ECE8120 Introduction to Application Programming

The course introduces basic concepts of computer programming and problem solving using the programming language Python. It aims to familiarize students with basic algorithms as well as the process of understanding the problem requirements, adapting existing solutions or developing new ones and evaluating their correctness. The course includes laboratory work where students are expected to solve programming problems of varying complexity and apply the concepts that have been presented in class. The course tackles the following concepts

• Introduction, Integrated Development Environments
• Variables, Operators, Expressions
• Control structures (loops and conditionals)
• Functions (usage and definition), recursion, Python modules
• Strings
• Solving problems via exhaustive enumeration and approximate solutions
• Basic searching and sorting algorithms, algorithm performance
• Lists, tuples, aliasing
• Dictionaries
• Testing and debugging
• Exceptions, assertions
• File input/output
• Introduction to Object Oriented Programming
• Introduction to additional Python packages (e.g. graphics, web services)

By the end of the course, the students should:

• Understand the concepts of an algorithm and its performance.
• Use simple classic algorithms (e.g. for searching and/or sorting)
• Understand a problem’s requirements and develop an appropriate algorithm to solve it.
• Develop solutions according to specifications.
• Be familiar with the basic features and structures of the Python programming language and choose appropriate tools for each problem they are called to solve.
• Apply basic principles of software engineering to generate maintainable code.
• Evaluate the correctness of their programs and identify errors.
• Use software development and debugging tools.
• Work independently and under a time limit.