Lecture 1: off we go!

[elz]

Summary: "Goals of the course; what is computation; introduction to data types, operators, and variables"

And then:

Problem Set 0 - A very simple program: entering and printing your name

(Hint: this reading gives you background for the problem set.)


And a link back to the rest of the readings for the first three lectures.

And since being able to check off tickyboxes gives me a sense of accomplishment:

Poll #1651

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40

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Lecture 1

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Finished it!
38 (100.0%)

Problem Set 0

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Finished it!
38 (100.0%)

Comments

[badgerbag]

Hurrah for all of us!

[elz]

Yaaaay! It's very exciting. Lame jokes about Harvard students and all. *g*

[afuna]

Mmm, ticky boxes! You know how to speak to my heart :-)

[bookchan]

It took me a bit to figure out that I needed to open a new window to write the code in and then run it from there. I kept trying to write it in the main window and couldn't figure out how to get it to get it to print the question and put in the code for the raw input. ^_^

[rodo]

... I think that was how I spent about half the time that it took me to solve the problem.

[luckykitty]

*laughs* ditto.

[bookchan]

I'm happy to learn I wasn't the only one with that problem. It was frustrating knowing I was missing a step somewhere but having no idea what that step was.

[luckykitty]

I'm definitely glad it wasn't just me! :)

For some reason when I see a terminal type window like that, it doesn't even occur to me to *look* up top for a menu bar. I kept trying to figure out what line command would let me run a program written elsewhere.

I ended up googling the most absolute basic instructions for writing a program with python/IDLE, because I'd started writing it in a text file, then had no idea how to load it and run it... Finally found this and was like OOOOHHHHHH. *laughing*

[bookchan]

That is a handy link! It really broke it down into the basic steps.

[elz]

That's an excellent point! Maybe I'll add that to the setup post for anybody who's coming along later.

[bookchan]

I think it would be helpful. I know I was all over the intro post and the website trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. It's one of those steps that once you know it seem obvious, but until you do it is frustrating.

[zulu]

w00t! Triumph.

[ephemera]

took me roughly *forever* to trial-and-error my way through applying the documentation to the problem set, but I made it eventually!

(I still don't begin to understand the maths in the 2nd random test of the python set up, though - I deduce that I am not an MIT student and have decided to move on!)