thu, Sep 24 |
TP9 |
Lists |
| Fri, Sep 25 |
TP9 |
Lists con’d |
Week 6 Notes
| Mon, Sep 28 |
TP8 |
Strings |
| Wed, Sep 30 |
TP8 |
Strings con’d |
| Thu, Oct 1 |
|
Review |
| Fri, Oct 2 |
|
Midterm 1 |
Week 7 Notes
| Mon, Oct 5 |
|
Mutability and immutability |
| Wed, Oct 7 |
TP14.2 |
Reading files |
| Thu, Oct 8 |
TP14.2 |
Reading files |
| Fri, Oct 9 |
TP10.7 |
Common patterns in loops (map, filter,
reduce) |
Week 8 Notes
| Mon, Oct 12 |
|
Fall break, no class |
| Wed, Oct 14 |
|
More map, filter, & reduce
examples |
| Thu, Oct 15 |
TP19.2 |
List comprehensions |
| Fri, Oct 16 |
TP10 |
Dictionaries |
Week 9 Notes
| Mon, Oct 19 |
TP10 |
Dictionary Comprehensions |
| Wed, Oct 21 |
C16 |
Iterable types |
| Thu, Oct 22 |
TP11 |
Tuples |
| Fri, Oct 23 |
TP11 |
Tuples |
Week 10 Notes
| Mon, Oct 26 |
TP18.1 |
Sets and set comprehensions |
| Wed, Oct 28 |
|
Search algorithms |
| Thu, Oct 29 |
|
Sorting |
| Fri, Oct 30 |
|
Nested loops |
Week 11 Notes
| Mon, Nov 2 |
C9.2 |
Program structure |
| Wed, Nov 4 |
C9.3 |
Function structure & incremental
development |
| Thu, Nov 5 |
C13.3 |
Writing to a file |
| Fri, Nov 6 |
C13.3 |
Writing to a file - con’d |
Week 12 Notes
| Mon, Nov 9 |
TP14 |
Introduction to classes |
| Wed, Nov 11 |
TP15 |
Magic methods |
| Thu, Nov 12 |
TP15 |
Static versus instance methods |
| Fri, Nov 13 |
TP15 |
Calling magic methods |
Week 13 Notes
| Mon, Nov 16 |
TP16 |
Type conversion and casting |
| Wed, Nov 18 |
|
Sequence and iterator types |
| Thu, Nov 19 |
|
Review |
| Fri, Nov 20 |
|
Midterm 2 |
Week 14 Notes
| Mon, Nov 23 |
TP17 |
Inheritance |
| Wed, Nov 25 |
|
Thanksgiving break, no class |
| Thu, Nov 26 |
|
Thanksgiving break, no class |
| Fri, Nov 27 |
|
Thanksgiving break, no class |
Week 15 Notes
| Mon, Nov 30 |
|
Inheritance |
| Wed, Dec 2 |
|
Checkers |
| Thu, Dec 3 |
|
Checkers - con’d |
| Fri, Dec 4 |
|
Google Colab |
| Mon, Dec 7 |
|
Review |