Solving Complex Problems Through Programming

Thursday 25 August 2022 - Block 5, Room C152
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Daily Note

We are going to jump into programming today!

  1. We will take attendance and review homework.
     
  2. We will very briefly discuss functions
  3. We will learn about the help() function
     
  4. We will learn about multi-line printing, which would have been helpful for your homework!
     
  5. We will setup a keyboard shortcut to run your python programs
     
  6. We will setup a bit of code to clear your output  - this makes your output easier to read - these two lines can go on lines 1 and 2 of your code.
    1. import os
    2. os.system("clear")
       
  7. We will learn about appending print statements and variables
  8. We will look at our procedural generation code for print statements.
     
  9. we wil look f-strings, which is a better way to print with variables
    1. name = "Mr. MacKenty"
      age = 35 # not a lie
      print(f"Hello {name}, your age is {age}")

  10. Homework will be all the challenges in objective 2

 

A little less comfortable

Content

Programs must solve the problem they were create to solve. We can worry about how effieciently or elegantly they solve the problem later on; not right now. The content of a program entails input, processing and output. All three of these elements must be clearly observable. A key question you will be asked (and you should ask yourself) is: to what extent does your code implement the features required by the specification?  

Process

Within the process, we are looking at six guiding questions: 

  • To what extent is your code written well (i.e. clearly, efficiently, elegantly, and/or logically)?
  • To what extent is your code eliminating repetition?
  • To what extent is your code using functions appropriately?
  • To what extent is your code readable?
  • To what extent is your code commented?
  • To what extent are your variables well named?

Product

As opposed to content, this section we focus on how well you solved the problem. A key question here is to what extent is your code free of bugs?

 

A little more comfortable

Content

Programs must solve the problem they were create to solve. You should ask yourself "Am I solving this elegantly?". The content of a program entails input, processing and output. All three of these elements must be clearly observable, and we must see evidence of sanitizing input and raising exceptions.  A key question you will be asked (and you should ask yourself) is: to what extent does your code implement the features required by the specification?  

Process

Within the process, we are looking at six guiding questions: 

  • To what extent is your code written well (i.e. clearly, efficiently, elegantly, and/or logically)?
  • To what extent is your code eliminating repetition?
  • To what extent is your code using functions appropriately?
  • To what extent is your code readable?
  • To what extent is your code commented?
  • To what extent are your variables well named?

For those more comfortable programming, we expect succinct, secure and effecient problem solving. 

Product

As opposed to content, this section we focus on how well you solved the problem. A key question here is to what extent is your code free of bugs? The real difference here is the complexity of the problem you have chosen to solve and how well you solved it. 

Our Big idea

The big idea for today is Programming.

The essential questions for this topic are:

How do we plan, write, execute, and test instructions a computer can understand and process?

It takes time to explore and really understand a big idea. If you want to
learn more about programming (which is connected to today's daily note), please click here .

We are learning this because as a designers must understand scientific and technical innovation. Designers use systems, models, methods, and processes to solve problems.



Reminders & routines:

IF (this_block == first_block_day) {
     read_daily_bulletin;
}

IF (today == Friday) {
     computing_careers
}

As I am taking attendance:

  1. Please check now: is visual studio code working from my programming folder?