Principles and Practices of Computing

Lecture, four hours; discussion, two hours; outside study, six hours. Designed for students in computer science and related majors who do not have prior programming experience. Precursor course to introductory computer science sequence (courses 31, 32, 33). Teaches students how to use computers as tool for problem solving, creativity, and exploration through design and implementation of computer programs. Key topics are data types including integers, strings, and lists; control structures, including conditionals and loops; and functional decomposition. Letter grading.

Review Summary

Clarity
10.0 / 10
Organization
10.0 / 10
Time
5-10 hrs/week
Overall
10.0 / 10

Reviews

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2021 Online
    Grade: A

    Amazing professor. Clear explanations, good coding demos and examples. TAs / LAs gave out worksheets and practice problems and were extremely helpful. Perfect intro class for those with zero prior knowledge to coding, and Python is also very fun.

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Todd was an awesome lecturer, I really enjoyed the class. The class was very well organized and all the exams were super fair.

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Todd is an amazing professor! His lectures are well organized and easily digestible, and he does many in-class examples to help strengthen your understanding. There are 6 homework assignments (one each week) that are very manageable. A couple of the problems were a bit difficult, but going to office hours helps a lot! Overall a great course that made me learn to really enjoy coding!

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Best course I've taken so far. It's extremely helpful if you want to learn computer science principles with a high level language. Because the course teaches python, it is easy to learn the coding language, so you can focus on the concepts.

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2023 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Explains concepts very clearly. Great class for people with no prior cs experience.

Course

Instructor
Todd Millstein
Previously taught
24F 23F 22F 21F 20F 19F
Formerly offered as
COM SCI 97

Grading Information

  • No group projects

  • Attendance not required

  • 2 midterms

  • Finals week final

  • 20% recommend the textbook