CENG1004 – Introduction to Programming

Lecture 1

Introduction

Spring 2023
 Today

• Course information

• Why Python?

• Python Installation

• What is the programming?

• Program Steps or Program Flow

 Course Information

Tentative Grading:

• 40% midterm
• 20% written midterm exam
• 10% quizzes (2)
• 10% homework

• 60% final
• 40% written final exam
• 10% quizzes (2)
• 10% homework
 Course Information

Tentative Syllabus: Weeks Topics

Week-1 Introduction
Week-2 Variables, Expressions, Statements
Week-3 Conditionals
Week-4 Iterations
Week-5 Functions
Week-6 Strings
Week-7 Lists
Week-8 Files
Week-9 Dictionaries
Week-10 Tuples and Sets
Week-11 Lambda Functions and Regular Expressions
Week-12 NumPy and Pandas
Week-13 Plotting and Data Visualization
Week-14 Introduction to Machine Learning with Python
 Course Information

• You have to follow course website for announcements, lecture notes

and homeworks.
• Course website:
https://online-learning.gidatarim.edu.tr/course/view.php?id=482

• To succeed:
• do practise
• PRACTISE. PRACTISE? PRACTISE!
• do not skip lectures
• do not be afraid writing code
 Why Python?

python
Easy to learn
print('Hello, World!')
• Understandable and
easy to read code

• Extensive packages for public class Hello{

almost any task java
public static void main(String argv[]){
System.out.println('Hello, World!');
• It can work on }
different platforms }
(such as Windows,
Linux, macOS)
C language

#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
• Free
printf('Hello, World!');
return 0;
}
 Python Installation

• You can use online compilers/IDEs

• Google Colab (recommended will be used in course)
• Jupyter Notebook (recommended)
• Python Fiddle
• PyFiddle
• Programiz

• You can download your own copy, it is free

• Download Python

• More advanced tasks (data science, machine learning)

• Download Anaconda
 What is the programming?

• A program is a sequence of definitions and commands

• definitions evaluated
• commands executed by Python interpreter

• commands (statements) instruct interpreter to do something

• Programming: It is the determination and appropriate use of the

necessary commands to create a program.

• Programming Languages: They are programming tools that

specify the commands, definitions and rules used in the creation
of a program.
 Stored Program Computer

• sequence of instructions stored inside computer

• built from predefined set of primitive instructions
1) arithmetic and logic
2) simple tests
3) moving data

• special program (interpreter) executes each instruction in order

• use tests to change flow of control through sequence
• stop when done
 Program Steps or Program Flow

• Like a recipe or installation instructions, a program is a sequence

of steps to be done in order.

• Some steps are conditional - they may be skipped.

• Sometimes a step or group of steps is to be repeated.

• Sometimes we store a set of steps to be used over and over as

needed several places throughout the program (in the later
lectures).
 Sequential Steps

❖When a program is running, it flows from one step to the next.

As programmers, we set up “paths” for the program to follow.
Conditional Steps
 Repeated Steps

❖ Loops (repeated steps) have iteration variables that change each time
through a loop.
A program is a Recipe

Taken from: https://web.cs.hacettepe.edu.tr/~bbm101/fall19/lectures/lec4-python.pdf

 Creating Recipes

• a programming language provides a set of primitive operations

• expressions are complex but legal combinations of primitives in a

programming language

• expressions and computations have values and meanings in a

programming language
 Aspects of Languages

• primitive constructs
• English: words
• programming language: numbers, strings, simple operators
 Aspects of Languages

• syntax
• English:
• "cat dog boy"
• not syntactically valid
• "cat hugs boy"
• syntactically valid

• programming language:
• "hi"5
• not syntactically valid
• 3.2*5
• syntactically valid
 Aspects of Languages

• static semantics is which syntactically valid strings have meaning

• English: "I are hungry"
• syntactically valid
• but static semantic error

• programming language:
• 3.2*5
• syntactically valid
• 3+"hi"
• static semantic error
 Aspects of Languages

• semantics is the meaning associated with a syntactically

correct string of symbols with no static semantic errors

• English: can have many meanings "Flying planes can

be dangerous"

• programming languages: have only one meaning but may not

be what programmer intended
 Where things go wrong

• syntactic errors
• common and easily caught

• static semantic errors

• some languages check for these before running program
• can cause unpredictable behavior

• no semantic errors but different meaning than what programmer

intended
• program crashes, stops running
• program runs forever
• program gives an answer but different than expected
 Algorithms

An algorithm is a step by step list of instructions that if followed exactly will

solve the problem under consideration.

For example, an algorithm to compute the area of a circle given its radius
might look like this:

Algorithm Example 1 (English)

1. Ask for radius
2. Compute area by squaring radius and
multiplying the result by pi
3. Display the computed area
 Algorithms

Pseudocode is a notation that is more precise than English but generally

not as precise as a programming language. The same algorithm expressed
in pseudocode might look something like this:

Algorithm Example 2 (Pseudocode)

1. Ask for radius
2. let area = (radius2) × π
3. Display area
 References

• Slides are adapted from

• https://web.cs.hacettepe.edu.tr/~muh101/
• https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-0001-introduction-to-
computer-science-and-programming-in-python-fall-2016/
• https://opencourses.emu.edu.tr/course/view.php?id=607#sec
tion-2
• https://www.py4e.com/lessons/intro
• https://web.cs.hacettepe.edu.tr/~bbm101/fall19/lectures/lec
4-python.pdf
• https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/fopp/index.h
tml