Introduction to Computer Programming

Title of Course: Introduction to Computer Programming
Facilitator: Seth Viebrock
Email: seth2@viebrock.us Phone: 612.387.4302
Class Time: 7:30pm-8:30pm
Class Dates: Tuesdays (starting July 7th, ongoing until Fall semester)
Place: 3144 Fremont Ave S, Minneapolis, MN (Uptown) Please use the side door, the class will be held downstairs.
Course description:
“High-level” programming languages such as Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby allow us to abstract away certain details of the computer, providing an ideal medium for a top-down approach to learning introductory programming, with lower-level concepts from Computer Science emerging only as they become necessary. We will take a “learn by doing” approach as much as possible, utilizing open source software and programming languages. Each student will specialize in one language but concepts will be expressed in multiple languages, illustrating differences in language “syntax” as well as somewhat universal concepts like variables, data structures, iterative operations, classes, and subroutine definitions. The students who took this course the previous semester (and are now taking my intermediate course) will be available to help and mentor, and as time and skill allow, introductory students will be able to help with the development project that the intermediate students are working on. Computationally-curious and/or mathematically-minded individuals are encouraged to enroll, with basic computer and text processing knowledge a requirement, and a laptop highly, highly recommended (please do what you can to procure or borrow one for class as there will be many hands-on activities). The class website can be found at www.flossclass.com . PLEASE NOTE: Due to the infrequent meeting periods and short meeting time of this course, students will be expected to do some homework outside of class, with help and guidance given remotely.