Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An elementary introduction to computing science and computer programming, suitable for students with little or no programming background. Students will learn fundamental concepts and terminology of computing science, acquire elementary skills for programming in a high-level language, e.g. Python. The students will be exposed to diverse fields within, and applications of computing science. Topics will include: pseudocode; data types and control structures; fundamental algorithms; recursion; reading and writing files; measuring performance of algorithms; debugging tools; basic terminal navigation using shell commands. Treatment is informal and programming is presented as a problem-solving tool. Students with credit for CMPT 102, 128, 130 or 166 may not take this course for further credit. Students who have taken CMPT 125, 129, 130 or 135 first may not then take this course for further credit. Quantitative/Breadth-Science.

COURSE DETAILS:

Please note in this course, this section (CMPT 120 D100), some lectures will be offered IN PERSON and SOME ONLINE, LIVE (synchrounous). Lecture video recordings will be provided after the online lecture takes place. Active participation during the live lectures (both in person and online) is encouraged and expected, although patrticipation in the lectures will NOT affect the grading. Active participation during class time will include dialog in person or via the Zoom chat depending on the modality, multiple polls, working on practice coding exercises and others. There will also be activities for students to work on asynchrounously (assignments such as coding exercises).

The first weeks and last weeks (and exams) will be IN PERSON.

EXAMS (midterm and final) will be  IN PERSON, on paper. Opportunities will be provided to have practice exercises (not for points), both to be completed in person and remotely synchronously and asynchronously, in preparation for the "real" exams.

Office hours will be mostly held online, but there may also be in person office hours, in particular during in person lecture weeks, and subject to demand.

All the course information and communication will be centralized in the Canvas course website which will be available by the first day of class. Information will be added to the Canvas course website as the course advances. The course Canvas will include announcements, class materials, readings, assignments, points and course policies. Students should ensure that they receive notifications when announcements are posted on Canvas. 

The weights (percentages) that each kind of activity will have in the course will be announced the first day of class. The midterm exam date will be announced the first day of class. The final exam date is determined by SFU later in the semester.

Students must have access to a computer with internet access, allowing the use of a conferencing system such as Zoom. Details of technology and tools needed will be provided the first class of the semester. 

Topics

• Algorithms and computational thinking
• Procedural programming in Python
• Data types and control structures
• Application areas within computing science
• Fundamental algorithms, including searching, sorting, basics of recursion
• Computability and complexity, introduction
• Basics of binary encoding

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Reference Books

Reference books are provided for your interest and are not required. Newer versions if available would be fine as well.

• Computer Science Illuminated, Nell Dale, John Lewis, Jones & Bartlett, 2012, 9781449672843
• Starting out with Programming Logic and Design, Tony Gaddis, Pearson, 2015, 9780133985078
• Starting Out with Python-4th Edition, Tony Gaddis, Pearson, 2017, 9780134543666

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: