Introduction to Programming (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

H-5

Content scheduling

1. Basics of programming and computational thinking
2. Conditional statements and handling strings
3. Repetition structures and collections
4. Functions and files
5. Data management, JSON
6. Other topics:
- Problem solving
- Computer vs. programming
- Coding style and its role in software projects
- Python extra libraries/modules
- Python vs. C-based programming languages (optional)
- Basics of OOP in Python (optional)

Objective

You can implement various small-scale programs by using a selected programming language.
You can understand programming logic, structured programming and common programming structures.
You can effectively use different features, libraries and modules available for the selected programming language.
You can apply your existing programming knowledge while studying new programming concepts.

Content

Computational thinking
Programming environments and version control tools
Basic concepts of structured programming
Programming libraries and modules
Problem-solving and programming

Materials

Lecture material - Web material - Examples and live coding - Exercises - Web learning environments - CodeCombat programming learning environment

Teaching methods

The study unit is one of the first courses, and therefore prior programming knowledge is not required. The programming language used in the course is Python (version 3). Lectures are classroom lectures according to timetable. The student will perform independent work on exercise sets.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

You understand the principles of structural programming and can implement simple programs based on examples and instructions.
You can use the basic structures of a programming language (selection and iteration) and utilize functions.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

You can utilize structural programming and libraries/modules offered by the selected programming language while creating simple applications independently. In addition, you can implement easily readable, testable and maintainable code.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

You can utilize structural programming and libraries/modules offered by the selected programming language while creating intermediate applications independently. In addition, you can implement easily readable, testable and maintainable code.

You can apply appropriate algorithms to specific programming problems.