Basic Information

Course Description

6.s090 (A Brief Introduction to Programming in Python) does not assume any knowledge of programming. It is meant to give newcomer students comfort with basic Python, or to refresh students who have programmed before, either in Python or another language.

It would be unrealistic to expect anyone to become an expert programmer in the short timeframe of this course. That isn't our goal. What we are trying to do with this course is to introduce you to some of the foundational aspects of computer programming, and get you some practical experience working with these tools, so that you're prepared to use programming as a tool to help solve the kinds of problems you're likely to encounter in future courses and in industry.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to demonstrate skills in each of the following areas…

• Programming – develop algorithms to solve problems.
• Coding – implement algorithms in Python, using basic Python structures and commands without referencing outside sources. Communicate with other programmers effectively by writing code with appropriate documentation and style.
• Testing and Debugging – find and fix runtime and logic errors in code, interpret common error messages, develop and code simple test cases.
• Mental-Modelling – predict Python program behavior without the aid of a computer by using environment diagrams and programming knowledge.

Students are encouraged to reflect on how this course can help them achieve their larger goals and set individual goals for what they want to get out of the course, including non-programming goals such as better time-management skills or building mutually supportive community with other peers in the course.

Assignments

There will be one assignment each week. Our "weeks" run from Friday to Friday. Each assignment will consist of some subset of the following components:

• Readings to introduce new ideas and get some basic practice with them.
• Drills to get more practice with details from the readings.
• Practice Exercises to apply the skills from the drills and readings in more authentic applications.
• Written Exercises which are graded by humans and are used as an assessment of your progress.

All assignments will release on Friday at 5pm EDT, and all will come due the following Friday at 10pm EDT.

Solutions to the exercises, where applicable, are available with the "View Answer" button and will become available after you have submitted a correct solution. We highly encourage you to review the solutions you have submitted a correct answer, as studying other ways to approach a problem can be a valuable learning opportunity. Note that clicking the "View Answer" button prevents you from making further submissions.

Tutorials

Live tutorials on either Mondays / Tuesdays each week in E51-315 will review the current week's readings and cover additional practice exercises related to the assignments. These are interactive sessions, and you're highly encouraged to ask questions.

Office Hours / Getting Help

You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the help that is offered:

• A great way to get help is to come to office hours¹ We will offer (optional) office hours:

  • in-person on Fridays from 3-5 pm EDT in E40-302.
  • by appointment - simply email course staff at lgo-python-staff@mit.edu to arrange a time.

• We encourage you to email us at lgo-python-staff@mit.edu with any questions you have. We welcome your questions about:

  • things you found confusing on the readings
  • how to approach the exercises
  • how to fix a particular bug in your code
  • anything else that might come up

• Since some students already have considerable programming experience, we will also arrange for optional mentor/mentee sign-ups at the beginning of the course.

Staff

Name	Email	Picture
Hope Dargan	hoped@mit.edu
Duane Boning	boning@mit.edu

You can reach both of us with the mailing list lgo-python-staff@mit.edu.