Intro. to Programming (in Python) - Spring 2025

Instructor: Ted Wetherbee

Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College
2101 14th Street
Cloquet, Minnesota 55720

Office: W217
Phone: 218-879-0840
Email: ted@fdltcc.edu

Spring 2025 Class Schedule:
  Time         Days   Room Course
   9:00-10:15  M_W__  228  Math 1030
  10:30-11:20  M_W__  228  Math 0025
  12:30- 1:45  M_W__  227  Csci 1020
   2:00- 3:15  M_W__  228  Math 1010
   asynchronous       Zoom Math 2001 

Office Hours in Room W217 and Zoom:
  Monday        Tuesday  Wednesday     Thursday  Friday
  11:30-12:20   8-11     11:30-12:20   --------  ------

Course Website: http://tedwetherbee.org/m2001/

All materials handed out in class will be on D2L.

Textbook: Free and Online

Think Python, by Allen Downey, 3d ed.
(Older versions are available here: https://greenteapress.com/)

Materials needed: USB Key/Drive

Get yourself a USB key/drive. It does not have to be large. Managing your code is a very important aspect of programming!

Create a directory/folder for each programming assignment. Save your Python code often with short but descriptive names in the correct folder. NEVER use spaces in program or directory/folder names! Use underscores_between_words, if necessary. End Python script names with ".py". Disable "hide known file extensions" in a folder view so that you can see the ".py" extensions--which should always be there for Python scripts. When you refine a program, it is extremely helpful to save versions with different names incrementally, e.g. p1.py, p1b.py, p1c.py, and so on.

Include descriptive comments within your Python scripts so that you can later open the file, read comments, and thus know what it does, the author, when it was written, and so forth. You don't have to write a great deal, but you should write enough in a way so that a complete stranger could read your Python script and thus understand what it does, who wrote it, and when it was written. That stranger will usually be yourself! Programmers are humans; it is easy to completely forget almost everything about a code. Explain it to yourself within your code with comments, and do it as if you are writing to a complete stranger.

Python on Room 227 and Open Computer Lab machines

Many of the room 227 machines have Python 3 installed. Use Python 3 for our class work! As usual for FDLTCC classroom and computer lab machines, never expect anything you leave on a machine to remain on the machine! Always copy your programs and other files to a USB key/drive, and label them carefully so that you can find your files later.

Installing Python on Your Computer

Python is free. It is probably already be installed if you have a Linux or Mac PC/notebook. There are many free distributions of Python you can install on your Windows machine. You will want to install Python 3 on your own machine if that is what you will use for this course, a notebook or desktop machine. See the setup handout for details. It is easy to do.

Grading

15 programs 15x40 = 600
-----------------------
                    600 total

90-100%   A
80-90%    B
70-80%    C
60-70%    D
0-60%     F

Tentative Schedule -Csci1020 - Spring 2025

Mon jan13  1 ch1 intro.; Python in lab, personal machine; interactive vs. program script            
Wed jan15  2 p1                 

Mon jan20  H        
Wed jan22  3 ch2 variables; Tkinter intro.
             p2                

Mon jan27  4 ch3 and cha4: functions
Wed jan29  5 p3

Mon feb03  6 ch5: tests and recursion     
Wed feb05  7 p4

Mon feb10  8 ch6: functions and return values
Wed feb12  9 p5

Mon feb17  H    
Wed feb19 10 ch7: iteration
             p6

Mon feb24 11 ch8: strings						
Wed feb26 12 p7 

Mon mar03 13 ch9: lists                         
Wed mar05 14 p8

Spring Break

Mon mar17 15 ch10: dictionaries                  
Wed mar19 16 p9

Mon mar24 17 ch13: files         
Wed mar26 18 p10

Mon mar31 19 ch14: classes and functions             
Wed apr02 20 p11

Mon apr07 21 ch16: classes and objects
Wed apr09 22 p12

Mon apr14 23 Jupyter notebooks in Python
Wed apr16 24 p13   

Mon apr21 25 Python, executables, libraries, and ctypes                 
Wed apr23 26 p14

Mon apr28 27 Python and The Internet 
Wed apr30 28 p15

Mon may05 29 Final Program Review
Wed may07 T1 (9-10:50 room 228 Math1030) (11-12:50 room 227 Csci1020)
Thu may08 T2 
Fri may09 NC 

Mon may12 T3             
Tue may13 T4 12-1:50 room 228 Math1010


Plagiarism
Plagiarism, or presenting the writing of another as your own (a.k.a. “copying”), results in an F for this course and is subject to any other disciplinary actions mandated by this institution and the Minnesota State system.

Accessibility Services Notice
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is committed to providing equitable access to learning opportunities for all students. The Minnesota Respond, Innovate, Succeed, and Empower (RISE) Act requires our college to clearly write the process and rights of each student in plain language making self-disclosure by a student with a disability sufficient to start the interactive process. The RISE Act still honors and follows the Federal Disabilities laws- ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. FDLTCC provides students with disabilities (e.g., mental health, attentional, learning, chronic health, sensory or physical) reasonable accommodation to participate in educational programs, activities or services. Students must contact Trish Berger, our Accessibility Coordinator, to create an accommodation plan with reasonable accommodations. The student will decide which courses the accommodations will be used for and give permission for the instructors to receive the accommodations. The student will then have a discussion with the instructor to activate these accommodations. Students requiring accommodations must first complete an intake form and meet with Trish Berger, Accessibility Coordinator, to establish an accommodation plan. She can be reached at trish.berger@fdltcc.edu or 218-879-0864. For more information please visit https://fdltcc.edu/student-support/accessibility-services/

Sexual Violence
Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College (FDLTCC) is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic and dating violence, gender or sex-based bullying and stalking. If you or someone you know has experienced gender or sex-based violence (intimate partner violence, attempted or completed sexual assault, harassment, coercion, stalking, etc.), know that you are not alone. FDLTCC has staff members trained to support survivors in navigating campus life, accessing resources, providing accommodations, assistance completing with protective orders and advocacy. For more information regarding the Campus Security Report, the following link will give you a report on the Clery Compliance and Security Report at FDLTCC: https://fdltcc.edu/admissions/about-us/policies-reports/campus-security-policies-reports/.

Please be aware that all FDLTCC employees are required to report any incidents of sexual violence and, therefore it cannot guarantee the confidentiality of a report, but it will consider a request for confidentiality and respect it to the fullest extent possible. If you wish to report sexual misconduct or have questions about school policies and procedures regarding sexual misconduct, please contact Jesse Stirewalt, Director of Housing and Student Activities at 218-590-3345 or jstirewalt@fdltcc.edu.

Student Success—North Star Communication Platform
Student success is at the heart of what Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College staff, faculty and administration strives to achieve. To help support our students in their educational journeys, FDLTCC uses a communication platform called North Star. Students can raise their hand for support, set up appointments with staff and faculty and communicate seamlessly with instructors.   The college encourages ALL FDLTCC students to use the North Star webpage link to watch video tutorials and to log into the platform  to start using its features. 
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