Introduction to Programming for Problem Solving

Course
Course Catalog URL: 
http://catalog.iastate.edu/azcourses/com_s/
Identifier: 
COM S 127

Offered during Fall and Spring Semesters each year.

  1. Credits and contact hours: 4 credits
  2. Instructor's or course coordinator's name: Jinu Kabala
  3. Text book, title, author, and year: Zybooks Course Code: IASTATECOMS127KabalaFall2020
  4. Other supplemental materials: Lecture slides prepared by instructor based on textbook

Specific course information

  1. Brief description of the content of the course: Introduction to computer programming with an emphasis on problem solving. Topics include: program structures, expressions, variables, decision and logic, iteration, collections, input and output. Program construction and testing. Programming assignments including games and applications. No prior programming experience necessary. This course is intended for Computer Science majors.
  2. Prerequisites or co-requisites: Credit or enrollment in MATH 140 or higher
  3. Required, elective, or selected elective? Selected elective

Specific goals for the course

  1. Specific outcomes of instruction
  • Write, debug, and document well-structured programs (2)
  • Implement programs from specifications (1)

Brief list of topics to be covered

  • Introduction to Python3
    • Covers programming, computational thinking, computer basic blocks, programming language history, development environment
  • Variables and Expressions
  • Types
  • Branching
  • Loops
  • Functions
  • Strings
  • Lists (and dictionaries if there is time, and how students are doing)
  • Exceptions
  • Files